Prinsengracht onder de sneeuw, Amsterdam 1913 - 1940

Bernard Eilers created this photogravure, Prinsengracht onder de sneeuw, Amsterdam, sometime between 1900 and 1950. As an etcher, photographer and graphic artist, Eilers was concerned with the urban landscape, and here he captured a canal scene in winter, likely near his home in Amsterdam. This image is a sharp contrast to the typical picturesque images of the Netherlands that were common in this period. Rather than windmills and tulips, we see the daily lives of working-class people in the city, complete with the reality of snow removal. With its tonal range and focus on the gritty parts of city life, the photograph suggests that Eilers was influenced by Pictorialism, an international style and aesthetic movement popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As historians, we can research the impact of Pictorialism on artists in the Netherlands, and the ways that artists adapted an international style to represent local subject matter. In doing so, we get a better sense of the daily lives of the citizens of Amsterdam, and the way art and culture played a role in representing it.