PAUL HUF

The artist

PAUL HUF DUTCH PHOTOGRAPHER 1924 – 2002
Paul Huf made his name in the 1960s as the portrait photographer of Holland’s best known faces, which he invariably showed to their best advantage. His exceptional qualities as a portrait photographer were discovered by the Netherlands Government Information Service, they let make Huf in the year’s fifty photos of Queen Juliana and prince Bernhard. It was with these photos he became known to a wider audience. The most famous photo is the one of Queen Juliana sitting on the lawn of Palace Soestdijk.

Huf’s advertising campaigns for major companies such as KLM and Philips in the 1970s and ’80s set new trends. He also designed record sleeves and made a series of commercials entitled Craftsmanship is Mastership for Grolsch brewery that ran for years. Paul Huf’s photos have been acquired for the Rijksmuseum new permanent display. When the main building reopens, the new art and history department will extend into the 20th century.

Paul Huf was the most known photographer of the Netherlands and worked for range mediums. He stood among other things confessed for the glamorous way he portrayed people, he was a master in catching the light and the moment.
News photography he did not love: then he had to wait what happened there, whereas he directed the matter rather himself.

In 1999, an important award was named after him. In 2000 the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam increased the purchase budget with a special fund (300,000 guilders) that was named after Huf. The museum did that to honour him for its commitment for photography in Holland.

Around his seventieth he received a lot of tributes:

he got exhibitions in among others museum Paleis Lange Voorhout in The Hague and the Singer museum in Laren. The municipality Amsterdam let paint his portrait in 1998, in the range of deserving head city residents.
Huf was one of the founders of the “Foto Museum in Amsterdam (FOAM)” which opened in 2001.

In February 2008 the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam presented a new acquisition of 63 black-and-white and colour photos taken by Paul Huf between 1941 and 1985. These publicity photos depict many leading personalities in Dutch politics, art, science, show business and sport.The collection has been managed by Maria Austria Instituut, Amsterdam.

The following museums/institutions have work in their collection:

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Scheringa Museum voor Realisme, Spanbroek
Represented in the following companies art collections
AMC Brummelkamp Galerie en AMC-vitrines, Amsterdam
Bouwfonds Kunstcollectie, Hoevelaken
Kunstcollectie KPN, Den Haag
Randstad fotocollectie werk|work, Diemen
TNT Post Kunstcollectie, Den Haag