Frits Weeda: In De Schaduw Van De Welvaart - Amsterdam 1958-1965

Old working-class neighbourhoods, buildings threatened with demolition and villages on the city's edge form a documentary view of Amsterdam undergoing redevelopment. The photographs show the beauty and decay of Kattenburg before demolition, alongside the rural character of Buiksloot and Sloterdijk as new housing absorbed them into the expanding city. The gallery of the Paleis voor Volksvlijt is among the buildings affected by this transformation. Urban renewal and the disappearance of familiar surroundings run through the work. Although the photographs were initially regarded as nostalgic and romantic, their criticism of redevelopment went unrecognised at the time. The book accompanied an exhibition at the Amsterdam Municipal Archives, bringing these views of neighbourhoods and outlying villages together as a record of a changing urban landscape.