Jacob Riis / Bandit’s Roost

Foam is proud to present the first exhibition of Danish-American photographer Jacob Riis in the Netherlands, The Other Half – the Activist Photography of Jacob Riis.

In 1870, the Danish immigrant Jacob Riis (1849-1914) arrived in New York City, aged twenty-one and penniless. This background stimulated his concern for the poor living conditions of inhabitants of the city’s Lower East Side. In time, his concern propelled him to become an important journalist and social reformer. In addition, he is now viewed as one of the founders of documentary photography.

Jacob Riis / Little Katie from the West 52 Street Industrial School

Jacob Riis / Peddler Who Slept in the Cellar of 11 Ludlow Street

Jacob Riis / Sweatshop in Hester Street

Riis used the camera as a means to help improve the living conditions of the city’s destitute. He was eager to apply the latest developments in the still young medium of photography and used his photographs as powerful illustrations for his lectures, articles, and books. During his lectures – a kind of ‘TEDx Talk’ avant la lettre – Riis would project the images using a magic lantern (a stereopticon). This made his lectures very popular, and by 1900 Riis had become a celebrated writer, journalist and public speaker who knew how to move influential friends such as Theodore Roosevelt (the later president of the United States), Andrew Carnegie and Booker T. Washington to implement reforms.

Jacob Riis / The Bord of Election Inspectors in Beach Street School

Jacob Riis / Children’s Playground in Poverty Cap, New York

Jacob Riis

However successful Riis’s social efforts were, his photographs did not attract much attention for themselves. The technology to reprint them in books was still far from perfect, and the photograph was often used as the basis for drawings. The interest in his photographs started to grow after the Second World War, and it was only in 1946 – many years after his death – that the Museum of the City of New York organized the first major exhibition of his images.

Jacob Riis / An Ancient Women Lodger in Eldridge Street Station

Jacob Riis / Washing Up in the Newsboys’ Lodging

Jacob Riis

The Other Half – The Activist Photography of Jacob Riis comprises vintage photographs by Riis and his contemporaries, prints from 1946 and more recent prints from 1994. Visitors can also see and listen to a reconstruction of one of his lectures. The exhibition includes a magic lantern as used by Riis during his lectures and a number of personal belongings such as his notebook.

Jacob Riis / Five Cents Lodging, Bayard Street

Jacob Riis / Street Arabs in Night Quarters

Jacob Riis / Minding Baby, Cherry Hill

The Museum of the City of New York houses the original complete compilation of Riis’s pioneering works of photojournalism. This collection contains 191 vintage prints, 415 glass-plate negatives and 326 lantern slides by Jacob Riis.

This exhibition was developed in collaboration with the Museum of the City of New York.

Jacob Riis: The Other Half
The Activist Photography of Jacob Riis
Through April 15, 2018 / Foam, Amsterdam
Please visit the exhibition page >