Curaçao photographers
With the kindest light you could hope to find,
it's surprising there are not many more around.
The enormous amounts of picture postcards offered for tourist sale bear witness to the deterioration of this modest form of photography since the days of Soublette and Fred Fischer; theirs and other's photographs of course also appeared in brochures and similar outlets.
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Soublette et Fils
early 1900s
Annabaai harbor, Willemstad
Practically all visual information on Curaçao in that period is from their photographs.
A very nice collection has been published in 1999:
One result of this, alas, has been that now, all over the place,
there are inferior water-color paintings based on these wonderful B/W prints.
SOUBLETTE ET FILS: Photography in Curaçao around 1900
Also available from Monumentenzorg Curaçao (at almost twice the price)
Their panoramas put all since then to shame (but I'm working on it.) Willemstad <1920; left Rifwater, right Fort Amsterdam
Fred Fischer
mid 20th century
Huize Stroomzicht, Rifwater, Otrabanda ~1950
(now filled in)
Fred came from Austria as a fugitive before World War II. He had been an assistant of Eugen Schüfftan, AKA Eugen Shuftan, who developed one of the best special effects tricks ever (they literally did it with mirrors), and helped him build a dolly with auto focus.
Ironically, when the war broke out he was interned with other German-speaking people, fugitives or not, on the island of Bonaire, where diver Hans Hass helped them out with extra food by spear-fishing. This internment was a tragedy for many of those people.
World Press Photo
winner 1956
Fred Fischer won the coveted
World Press Photo award in 1956
We need a book on the work of Fred Fischer, whose negatives were acquired
by the Curaçao Centraal Historisch Archief in the 1980s.
Check out his marvelous Lockheed Constellation photos!
Frater M. Arnoldo Broeders
mid 20th century
flowering date palm
Frater Arnoldo was a biology teacher who came to Curaçao as a member of the religious congregation Fraters van Tilburg.
A good photographer who illustrated his many books on Antillean flora and fauna with his own pictures.
It's not clear what happened to his negatives; it would be a great loss if they had disappeared.
Modesty Forbids
late 1900 - early 2000
As a photographer always at least tries to photograph the world as he sees it,
necessarily he thinks his work superior to that of others, who see it differently
- and feel exactly the same. Meaning, I am not discussing my colleagues.
What can I do but push my own stuff? Thank you.
copyright notice
all material on this site, except where noted
copyright © by , curaçao
reproduction in any form for any purpose is prohibited
without prior consent in writing
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