Erwin Olaf Springveld (2 July 1959 – 20 September 2023), professionally known as Erwin Olaf, was a Dutch photographer from

Hilversum Hilversum () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is ...

. ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine described his work as straddling "the worlds of commercial, art and fashion photography at once".

Biography

Erwin Olaf Springveld was born on 2 July 1959 in

, Netherlands. Olaf was most famous for his commercial and personal work. He was commissioned to photograph advertising campaigns for large international companies such as

Levi's Levi Strauss & Co. ( ) is an American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's ( ) brand of denim jeans. It was founded in May 1853 when German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco, California, ...

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

, and

Nokia Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, originally established as a pulp mill in 1 ...

. Some of his most famous photographic series include "Grief", "Rain", and "Royal Blood". Never one to shy away from controversy, Olaf's work was often daring and provocative. Humorously however, one of his early photographs was once expelled from a show on the basis of ''not'' containing nudity. His work received many awards and has been exhibited around the world. Olaf studied journalism at the School of Journalism in

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

. His work was shown in galleries and museums all internationally, for example at Wagner + Partner, Berlin; Flatland Gallery, Amsterdam; Hamiltons Gallery, London; Galerie Magda Danysz, Paris; Gallery Espacio Minimo, Madrid; and many others. Olaf designed the 2014

Dutch euro coins Dutch euro coins currently use two designs by Erwin Olaf, both of which feature a portrait of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. The new designs began circulating in 2014.King Willem-Alexander Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born 27 April 1967) is King of the Netherlands since 30 April 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht during the reign of his maternal grandmother, Queen Juliana, as the eldest ch ...

. In 2018, he was responsible for the official portraits of the Dutch royal family. He was an advocate for

gay rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Not ...

. In 2012 he organized a "kiss in" that had around a hundred participants after a snack bar owner had commented on Olaf kissing his boyfriend. Olaf died on 20 September 2023, at the age of 64, as a result of long-term

emphysema Emphysema is any air-filled enlargement in the body's tissues. Most commonly emphysema refers to the permanent enlargement of air spaces (alveoli) in the lungs, and is also known as pulmonary emphysema. Emphysema is a lower respiratory tract di ...

weeks after receiving a

lung transplant Lung transplantation, or pulmonary transplantation, is a surgical procedure in which one or both lungs are replaced by lungs from a donor. Donor lungs can be retrieved from a living or deceased donor. A living donor can only donate one Lobes of t ...

. Olaf was first diagnosed with emphysema in 1996. He had predicted what the illness would do to him in the third panel of his 2009 self-portrait series ''I wish, I am, I will be''. The , the Dutch non-profit organisation for lung patients, called it very brave that he had been so open about his illness.

Exhibitions

* 2021: ** Munich Kunsthalle - Solo Exhibition: Unheimlich schön (irreally beautiful) * 2019: ** Anniversary Solo Show, Gemeente Museum The Hague & The Hague Museum of Photography, The Hague, The Netherlands **Palm Springs Unseen, Flatland, Amsterdam * 2017: ** Album 13 d'Indochine, Galerie Rabouan Moussin, Paris, France ** Human&Nature, Gallery Kong, Seoul, Republic of Korea * 2016: ** Erwin Olaf - Four Series, Centro de Arte Contemporaneo de Málaga, Málaga, Spain ** Cell of Emotions, National Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria ** Homage Louis Gallait, The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia * 2015: ** A Corps Perdu,

Magda Danysz Gallery Magda Danysz Gallery is an art gallery in Paris, France, owned by Magda Danysz, an art dealer and art curator. Magda Danysz Magda Danysz started in the art business in the early 1990s, when she opened her first art space in 1991 when she was 17 ...

, Paris ** Erwin Olaf: The

Empire of Illusion ''Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle'' is a 2009 nonfiction book by American journalist Chris Hedges. ''Empire of Illusion'' examines what Hedges describes as cultural decay in the United States, as a result of a ...

, Museo de Arte Contemporaine de Rosario, Rosario, Argentina **Waiting, Flatland, Amsterdam ** "Retrospective," Fondation Oriente Museu, Macau, Chine * 2014: ** Art & Fashion,

, Paris * 2013: ** "Erwin Olaf - Berlin," Rabouan Moussion Gallery, Paris ** "Erwin Olaf - Waiting," Rabouan Moussion Gallery, Paris ** "Émotions - Installations," La Sucrière, Lyon ** "Berlin," Hasted Kraeutler Gallery, New York ** "Berlin," Hamiltons Gallery, Londres * 2012: ** ''The Dark Side'', Rabouan Moussion Gallery, Paris ** "Works 2000 - 2010," Art Statements Gallery, Hong Kong ** "Erwin Olaf," Kong Gallery, Séoul ** "Short Stories," Wagner Gallery, Berlin * 2011: ** "Erwin Olaf," Art Statements Gallery, Tokyo ** "Paradise the club," Rabouan Moussion Gallery, Paris ** "High Tension," Carbon, Dubaï ** "Captured senses," Cer Modern, Ankara ** "Erwin Olaf," Nordic Light International Festival of Photography, Kristiansund * 2010: ** "Erwin Olaf Hotel,"

, Paris ** "Erwin Olaf Hotel," Paris-Benijing Gallery, Pékin ** "Erwin Olaf - Recent Work," Hamiltons Gallery, Londres ** "Hotel, Dawn & Dusk," Hasted Kraeutler Gallery, New York * 2009 : ** Dusk, Flatland, Amsterdam **"Série Laboral Escena,"

, Paris ** "Rain, Hope, Grief & Fall," Institut Netherlands, Paris ** "Darts of Pleasure," Domus Artium Museum, Salamanque ** "Moving Targets," Haifa Museum of Art, Haïfa

Honours

;National *Medal of Honour for Science and Arts (13 March 2023).Imago
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References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Olaf, Erwin 1959 births 2023 deaths Dutch photographers People from Hilversum Dutch LGBTQ photographers Dutch contemporary artists Respiratory disease deaths in the Netherlands Deaths from emphysema