Photograph by Bernard F. Eilers, 'Reguliersbreestraat, Amsterdam', made using the 'Foto-chroma Eilers' technique [colour separation technique], c.1934

Colour photograph depicting a city street featuring storefronts and buildings lit by bright white, red, green and blue lights. Water on the street reflects the lit scene.

Given by Joan Luckhurst Eilers

Bernard F. Eilers (1878-1951) was one of the leading Dutch photographers in the first quarter of the twentieth century. Along with Henri Berssenbrugge and Berend Zweers, Eilers was part of the second generation of Dutch pictorialists and his fine art prints were widely exhibited in the Netherlands during his lifetime. In 1911 he launched his business as a portrait and reproduction photographer. He was one of the Netherlands' first commercial photographers, undertaking commissions for numerous clients including the Philips Company and Amsterdam-based architects and furniture makers. Around 1935, he created the photographic colour separation technique Foto-chroma Eilers, successfully producing prints of great intensity and depth of colour.

Of the photograph, Joan Luckhurst states, 'It seems oddly American in influence, reminiscent of Edward Hopper and his ilk. Thanks to the work of the Stadsarchief archivists who have produced digitised prints from the plates they possess, we actually know it to be of Reguliersbreestraat in Amsterdam. In her monograph of 2003 Anneke shows a digitised print (p.80) with the guessed date of 1935. It would seem to have been from at least one year earlier, as is shown by one of the labels adhered to the reverse of our print. Eilers' print is a very different atmospheric version from the straightforward Archief print, showing how much artistry he put into his printing, as much as his photographic practice.'

Bernard F. Eilers (1878-1951) was one of the leading Dutch photographers in the first quarter of the twentieth century. Along with Henri Berssenbrugge and Berend Zweers, Eilers was part of the second generation of Dutch pictorialists and his fine art prints were widely exhibited in the Netherlands during his lifetime. In 1911 he launched his business as a portrait and reproduction photographer. He was one of the Netherlands’ first commercial photographers, undertaking commissions for numerous clients including the Philips Company and Amsterdam-based architects and furniture makers. Around 1935, he created the photographic colour separation technique Foto-chroma Eilers, successfully producing prints of great intensity and depth of colour.

Eilers works are held in numerous collections in the Netherlands, including the Leiden University Special Collections and Amsterdam City Archives.

E.334-2015