Starring Chas Gerretsen

Page 1


Nederlands Fotomuseum is the proud home of the Chas Gerretsen archive Archive Chas Gerretsen negatives

52.000 colour slides

30.000

The museum took over stewardship of Chas Gerretsen’s archive in 1995, and further images have been added over the years. It now consists of over 52,000 negatives and 30,000 colour slides, as well as contact sheets and prints. The documentation in the archive includes unique travel documents like press cards, newspaper cuttings, letters to his mother and the ‘dope sheets’ for the pictures he took in Chile in 1973. His films – including The Longest Holiday – have been loaned to EYE Filmmuseum in Amsterdam. Chas Gerretsen and Monika Pfandzelter were a great help when it came to interpreting the archive, sharing extensive information on much of the content. In 2019 the Nederlands Fotomuseum began work on the backlog in conservation, registration and digitization of the archive, which will eventually be accessible in its entirety online.


Chas Gerretsen

Vietnam, Southeast Asia

Chile South America


Chas Gerretsen dedicates this photobook to Sylvain Julienne and Herman Hoeneveld.


Table of Contents

7 Foreword

16

Vietnam, Southeast Asia

Fearless and humane Birgit Donker

19 A bit of fighting and a lot of sitting around: Chas Gerretsen and the demythologizing of the Vietnam War Wilco Versteeg

13 Essay Starring Chas Gerretsen Iris Sikking 13 Prologue: Who is Chas? 14 Act 1: Getting to know Chas 169 Act 2: Discovering an extraordinary photographer 251 Act 3: Presenting a life in scenes

57 Chile, South America 67 Chas Gerretsen in Chile: images that connect Museum of Memory and Human Rights, Santiago de Chile

185 Apocalypse Now 187

Fictional truth Hedy van Erp

217 Hollywood 221 Hollywood, the magical myth maker Markha Valenta

254 Letters to mum 255 Biographies


26

US military police river patrol, 198th infantry brigade, South Vietnam, 1968. Vintage print of photo taken with Minox-B cameram 8x11mm. US military police river patrol, 198th infantry brigade, South Vietnam, 1968. A South Vietnamese sampan is checked for contraband. Vintage print of photo taken with Minox-B camera, 8x11mm.


27

American marines blow up a Vietcong bunker south of Da Nang, South Vietnam, 1968. Vintage print of photo taken with Minox-B camera, 8x11mm.


46

Cambodian soldiers, on their arrival at Angkor Wat, asking a Buddhist monk to bless them. Last patrol of government troops (FANK) to Angkor Wat, Cambodia, 12 July 1970


47


Military coup, Santiago de Chile, 11 September 1973. Salvador Allende’s bodyguards and supporters surrender with white flag outside La Moneda presidential palace.

Military coup, Santiago de Chile, 11 September 1973. Palace guards use tear gas to disperse onlookers near La Moneda presidential palace early in the morning, before the attack.

110



Military coup, Santiago de Chile, 11 September 1973. Clouds of dust after the bombing of La Moneda presidential palace. General Augusto Pinochet and army officers wait for the start of the mass in honour of Chile’s independence and to bless the new military junta, Iglesia de la Gratitud Nacional, Santiago de Chile, 18 September 1973

General Augusto Pinochet and army officers wait for the start of the mass in honour of Chile’s independence and to bless the new military junta, Iglesia de la Gratitud Nacional, Santiago de Chile, 18 September 1973

130



190

Apocalypse Now, Philippines, 1976



192

Apocalypse Now, Philippines, 1976



9

CHAS GERRETSEN

P226


10

11

12

P227

HOLLYWOOD


36

CHAS GERRETSEN

P240


37

P241

HOLLYWOOD



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