Emiel van Moerkerken

The role of Emiel van Moerkerken in the history of Dutch photography is highly important but hard to sum up. In the 1960s, he made reportage-type photos for Dutch Salvation Army magazine Strijdkreet, while at the same time snapping provocative nudes for satirical magazine Gandalf. In the 1930s and ’40s, his work was mainly Surrealist in nature. He was fascinated by the relationship between perception and the subconscious, and between sexuality and imagination.

He was one of the few photographers in the Netherlands to produce Surrealist work. In the 1930s, he was even in touch with the Surrealist artists surrounding André Breton in Paris. In addition to his Surrealist images, Emiel van Moerkerken also produced journalistic travel photos and worked as a filmmaker, film teacher, novelist and psychologist.