Acclaimed Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf has died at age 64
ByMIKE CORDER Related Press
September 20, 2023, 3:08 PM
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Erwin Olaf, an acclaimed Dutch photographer whose work documented matters starting from homosexual nightlife in Amsterdam to portraits of the Dutch royal household, has died. He was 64.
Olaf’s extremely stylized photographs, with lighting typically influenced by Dutch grasp painters Rembrandt van Rijn and Johannes Vermeer, have been exhibited at galleries all over the world throughout a profession spanning a long time.
His web site carried an announcement saying that Olaf lately underwent a lung transplant.
“The restoration appeared to be going very properly. He abruptly turned unwell on Wednesday morning and CPR was to no avail. We will miss him terribly,” it added.
Taco Dibbits, director of the Rijksmuseum, paid tribute in an announcement on the Amsterdam museum’s web site.
“Erwin Olaf noticed magnificence in each individual,” Dibbits mentioned. He mentioned Olaf was of “historic significance” due to his activism and function within the LGBTQ+ neighborhood.
He known as Olaf “an artist with huge drive and with a really nice eye for element. The Rijksmuseum acquired its core assortment in 2018 and regarded Erwin Olaf a honest buddy. We’ll miss him.”
Olaf was made a Knight of the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands after 500 of his works have been added to the Rijksmuseum assortment.
He labored in promoting — as soon as portraying nuns in denims for a clothes firm — in addition to on the earth of excessive artwork and portraiture.
Over time, he shot portraits of King Willem-Alexander and his household and in 2013 he designed the Dutch aspect of a brand new euro coin bearing a picture of the king when Willem-Alexander acceded to the throne.
In March, Willem-Alexander awarded Olaf with the Dutch Royal Home’s Medal of Honor for Artwork and Science. It honored him for “utilizing a daring strategy to portraiture to deal with themes similar to ethnicity, sexual range and financial inequality.”
In a response to his loss of life, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima mentioned the Netherlands “has misplaced a singular, exceptionally proficient photographer and an ideal artist.”
“We are going to miss his friendship,” they added in an announcement posted on social media. “His work lives on and continues to be intriguing and shifting.”