The Kaiser at the Keizersgracht The fifty-nine wagons loaded with possessions that were sent by Wilhelm II, the last German Kaiser, to his place of exile in the Netherlands in 1919 and 1920 also contained thousands of photographs: framed photographs, loose photographs, photograph albums, a folding screen with photographs, daguerreotypes, expensive platinum prints, autochrome plates, etc. A large portion of those photographs (ca. 12,000 pieces) is still preserved in Huis Doorn, the final residence and resting-place of the Kaiser. For the first time, a broad selection has been made from this collection, which will be presented this autumn in Huis Marseille. The photographs in the collection show how Wilhelm II used photography to engage in public relations in a nearly modern way. Crumbling support for absolute imperial power had compelled Wilhelm to go on a charm offensive. An image both of inviolable imperial grandeur and of the bourgeois, virtuous family man, had to be sustained in the media. The Kaiser hired the best photographers of the time (such as Ottomar Anschütz, Oscar Tellgmann), who used the newest and most expensive techniques to constantly take portraits of him and record his numerous parades, unveilings, military manoeuvres, yachting races and hunting expeditions. His court photographers even accompanied him on his private journeys to Norway and Corfu. Wilhelm collected not so much out of an interest in aesthetics of photography, but because he was interested in how he could use the medium to aggrandise his own image. The exhibition is organised in collaboration with Huis Doorn, with loans from the Royal Collection Den Haag and the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. Exhibition: 31.8. – 24.11.2002 Opening hours: Tu – Su 11 – 17 h (closed on Monday) Huis Marseille Foundation for Photography Keizersgracht 401 NL-1016 EK Amsterdam Telephone +31 20 531 89 89 Fax +31 20 531 89 88 www.huismarseille.nl |
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