In 1965, Fieret devoted himself to photography. Prior to that, he mostly created gouaches and charcoal portraits. Henri van de Waal (1910-1972), professor of Art History at Leiden University, was one of the earliest admirers of Fieret’s photographic work.
Thanks to Van de Waal’s efforts, Leiden University now possesses the largest collection of Fieret’s work in the world and his photography has been brought to the attention of institutions such as the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague. In 1971, this museum presented the first major solo exhibition of Fieret’s work.
Fieret was actively involved in photography until around 1980. During those years, he produced an enormous amount of black and white photos. His subjects were everything he encountered in his immediate surroundings: women, himself, animals, children, and objects on the street.
Genuine essence
His photos were always quickly taken with a simple 35mm camera, often from an unusual angle, and frequently show blur and a messy composition.
The developing and printing process was hasty, using not particularly pure chemicals, and with little respect for the photographic paper. This is what gives the prints their characteristic yellow spots, tears, and other imperfections.
A large portion of Fieret’s photos are signed with a felt-tip pen and often stamped with one or more stamps. All of this adds to the genuine essence exuded by Fieret’s photographs.
“The Pigeon Man”
For years, Gerard Fieret was a noticeable, well-known figure in the city center of The Hague. He was nicknamed “The Pigeon Man” because he would ride around on his bike every day with two buckets of bird feed, stopping at around thirty places to feed his favorite birds.
In recent decades, Fieret’s photographic oeuvre has remained underappreciated, but in recent times, there has been a growing appreciation for his work, evidenced by the popularity of his pieces at auctions in Amsterdam and New York.
www.ftn-books.com has some very special Fieret titles available
