A J Aalders – on earth

A selection by Gabriel Lester, The Clouds and Stones Collection of A.J. Aalders

Parallel to his exhibition, Gabriel Lester presents a special selection of two collections. At the KNMI, he found an impressive collection of contact prints of clouds, made by amateur meteorologist and weather photographer, Antoine J. Aalders (1890-1955).

Aalders was fascinated by storm in all its forms, as well as the orientation of clouds. He studied thunder, lightning and sinister skies from a purpose-built observatory, where his son joined him regularly. Before and during World War II Aalders photographed clouds in black and white. After the war he concentrated on colour photography. The "International Cloud Atlas" (1956) features several photos from his collection.

The photo collection of cloudswas donated by Mrs. H.S. Aalders to the Royal Meteorological Institute (KNMI) in July 1957 and consists of more than 6,000 large-screen negatives of clouds, neatly assembled and meticulously documented in stacks of notebooks.

His love and respect for nature is also evident from his collection of (stray) rocks and fossils, which is now part of the collection of Museum Twentse Welle. A selection of these rocks are on display in this presentation.

During the opening on September 11, from 4 - 6 pm, Wouter Janssen, coordinator of the KNMI information centre, will talk about the way in which we can interpret clouds, the weather, and the Aalders collection.