A complete overview of Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf's highly stylized portraits

Amsterdam-based Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf (born 1959) has long been considered one of today's foremost practitioners of portrait photography, and the enigmatic and elusively contemplative atmospheres of his theatrical compositions are widely imitated. Saturated in somber yet luminous hues, and exactingly composed, Olaf's color photographs, usually featuring only one or two people and set indoors, suggest dramatic narratives fraught with intangible restlessness. The attention to emotional character is scrupulous--as Olaf recently told Lyle Rxer in an interview, "you examine the state of the face, the person's eyes, the small gestures, the way the muscles move slightly, and of course the influence of light and cropping to add to the intuitions you receive. These restrictions are the main reason why I feel more comfortable in my personal projects, where I can fantasize, or let's say, I can create a world of my imagination."

This concise catalog offers a journey through Olaf's entire career to date, from the Chessmen series of the late 1980s that brought him international renown, and for which he was awarded the Young European Photographer Award in 1988, up to the recent Palm Springs project (2018). The volume includes a critical text by Walter Guadagnini and a conversation with the artist.

Author: Erwin Olaf
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Silvana Editoriale
Published: 10/20/2020
Pages: 96
Weight: 1.85lbs
Size: 11.30h x 9.30w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9788836646043

About the Author
Olaf, Erwin: - Erwin Olaf is a Dutch photographer known for his highly stylized, daring, and often provocative work addressing social issues and taboos. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Johannes Vermeer Award (2011), a Lucie Award (2008), and Photographer of the Year in the International Color Awards (2006). Among other accolades, Olaf received the commission to design the new national side of the Dutch Euro, launched in 2013. In 2008 and 2014 Aperture published volumes one and two of Olaf 's self-titled monographs.Boom, Mattie: - Mattie Boom is curator of photography at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.Stamps, Laura: - Laura Stamps is curator and conservator of modern and contemporary art at Gemeentemuseum Den Haag.