Artist: Sem Presser (1917-1986)

Italy, Napoli, 1953, streetscene.

Vintage gelatin silversprint, size 24x18cm, stamped verso ‘Copyright Sem Presser, Roquebrune Cap-Martin, France’.

Provenance: print from archive of the photographer in the possession of his heirs.

Sem Presser (1917-1986) started in 1937 as an independent photojournalist in Amsterdam. In 1944 he photographed the liberation of Arnhem and shortly after the war made reports of the devastated Germany. In 1951 he settled with his wife Joke in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France. They remained there until 1965. Sem Presser was involved in the creation and establishment of Zilveren Camera (the yearly photo contest in the Netherlands) , World Press Photo and the Dutch Association of Photojournalists (NVF) and BURAFO (nowadays Pictoright). He has spent his entire life successfully protecting and enforcing the copyrights of the photographer.