Photographer and Filmmaker Paul de Nooijer Has Passed Away

(press release)

Photographer and filmmaker Paul de Nooijer passed away on 12 December at the age of 82. He had been ill for some time, but continued to work until the end on a documentary about his oeuvre, demonstrating once again how strongly he was connected to his work.

Paul de Nooijer (Eindhoven, 15 June 1943) developed an interest in photography during his training as an industrial designer at the Academy of Industrial Design in Eindhoven, thanks to his teacher Frans Zwartjes. With the social context of the time and the technical developments of the medium, he emerged as a unique pioneer in the field of creative photography and experimental film in the Netherlands.

He is one of the forerunners of staged photography, which would become very popular in the Netherlands in the 1980s. His work is personal and experimental, a continuous and virtuoso search for the essence of perception. Often alienating but also funny. Transformations in time and space are a recurring theme.

He effortlessly combines photography (initially gelatin silver prints – often coloured, Polaroids and Cibachrome) with film (initially 16mm), some of which is stop-motion animation. Later, performances were added to this. Over the years, he has built up a huge body of work, both independently and on commission, together with his wife Françoise (1944) as model and producer and his son Menno (1967), regularly collaborating with artist friends. From an early age, Menno has played a role in his photographs and films, and they have naturally collaborated as a team since 1989. The De Nooijers' work has been included in collections around the world and has been shown and awarded at numerous film festivals.

A few years ago, Paul was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and the De Nooijers became more active than ever. With Paul's impending death in sight, they worked on completing three short films on the theme of “farewell”, including 'Is Heaven Blue'?

In addition, they published monumental overviews of the unique collaboration of the three main characters, both in front of and behind the camera, through film (Is Heaven Blue?) and photography (Is Heaven Red?).

With Paul de Nooijer, a great artist has passed away.

Watch an interview snippet with Paul and Menno de Nooijer during the 2023 Annecy Festival

The 'Is Heaven Blue #2' animation short took the off-limits Award at the 2023 Annecy Festival.

(source: Gerben Schermer)

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