World Fine Art Professionals and their Key-Pieces, 511 - Hans de Ronde

World Fine Art Professionals and their Key-Pieces, 511 – Hans de Ronde

Since humans became the most influential species on planet Earth, the planet has not improved. In fact, the Earth has become significantly depleted and polluted. This has caused changes in land, environment, water, organisms large and small, and the atmosphere.

The era of man on earth is also called the Anthropocene. Photographer Hans de Ronde presented his photos in Amsterdam under the title Post-Anthropocene World. In it he shows a world in which man has disappeared and nature has regained the upper hand.

The decay of the city

I spoke to Hans de Ronde in the gallery amidst his photos. He tells me that he took photos of decay as early as the 1970s. In Schiedam, where he lived at the time, and Rotterdam, he recorded the decay of the city with photos of houses that were going to be demolished and factories that had stopped.

At that time he only photographed in black and white and no landscapes. That changed when he went to Austria in the late nineties. There he captured the impressive mountain landscape, with slide film in color. “Landscape is more beautiful in color,” he says, “cities are more appropriate for black and white.” In 2000 he went to Scandinavia (Norway and Sweden) for the first time and also to the United Kingdom.

The power of nature

Hans de Ronde saw not only beautiful landscapes, but also decay. And at the same time the power of nature in the midst of that decay. We take a tour of the photos and see, among other things:

● A long animal track (a lone fox?) in the snow on a frozen lake. The track ends in an unknown distance.

● A deceased sea eagle, washed up on the beach of Andøya, one of the Vesterålen islands and a little further on a photo of the skull of a sheep in Wales.

● A building made of concrete blocks with a yellow door in the middle of a snowy landscape. It looks like it is only a facade. Captured in Jotunheimen, Norway. De Ronde: “Is it a door to another world?”

● Purple twists, it could be brains or intestines, but it is a photo of a type of mushroom. “Only a few centimetres in size, captured in ’t Gooi in the Netherlands.”

● An ominous cloud, captured in Norway. “You see those clouds there often.” A wooden shed, partly collapsed. “Will the rest remain standing?”

● A nuclear power plant in an empty landscape. “The image symbolizes man who has disappeared and ‘the thing’ that continues its course unhindered and that possibly produces the ominous cloud that we have just seen.”

Key work

Which work would he indicate as a key work? “Not specifically one of the photos in the exhibition, but everything that hangs here. It shows a world in decline with nature trying to take control again. The theme was inspired by how we treat the earth and how we exhaust it.”

How long has he been active as a photographer?

“Sixty years. I was already taking photos at primary school in Schiedam. In the sixth grade I got a camera, a Kodak Brownie, which took rolls of 16 exposures of 4 x 4 cm. I photographed family, parties and I also went out. In the Westbroekpark in The Hague with those beautiful rose beds I took photos of the roses, in black and white of course. The result was quite disappointing. All those beautiful roses looked strikingly similar in black and white, but it was a great lesson in seeing in black and white.”

Photography School

In the seventies he went to the Photography School in The Hague. “I did it for three years. At one point I had to take an exam, but that never happened. The assignments for the exam at that time assumed that you were already working as an apprentice or assistant to a photographer. But when I went to all the photographers I knew in Rotterdam with my folder of photos, no one even wanted to look at them. So that didn’t work out.”

He then took an evening course in Rotterdam and obtained his bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry. “I did find work in that. It even led to publications with me as co-author in journals such as The Lancet and Nature on blood clotting / thrombosis.” He took photographs in his spare time. “I have always continued to take photographs.”

Photo Academy Amsterdam and guidance

In 2008/2009 he met Hans van Ommeren. “He told me: you should go to the Photo Academy in Amsterdam. I did that, together with my partner. We did the first year of that Photo Academy together. Ruud de Jong, the artistic director, tried to keep us for the second year for quite some time, but we stopped after a year because it took up a lot of free time with a full-time job. We did pick up several things.

We came into contact with Robert van der Molen through the Photo Academy. He still coaches us now. What we learn most from is editing. Sometimes that seems like a bigger art than the photography itself.”

What is his experience with the photography life?

“This is my first exhibition. I only get compliments and if the opportunity arises I will definitely exhibit more in the future. I just let it come to me.”

Finally, what is his philosophy?

“We need to be more careful with the earth and not expect our technology to solve all problems.”

© photos: Hans de Ronde

Images

1)Dwelling, 2) House, 3) Eagle, 4) Skull, 5) Door, 6) Mushroom, 7) Cloud, 8) Barn, 9) Doel (nuclear power plant), 10) Portrait photo Hans de Ronde

https://www.hansderonde.com/
https://www.instagram.com/rondehansde/
https://gallerywm.com/WP/hans-de-ronde-post-anthropocene-world-03-01-01-02-2025/
https://inzaken.eu/2025/01/31/hans-de-ronde-we-moeten-wat-zuiniger-met-de-wereld-omspringen/