Visual Narratives Portraits of in his Study

1. E. Posthuma de Boer, Portret van Gerard Reve, met ganzeveren pen schrijvend op een vel papier, omringd door diverse voorwerpen, 1969, Collection Rijksmuseum .

81 Hinde Haest What is the best way in which to portray a blasphemous homosexual Dutch novelist? Haest deconstructs the staged portraits of Gerard Reve.

Even without having read the work of Gerard and studios. Apart from Reve’s immense Reve, one of the most famous and controver- popularity at the time, Verkerke attributes sial Dutch writers of the twentieth century, the success of the photograph by Posthuma a single look at his 1968 portrait by photog- de Boer compared to the rest of the series rapher Eddy Posthuma de Boer instantly to its imaginative, story-telling character.2 reveals a myriad of stories around his person.1 Whereas other Dutch writers, such as Harry The writer looks at us from across his desk, Mulisch and , were photographed two fingers meditatively at his temple, quill close-up, with a focus on facial expression, in hand, as he writes ‘ is the Love’ on a Reve’s portrait zooms out and shows the rich sheet of paper. Besides the many bottles and and surreal interior of his living room in the wine glasses scattered across the desk, Reve remote Dutch village of Greonterp, Friesland, is surrounded by strange trivia such as a toy where Reve lived from 1964 to 1971. The im- skeleton, a plastic Christmas tree, a garden age thus combines portraiture, still life and gnome, a crucifix, a picture of a donkey, teddy documentary photography. The highly styl- bears, and other stuffed animals, one of them ized image simultaneously houses a ‘story’ of trapped in a birdcage. Besides stories, the staged symbolism, and a seemingly random seemingly random yet mysterious compila- and momentary still of the writer’s daily life in tion of objects evokes a plenitude of questions. his ‘natural habitat’. Who is this man? What is the collection of This inherent paradox of staged sponta- objects meant to tell us? neity renders the representational character of The image was taken as part of a poster the portrait problematic. It is not mere physi- series called ‘personality portraits’ sold by the cal likeness, nor a voyeuristic snapshot of the Dutch ‘king of posters’ Engel Verkerke from celebrity’s daily reality that makes the portrait the late 1960s onwards. The series depicted particularly characteristic of Reve’s persona, famous writers and artists in their homes but a carefully crafted allegory of his body of

82 Kunstlicht nr. 2 / 3 – 2012 thought. In collaboration with the photogra- by photographers such as Steye Raviez, Ronald pher, Reve actively constructs the image as a Sweering, Vincent Mentzel and Klaas Koppe. writer by tirelessly staging major character- The collection ranges from Annelies Romein’s istic ‘Revian’ motifs such as religion, death 1947 portraits of an ‘angry young man’, one and (homo)sexuality in the form of symbolic of which featured on the cover of Reve’s first objects surrounding his person. Such sym- bestseller De Avonden, to a 2004 portrait of bolic mythmaking is most exemplary, but not Reve as a demented elderly man by Rineke unique, to the image by Posthuma de Boer; Dijkstra. This set of photographs thus forms the objects reoccur in various other portraits a unique visual biography of some 57 years of of Reve, taken in the late 1960s by photogra- the writer’s life. They are particularly signifi- phers such as Vincent Mentzel and Ronald cant to an analysis of the narrative function of Sweering. the studio portrait, as the collection features The portraits by Posthuma de Boer and many portraits of the writer in his personal others thus allow us to think through the role space over the course of his literary career. of portrait photography as a form of narrative. This interest in the physical space where It takes the narrative quality of the photo- the famous sojourn lives and works, and the graphic portrait beyond physical likeness, objects associated with their person, is not facial expression, and truthful documenta- a new phenomenon. Already in 1855, André- tion of the artist in his studio. Instead, or in Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri, one of the pioneers addition, it constitutes a constructed symboli- of photography and patentee of the carte-de- cal story, blurring the categorization of the visite, claimed that the photographer ‘must do portrait as a photographic genre distinct from more than photograph, he must biographe’. 4 documentary, still life, or genre photography. Disderi’s celebrity portraits, fervently col- As a hybrid, it evokes significant questions lected during the ‘cartomania’ of the French with regard to the representational value of bourgeoisie, documented the life stories of the studio portrait. Voyeuristic and mysteri- famous writers, actors, and scientists of the ous as it may seem, what story can such a nineteenth-century Parisian social scene. The theatrically constructed studio portrait convey late nineteenth-century inclusion of photo- about Reve’s person? What do the biographi- graphy in the printed press gave rise to publi- cal objects in his portraits tell us about the cations such as the 1902 photographic series person behind the literature? of members of the Royal Academy of Arts, published by Frederic G. Hodsoll in the British Between fact and fiction newspaper The Tatler.5 Such series responded Last year, the portrait by Posthuma de Boer to the emerging lifestyle cult. became part of the Rijksmuseum collection, An early example of portraiture in which along with some 500 other portraits granted the artist is defined by his utensils is a tire- by Reve’s partner Joop Schafthuizen.3 Besides lessly reproduced series of sixteenth-century Posthuma de Boer’s personality portrait, the prints of Erasmus holding paper and quill, collection holds similar photographs, typical- stereotyping his status as a writer and think- ly made for magazine covers and interviews, er.6 In the seventeenth century, Dutch genre

1 E. Posthuma de Boer, Portret van Gerard Reve, met living room. The portrait was taken by F. G. Hodsoll and ganzeveren pen schrijvend op een vel papier, omringd door is now in the National Portrait Gallery, London (NPG diverse voorwerpen, 1969, Collection Rijksmuseum Ax25182). Hodsoll’s images of literary, theatrical and Amsterdam, collection reference number RP-F-2011-21- artistic celebrities were commissioned for Tatler and 40-3. other periodicals. 2 E. Verkerke in an interview with the author, May 30, 2012. 6 See for example the 1526 Albrecht Dürer prints in the 3 Collection reference number RPF-2011-21. Rijksmuseum collection (RP-P-OB-1281), which inspired 4 R.A. Sobieszek, Ghost in the Shell. Photography and the similar stereotypical images of Erasmus by Johann Human Soul, exh. cat. Los Angeles County Museum of Theodor de Bry (RP-P-1906-1462) and the famous 1535 Art, Cambridge, MA/London 2000, p. 19. painting by Quinten Massijs (I) (SK-A-166). 5 See for example the 1902 portrait of novelist Arthur Morrison surrounded by his personal belongings in his

83 Visual Narratives – Hinde Haest painting generated a large-scale tradition [Nearer to Thee] (1966). Photography provided of studio portraiture, the ambivalent repre- him with a self-reflexive tool to describe his sentational character of which has long been struggle with death, God, and sexuality, with- contested.7 The problematic biographical out the constraints of plot and chronology. status of the studio portrait is epitomised in Through anecdotal association displayed in the contested meaning of Johannes Vermeer’s his letters, Reve strived for the divine through The Art of Painting (c. 1666). Also known as The the material and the anecdotal. According to Allegory of Painting and The Artist’s Studio, the him, the need to return to futile past memo- painting has both been considered a veritable ries ‘must house the explanation that contains self-portrait of the artist, and a staged allegory the abhorrence of “this disastrous life”.’12 The symbolizing the art of painting as an abstract anecdotal quality of the peculiar combination concept. between staged genre photography, portrai- The autobiographical nature of the Reve ture, and symbolic still life therefore seems an portraits is similarly contested. In 2001 the appropriate way to portray a man like Reve, a Letterkundig Museum, the museum of Dutch fervent believer of the futile detail embodying literature in The Hague, published Steye Ra- the essence of meaning. viez’s portraits of Gerard Reve (which are also part of the Rijksmuseum collection) as part of Gerard Reve’s Biographical Objects their series Achter het boek [Behind the book].8 Posthuma de Boer’s portrait inspired the After Roland Barthes declared the death of paperback covers of Op weg naar het einde and the author in 1967, dichotomising the author Nader tot U, where Reve is portrayed hold- and his oeuvre as two separate phenomena ing a cat, paper, and quill, surrounded by that should be considered independently, this various (kitsch) objects. ‘Brief uit Greonterp’ series aimed to revive the importance of the [Letter from Greonterp] (1964), published in individual that supposedly hides behind the Nader tot U, narrates the objects in his study. literature.9 In the case of Reve, this distinc- A seemingly random sequence of anecdotes tion between art and author cannot easily be about the origin and current use of the objects drawn. Though his prose is said to be fiction- embody Reve’s explorations into God, Death, al, the anecdotes in both his letters and novels and Love. Apart from the elaborate religious are often clearly autobiographical. The cat- symbolism in the form of crucifixes, a golden egorization of fact and fiction is particularly lamb, and statues of the Virgin Mary, the dysfunctional in the case of Reve, who renders images also feature less obvious citations of the personal object allegorical, and seeks pivotal themes in Reve’s oeuvre. For example, divine truth in the futile and the anecdotal.10 in Nader tot U Reve describes how he fetched Though Reve is often considered a naturalist forgotten objects in a cardboard box from for his descriptive style of ordinary things, he Wim Schuhmacher’s attic after their relation- presents himself as a baroque romantic who ship ended. Among the objects we recognise ‘lives in mythology, religious imagery and in his portraits is the skull ‘Frederique’ that symbols.’11 his former partner ‘Wimie’ once removed The object-based methodology of the from a chapel in Paris. It appears and re- 1960s portraits is particularly congruent with appears in various vanitas-like portraits of Reve’s worldview and literary style of imbuing Reve in 1968-9, simultaneously symbolizing a trivial daily objects, (sexual or violent) rituals universal memento mori, as well as a personal, and events with divine meaning. The stylized somewhat macabre, holiday souvenir, and the still life in the photos corresponds with a painful remnant of a lost love. literary shift in Reve’s work during the 1960s, Besides this relatively classical refer- in which he first began to express his ‘Revist’ ence to Death and religious iconography, the worldview through the medium of semi-auto- portraits feature more unintelligible symbolic biographical letters for the magazine Tirade, objects that become significant when placed later published as Op weg naar het einde [On in context of the current affairs of the time.13 my way to the end] (1963) and Nader tot U Though to the layman they look like kitsch

84 Kunstlicht nr. 2 / 3 – 2012 decorations, many of the objects embody koala, the panda, and the fox represent him references to highly controversial themes and his lovers.15 In his novels, real- and stuffed and events in Reve’s work and life during the animals are often mutilated into submis- late 1960s. Pictures and toy donkeys refer to sion; arguably referring to Reve’s religiously the ‘donkey trial’ of 1966, in which Reve was inspired sexual preferences revolving around accused of heresy for presenting God as a penance and unconditional surrender. The ‘one-year old, mouse-grey donkey’ whom he caged teddy bear features in Op weg naar het ‘possesses’ in Nader tot U. The heresy trial einde as one of Reve’s sexual fantasies, in took place in the same year Reve converted to which Wimie’s new partner is a caged panda Catholicism, leading many to believe he was subject to Reve’s will and mercy. A mild ex- mocking the Church he swore to genuinely pression of animal mutilation first occurs in adhere. his seminal novel De avonden (The Evenings) It is therefore significant that a copy of (1947), in which the main character projects Nader tot U features as an object in the photo, his emotions of despair and love on a stuffed sitting on the desk where Reve is writing ‘God rabbit, lavishly represented in the Reve por- is de Liefde’ [God is the Love] while directly trait series.16 confronting us with his gaze. In its pres- Such a seemingly banal personal object ence, the stuffed donkey on the piano and as a stuffed animal becomes the embodiment the postcard of a donkey on the wall, many of of a bigger search for meaning around which which were sent to Reve by means of fan- or Reve’s oeuvre revolves, in which masochism, hate mail, no longer seem childish or nostal- sexuality, suffering and submission are all in- gic. The controversial sexual connotation of trinsically linked to the search for love, death the donkey imbues the religious iconography and the divine. The still lifes in the images of in the image with new meaning. In his ‘Vier the artist’s studio are of an almost allegorical Pleidooien’ [Appeal to the court] (1967), Reve significance. Yet in the light of the events of explained his understanding of God, which the 1960s, the objects are highly particular equals love defined by mutual submission to and personal to the sitter. As such, the rep- one another. God, so he says, is lonely, too, and resentational character of the images hovers the ultimate way to unite with Him is sexu- between universal symbolism and biographi- ally.14 cal documentation. Op weg naar het einde also reveals the origin of each of the other stuffed animals Staging the Self featured over and over again in his portraits; ‘When things are “staged” and “put in the the bear wearing Reve’s children’s shoes, the picture”, whether in photos, literature or

7 E. De Jongh, Tot Lering en Vermaak. Betekenissen van Hol- Interviews, Baarn 1983, pp. 158-167. landse genrevoorstellingen uit de zeventiende eeuw, exh. 12 G. Reve, Nader tot U, Amsterdam 1966, pp. 9-10. Author’s cat. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 1956. translation. 8 S. Raviez, Raviez’ Reve : 1968-1987, from the series ‘Achter 13 The portraits accompanied a surge in Reve’s popular- het boek’, no. 37, Den Haag 2001. ity at the end of the 1960s, triggered by the release of 9 R. Barthes, ‘Death of the Author’, in: Aspen, (1967) 5-6. For bestsellers Op Weg naar het Einde [On My Way To the a concise history of Aspen, a loose-leafed magazine in box End] (1963) and Nader tot U [Nearer to Thee] (1966). Op form, see ‘The Box as Meeting Place: Artistic Encounters Weg naar het Einde was the first book in his oeuvre to ex- in Aspen Magazine (1965-1971)’ by Maarten van Gageldonk plicitly feature homosexuality, outing Reve as one of the in this issue of Kunstlicht (pp. 129-137). first openly homosexual Dutch celebrities. In 1969 Reve 10 Reve’s work is pursed with random yet significant ob- received the prestigious P.C. Hooftprijs from minister jects, reminding of the Nouveau Roman; a novel revolving Marga Klompé, whom he famously kissed upon receiving around objects, ‘subordinating plot and character to the the prize, an act that was considered very inappropriate. details of the world rather than enlisting the world in 14 G. Reve, ‘Vier Pleidooien’, in: Verzameld Werk 2, Amster- their service’. M. Jakob, ‘On the Poetics of Things in Mo- dam 1999. dernity’, in: T. Seelig and U. Stahel, The Extasy of Things, 15 Reve, op. cit. (note 12), pp. 42-43. exh. cat. Fotomuseum Winterthur, Göttingen 2004, p. 45. 16 Rabbits feature in the photographs from the 1960s to the 11 Reve in an interview with W.L. Brugsma, broadcasted by 1990s. The original rabbit that inspired the book was a NOS, March 17, 1974. See: W.L. Brugsma, ‘Nederland op present to his ex-wife Hanny Michaelis, and is now a valu- weg naar het einde?’, in: G. Reve, In gesprek. able relic in the Letterkundig Museum.

85 Visual Narratives – Hinde Haest films, or, for example, in the arrangement of according to the photographer this was not furniture and accessories, this is often aimed merely a provocative publicity stunt; the at conscious or unconscious self-stylization picture embodied a fundamental belief on and representation of the subject (or owner)’17. which Reve positioned himself as a ‘citizen- Actively constructing his image as a writer writer’ and a craftsman making a living from through the attributes accompanying him, his trade. Through his banal kitsch and his Reve was one of the first celebrities to exploit bourgeois ethic, he aimed to distance himself the new media to such an unprecedented from the image of the artist-genius. extent. Ronald Sweering and his ex-partner Gerard Reve thus actively employed por- Willem van Albada were among the many who traiture in his quest for controversy and pub- portrayed Reve as a general, in respectively licity. A professional provocateur, Reve knew an army suit (1967) and a colonial costume how to exploit the controversial appeal of the (1969). These costumes can be argued to refer combination of homo(eroticism) and religious to his sexual preference for uniforms and symbolism in his writing, public appearances, submission, but are also part of Reve’s life and portraits. The peculiar combination of performance. Claiming to have served as a kitsch and religious iconography, and contro- lieutenant in India, or to be a descendant of versial objects such as the caged bear and the a Norwegian maritime officer who died in donkey, can thus be argued to simultaneously combat, or to be an engraver named Frans constitute a reference to the characteristic Pannekoek (who in fact was a friend of his), spiritual symbolism in Reve’s literary oeuvre, was all part of a life-long parody, which also an outright challenge of the norms and values kept his business going. By creating a myth of the 1960s, and a successful publicity stunt. surrounding his background and his beliefs, he remained the topic of discussion, which in- The Schizophrenic Portrait variably stranded at the classic Reve-question: By fictionalizing himself as a character in his ‘was he being serious?’ work and public appearances, Reve blurred Having famously argued ‘the writer runs the line between autobiography and fic- a business’, Reve indeed had quite explicit tion. His regular presence in the media and views about the importance of image build- photographic portraits have not clarified the ing. From the early 1960s onwards he was ambiguity between his fictional- and autobio- publicly represented in many interviews, let- graphical work. Plural and contradictory nar- ters, books, radio- and TV shows. Coming of ratives spun around his persona helped create age during the Second World War, Reve had a and sustain his contested image and blurred deeply rooted fear of poverty, resulting in his the art-author dichotomy. Such visually and characteristic thrift and hoarding behaviour.18 literarily stylized portrayal of plural selves ren- In the portrait by Posthuma de Boer, the text ders both forms of narrative schizophrenic. on the bear cage reads ‘Vrees voor tekort aan Diane Arbus describes the photographic kasgeld’ [Beware of a lack of cash], allowing for subject as only one version of a self that is un- a broader interpretation of the object besides knowable, writing: [it appears] like metaphors its sexual reference. The need to earn a living somewhere further out than we do, beck- by means of his books and public appearances oned, not driven, invented by belief, author is regularly described in his correspondences, and hero of a real dream by which our own often quoting exact transaction details. courage and cunning are tested and tried; A famous image by Steye Raviez mir- so that we may wonder all over again what rors Posthuma de Boer’s photograph showing is veritable and inevitable and possible and Reve, once again armed with a quill, this time what it is to become whoever we may be.’19 She writing ‘Lang leve het Kapitalisme’ [Long live thus presents the photographic subject as an Capitalism] on a sheet of paper. Writing in inherently constructed persona. The subject the 1960s, and originating from a communist is both metaphor and author of a real dream, nest, this was a highly controversial state- a fiction created by means of depicting reality. ment, and therefore an instant hit. However, The truthfulness of this invented persona is

86 Kunstlicht nr. 2 / 3 – 2012 not relevant, as we are all still learning ‘what it or demystifying this reality.’22 As such, both is to become whoever we may be’. Reve’s portrait series and his literary anec- Reve’s speech during an honorary cer- dotes should be seen as approximations of emony in the Allerheiligste Hartkerk (Amster- a truth; his visual and verbal autobiographi- dam) in 1969 underscores the genuine nature cal narratives as varying fictions around his of his ambiguous identity. person which might not be fact, but may well be true. Maybe those who say he is an actor, a charlatan, a comedian, he is a clown (whether they are enemies I do not know), could think differently of me. And to those Personalia people I would like to say: yes it is true, I am an actor, a comedian, a charlatan, and a Hinde Haest obtained an MA in Anthropol- clown. But the crazy thing is, that this role I ogy of Material and Visual Culture from play, is me, and that tonight (and I earnestly University College London. This article is a prelude to her research for the Rijksmuseum believe this), I have said nothing I did not book series Studies in Photography. Her 20 mean.’ study on the Reve portraits will be published early 2013, and is made possible by the In other words, Reve claims all versions Manfred & Hanna Heiting Fund. of himself presented in his work and in the media are veritable representations of the man he is. In this light, Reve’s charades should not be dismissed as mere publicity stunts. His literary anecdotes, his public appearances, and his portraits, should all be character- ized as a struggle to express as well as actively construct plural and contradictory sides of his person. When asked whether he was crazy, the writer answered: ‘Maybe, but if I am, there is a system to it.’21 In his systemic schizophre- nia, all Reve’s contradictory, semi-fictional literary passages revolve around themes to be explored and truths to be discovered, but not explained. In his public lectures at Leiden Uni- versity in 1985, Reve argues that the mission of both art and religion is the ‘interpretation of reality, without representing, explaining

17 G. Ecker, S. Scholz, ‘Found Objects, Staging, Effects. Reflections on Object Photography’, in: T. Seelig and is een acteur, een charlatan, een komediant, hij is een U. Stahel, The Ecstasy of Things, exh. cat. Fotomuseum clown, en tegen die mensen zou ik willen zeggen: ja dat is Winterthur, s.l. 2004, p. 175. waar. Ik ben een acteur, ik ben een komediant, ik ben een 18 Many of the objects in Posthuma de Boer’s portraits can charlatan, en een clown. Maar het krankzinnige is, dat already be identified in earlier images in the Rijksmu- de rol die ik speel, dat ik dat ben, en dat ik vanavond, dat seum collection. In a 1963 image by Artica Press (RP-F- geloof ik in diepe Ernst, eigenlijk niets gezegd heb wat ik 2011-21-15-9), Reve is seen moving all his kitsch (the vase niet heb gemeend.’ with plastic roses, a plastic Christmas tree, a plastic head 21 Andere Tijden, ‘Het Raadsel van Reve’ broadcasted by and a Buddha) with him when moving house. VPRO and NPS in 2003. 19 D. Arbus quoted in: R.A. Sobieszek, op. cit. (note 4), p. 30. 22 The four lectures were published as Zelf Schrijver Worden 20 Reve, op. cit. (note 14). Author’s translation. ‘Dat mis- (Amsterdam) in 2011. Author’s translation. ‘De opdracht schien mensen anders zouden over mij kunnen denken, van [beide] is de duiding van de werkelijkheid, zonder dat die altijd zeggen, of het vijanden zijn weet ik niet, hij zij die werkelijkheid weergeeft, verklaart of ontraadselt.’

87 Visual Narratives – Hinde Haest