NEWS / AGENDA

 
12 march 2023. Boekpresentatie Keep Greenland a secret part 2 (poledays Leiden)

Februari 2022. Exhibition and book presentation Droge voeten voor Gytsjerk

15 september 2018 - 21 oktober 2018. general exhibition Galerie Lawei te Drachten

30 juni - 8 oktober 2017 / Exhibition Frisian Museum. Friesland, the smallest country on earth www.friesmuseum.nl

11 juni - 8 juli 2017  Galerie Zic Zerp  Group exhibition / The wave, crossing the Atlantic  http://www.zerp.nl

26 februari 2017, Boekpresentatie The Wave, crossing the Atlantic in Galerie Hoogenbosch te Gorredijk

December 2015. Bookpresentation of Lviv, city of paradoxes in bookshop De Groene Waterman in Antwerpen, Belgium

November 2015. Galerie Zic Zerp shows three photo's of the Waddensea during Pan Amsterdam. http://www.zerp.nl/

Augustus 2015. In Galerie Zic Zerp the serie passengers is on show during a group exhibition called across the universe.  http://www.zerp.nl

Juni 2015. In museum Belverdere are three photo's on show of the Waddensea as a part of a big summer exhibition where 50 artist are performing.

Januari 2015. In galerie Sitdown in Parijs there is a exhibition of passengers, photo's of people in the trams and busses of Lviv. see www.sitdown.fr

September 2014. In the meantime, the photo book Lviv, City of Paradoxes is ready. Lviv is a magnificent old Habsburg city with a dramatic history in Western Ukraine. This book is available in two editions; in Dutch / English and in Ukrainian / English. 256 pages / 35 euro / 150 photos by Dolph Kessler / With essays by Michiel Driebergen, Kees van Ruyven and Ruud Meij and with a special map supplement by Herman Zonderland. A number of book presentations and exhibitions will take place in the next few months. 

Augustus 2012. The photo book Around the North Sea was released in september 2012. It is the result of four years of photography.

It recieves a lot of publicity in papers, magazines and on exhibitions

juni 2009. My photo book Art Fairs / published by d’jonge Hond publishers / 160 pages/ 80 photos / essays by Hans den Hartog Jager, Olav Velthuis, Huub Mous and Kees Keijer / price: € 29,95 is almost sold out.

Curriculum vitae

Dolph Kessler (Amsterdam, 1950) has been a documentary photographer since 2005. He studied urbanism at Delft University of Technology and presently lives in Friesland in the north of the Netherlands.  He worked as a regional planner for the province of Friesland (1976-1982), as a municipal councillor for the town of Leeuwarden (1982-1991) and organized study tours (1995-2003). From 2003-2006 he studied at the Fotoacademie Amsterdam. He is now a professional photographer working mostly in a documentary tradition.

He regularly publishes photos in magazines and newspapers. Besides being a photographer of the ‘condition humaine’ (the modern man in the social and cultural context of today), he is a landscape photographer who is fascinated by the meanings and significances given to landscape and nature.

He publishes photobooks on his own account through his company Mauritsheech Publishers. These are mainly limited edition books e.g.: RDM, de laatste dagen van een Rotterdamse fabriek (RDM, the last days of a Rotterdam factory) (2006); Tristan da Cunha (2007); South Atlantic Ocean (2008); Remedios, a small Cuban town (2009). Besides he did a lot of photobooks in commission, such as the photo book Palingvissers and Palingrokers (Eel fishers and Eel smokers) (2007) and the book Een leven lang kunst (A lifelong love of art) (2011).

During the last 8 years he worked on fivee long term projects

1. At the end of 2009 the book Art Fairs was published by d’Jonge Hond Publishers. The book was a compilation of photographs taken by Kessler at high level international art fairs over a period of three years. He went on to win first prize when a selection of these photos was entered into the Art, Culture and Entertainment section of the annual Dutch photographic competition, de Zilveren Camera 2009. The Silver Camera is an annual award for the best Dutch journalistic photo. In 2013 he published a second book about Art Fairs, with the title Art Fairs Revisted

2. The photobooks Around the North Sea (2012) is about the North sea coast of Europa. Dolph Kessler has photographed the North Sea Coast of the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Norway, the Shetlands, Scotland, England and Belgium for nearly five years. He shows that for some time now the North Sea Coast of Europe cannot be considered unspoilt anymore and becomes more and more the playground of its inhabitants. Photo’s of this book were shown on international photofestivals, like Photofestival Naarden and Noorder licht (Northern Light). About this books one of the critics wrote:

“Dolph Kessler’s work contains a remarkable power. He likes to show, without passing any judgment, what kind of interventions man makes into reality. Not so much as an individual but rather as a species: man bending the landscape to his will, trying to relate to nature, trying to control it.” (Hans den Hartog Jager)

 
3. The photobook Lviv, city of paradoxes is his last project and was also self-published in a high run in 2014, respectively.

4. The photobook thwe wave, crossing the Atlantic (also self published in 2017)

5. The photobook: Friesland, the smallest country on earth (also self published in 2017)

Dolph Kessler is inspired by photographers working in the tradition of the New Topographics such as the americans Stephen Shore, Joel Sternfield and Nicholas Nixon and the Europeans like Rob Hornstra, Mark Power and Simon Roberts to name a few.

Exhibitions
2018         Oqassut Greenland / Frysk Photofestival
2018         Ingezoomd / solo exhibition in gallery de Lawei Drachten 

2017         Une Maison Abandonee / Frysk Photofestival 
2017         Topographic observations / solo exhibition / Frysian museum of modern art

2017         The Wave, crossing the Atlantic / Galerie Hoogenbosch, Gorredijk
2017         The Wave, crossing the Atlantic / Galerie KUUB, Utrecht

2016         Noordzee / New aquisitions Maritime Museum Amsterdam
2016         Jan Mankes in Ireland / Group Exhibition Museum Belvedere
2016         Atlantic Ocean / Route of Churces, North West Friesland

2016         Art Fairs / Group Exhibition SitDown Galery, Paris

2015          The waddensea / Pan Amsterdam / Galery Zic Zerp
2015          Around the Northsea / Kunst aan de haven Leeuwarden
2015          Passengers / Galerie Zic Zerp, Rotterdam
2015          Lviv en Passengers / SitDown Galery Paris
2015          Waddensea / Museum Belvedere Heerenveen

2014          Lviv / Exhibition in WOW Amsterdam
2014          Lviv / Passengers at Gary Boman Gallery Lviv

2014          Lviv / Exhibition in Historisch Centrum Leeuwarden (satelite program Noorderlicht)

2014          De Noordzee Rond / Exhibition with drukkerij Douma Dokkum

2013         Group Exhibition in Galery Jurriaan van Kranendonk / the coast

2013         Huntenkunst Doetichem 

2013         Photofestival Naarden

2013         Galerie steven Sterk / Dynjandi / together with Zoltin Peeter and Andre de Jong

2012         Gallery Smarius / Steven Sterk / Noorderlicht 2012 / Group exhibition / Around the North Sea

2012         Van Kranendonk Gallery, The Hague / Book presentation Around the North Sea

2012         Rosa Spierhuis, Laren / Exhibition with my sister Beppe Kessler

2012         Omrop Fryslan group exhibition / Longing for the coast

2012         Lauwerslandroute 2012 / Overall presentation

2012         Museum Belvédère, Heerenveen / Seascapes (with Zoltin Peeter)

2011         Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague / Group exhibition / Summer Expo 2011

2011         Kunsthal Rotterdam / 6 large photos from the Art Fairs series

2011         Galerie Anderwereld, Groningen / Around the polar circle (with Zoltin Peeter) 

2011         Catharinakapel, Harderwijk / Between art and coast

2010         Museum Smallingerland, Drachten / Art Fair photos in context of the Siver Camera

2010         Gallery Smarius/Steven Sterk / Une maison abandonnée / Noorderlicht

2010         Art Amsterdam / Gallery Smarius/Steven Sterk / Art Fair photos

2010         Gallery Smarius/Steven Sterk / Art Fair photos

2009         Scheeneroute / Seascapes

2009         Museum Belvédère, Heerenveen / NOK/ Art Fair photos

2008         Kunstmaand Ameland / Seascapes

2008         Lauwersland route 2008 / Overall presentation

2008         BAS gallery, Sneek / Ice skate photos of Thialf

2007         Museum Rotterdam, Rotterdam / RDM, The last days of a Rotterdam factory

2006         Italian Insitute, Amsterdam / Eastern procession on Sicily

2006         Omrop Fryslân / Group exhibition / photos of Cuba

2006         Natuurmuseum Fryslân, Leeuwarden / photos of Bali / part of Noorderlicht photo festival

2005         Latin American Institute, Amsterdam / photos of Cuba

2005         Noorderlicht / photos of Winschoten

2004         Huntenkunst / 4 panels (with Egbarta Veenhuizen) 

2003         Pip's Gallery / five ‘vorstelijke’ (royal/frosty) days / Series about ice in Friesland

My Photobooks /  19 january 2019

Introduction

For me, a photobook is the most creative and agreeable format in which one can present photos.
These books allow readers to look at photographs in their own time, in the location of their choice and undisturbed by others.
Besides, photobooks have a much longer shelf life when you consider that a photographic exhibition has a finite life span of a few weeks or months.
That is why, in recent years, I have been making photobooks in order to create a lasting and ongoing timeline of many of my photographic activities.
Normally, my photobooks were printed using the time-honoured offset press which has a print run of a minimum of 500 copies.
But I have also benefited greatly from increasingly improved digital presses, which allow books to be printed in limited editions.

An overview of photobooks I have made or to which I have contributed, is presented below. Most photobooks are self published ones. Therefore I used the name Mauritsheech Publishers

Long-term projects (hardcover edition / exept the first (Art Fairs) all other books are self published)

• 2021. De Laatste postboten in de wereld / edition 40 / Mauritsheech Publishers
• 2020 Keep Greenland a secret / 100 copies / Mauritsheech Publishers
• 2017  Friesland, the smallest country on earth / 750 copies / Mauritsheech Publishers
• 2017 The wave, crossing the Atlantic / 600 copies / Mauritsheech Publishers / Englis edition only

• 2014 Lviv, city of paradoxes / 1200 copies / Mauritsheech Publishers / also in Ukrainian / English edition (1000 copies) www.lvivbook.com

• 2013 Before And After /500 copies / Mauritsheech Publishers

• 2012 Around the North Sea / 1100 copies / Mauritsheech Publishers www.denoordzeerond.nl

• 2009 Art Fairs / 1000 copies / Publisher d'jonge Hond

Assignments 

• 2012 Look at this city / 1000 copies /Historical Centre Leeuwarden / Friese Pers Publishers
• 2011 A lifelong love of art / 1000 copies / commissioned by the board of directors
• 2008 Between Dokkum and the sea / 1000 copies / Municipality of   Dongeradeel
• 2008 Eel fishermen and eel smokers / 1000 copies / Friese Pers Publishers
• 2005 New Winschoter Peil / 1000 copies / Municipality of  Winschoten

• 2018 Oqaatsut, Greenland / 10 copies 
• 2008 Nome, Alaska / 20 copies
• 2007 Nicolette, the house and the garden / 10 copies
• 2006 Peleas da Gallo, cockfights in Cuba / 10 copies
• 2006 South Atlantic Ocean, 22 seascapes / 75 copies
• 2006 Semana Santa, Easter processions in Sicily / 100 copies
• 2006 RDM, the last days of a Rotterdam factory / 100 copies
• 2006 Los niños, a small development project in Guatemala / 50 copies
• 2005 Remedios, a small Cuban town / 100 copies
• 2005 Las Parrandas, Christmas in Remedios, Cuba / 10 copies
• 2004 Kaliningrad / 20 copies