Presentatie Robby Müller

As a cameraman, Robby Müller was responsible for memorable film shots in modern classics by such directors as Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch, Lars von Trier and Steve McQueen.

Whether he was working or not, Müller always carried around a photo camera. While travelling, he photographed in hotel rooms, from trains and on streets, always following the light or picking out unexpected details. Capturing striking images was something he also did in his home town of Amsterdam.

Series Amsterdams licht
In 2016 Eye presented Eye Robby Müller – Master of Light, a major exhibition of his work. A year later he was nominated for the Amsterdam Art Prize. During a newspaper interview, the conversation turned to his Amsterdam photos. Couldn’t they be published as a series in Het Parool? Müller passed away in 2018 but a year later his wife, the art historian and image editor Andrea Müller-Schirmer, made that happen. For the weekly series Amsterdams licht, she selected photos taken by Müller on his walks through Amsterdam.

She wrote short associative texts to accompany them, which tell us a lot about Müller’s way of working and looking at the world. She often cited Müller himself, who once said of his approach to filming: ‘The magic of the image depends on the viewer who believes in the reality of the light. I tend to have a lot of respect for the light already there on location. […] I like to give the audience a chance to discover things for themselves, instead of patronizing them with artificial references to light and frames.’

Special publication
Amsterdams licht appeared weekly in Het Parool from 6 May 2019 to 15 June 2020. The series has now been released as a book, entitled ‘Robby Müller – Amsterdam Photos’, by Roma Publications. Besides Müller’s photos and Müller-Schirmer’s texts, the book includes contributions from Bianca Stigter and Jan Pieter Ekker. It is designed by Linda van Deursen. On sale at the Eye Shop: € 25.

The book launch takes place on 21 February at the Annet Gelink Gallery, Amsterdam, from 17:00 to 19:00. A number of original photos from the series are on show at the gallery from 17 February to 4 March.