Gezicht-vanaf-molen-de-Nagtegaal framed Tollens

Henricus Jacobus Tollens (13 June 1864, in Dordrecht – 29 July 1936, in

Hillegersberg Hillegersberg is a neighbourhood of Rotterdam, Netherlands. Primarily a green residential area with lakes, canals and parks, it was incorporated into the city of Rotterdam in 1941. History Hillegersberg was named after Hildegard van Vlaandere ...

) was a Dutch photographer and painter. He was one of the first Dutch professional photographers and is notable mainly for his photos of the city of Dordrecht. Tollens was born in 1864 in Dordrecht. His parents were Carolus Henricus Tollens (1824—1886), a coppersmith, and Hendrina Willemina Stoffels (1826—1901), a courier. At the age of 17, Tollens decided to become a photographer, but at the time there was no professional education for photographers in the Netherlands, and Tollens started to work with photographers, first Karel Le Grand and later Johann Georg Hameter in Dordrecht. When Hameter died on 1 January 1885, his widow signed a contract with Tollens who in 1890 started to run former Hameter's studio. The studio included three branches, in Dordrecht, Roermond (until 1898), and

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022, Tollens' work was influenced by the developments of photography in Germany. He was a member of the

Deutsche Photographen Verein Deutsch or Deutsche may refer to: *''Deutsch'' or ''(das) Deutsche'': the German language, in Germany and other places *''Deutsche'': Germans, as a weak masculine, feminine or plural demonym *Deutsch (word), originally referring to the Germanic ve ...

, which in 1888 awarded hem a prize for an art photograph. Tollens thereby became the first Dutch photographer who was recognized as an artist. In 1890, he became a co-founder of the Nederlandsche Fotografen Vereeniging, an organization of Dutch professional photographers in Amsterdam. He was also a member of Dordrechtsche Kunstkring, an informal organization founded in 1897 which included artists, architects, and musicians from Dordrecht. Around 1900 Tollens, together with several other photographers from Dordrecht, collaborated with companies printing postcards. He made many landscape photos of the city and was best known for his industrial landscapes. At the same time, his business was developing successfully, and after 1912 he never exhibited, devoting all his time to commercial photography. After his wife died in 1920, he stopped taking commercial photographs and started to paint instead. In 1923 he sold his house in Dordrect, and in 1924 moved to

Nijmegen Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...

to the family of his daughter Wilhelmina. Eventually the family moved to Rotterdam, and Tollens lived in Hillegersberg, a quarter of Rotterdam. He died there on 29 July 1936 and was buried in Dordrectht.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tollens, Henricus Jacobus 1864 births 1936 deaths Dutch photographers Dutch painters Artists from Dordrecht