50 Jaar Bruynzeel
Jan Bons (1918-2012)
Jaap Penraat (1875-1957)
(typography / lay-out)
Carel Blazer (1911-1980)
Eva Besnyö (1910-2003)
(photos)
Martin Redeke (ps. Maurits Dekker)
(text)
important corporate or company photo book
Bruynzeel, Zaandam
1947
1st (only) ed.
half linen, embossed / gold lettering
ca. 130 pp.
text in Dutch
156 illustrations, some in duo-tone
some photo montage
25 coloured vignette ills.
Bruynzeel logo by Vilmos Huszár
32 x 24 cm.
(the book was issued without a dust jacket:
only once I've seen it with the original blank paper wrapper)
The book is recognized as one of the highlights of Dutch modern corporate book design.
"Almost as much as the Soviet propaganda books of the 1930s, postwar Dutch photobooks were total products.
That is to say, the photographers were often just part of a larger team that included writers and graphic
designers, with no single element having prominence over another. This was particularly true of company
books in the 1950s and 1960s, but the trend was apparent even by the late 1940s, as seen in this fine early
example of the way Dutch graphic designers eagerly grasped the opportunities that had been cut short
by World War II.
The photographer for 50 Jaar Bruynzeel was Carel Blazer, a leading light in the "Underground Camera"
and the radical GKf Group of documentary photographers.
As such, and as a member of the Dutch Communist Party, his involvement in the production of a
commercial company book may seem contradictory [...]. [Etc.]"
Parr/Badger, The Photobook II, p.187
Cf.:
Gierstberg/Suermondt, 2012: Het Nederlandse Fotoboek, p.80-81
Thijsen, 2002: Het Bedrijfsfotoboek 1945-1965, p.33, 157-158
Parr/Badger, The Photobook II, p.187
In the book the production of the kitchens designed by Piet Zwart is to be seen.