Workwear in the collection
How did people dress for the architecture office, building site, factory and studio of the past? To mark the occasion of the Workwear exhibition, we searched the National Collection for working clothes. Here’s a small selection of all the tailor-made suits, fedora hats and dust jackets that we found.
22 March 2023
Staff members at Firma W.H. Gispen, c. 1951. File: Various glass negatives. W.H. Gispen archive. Collection Nieuwe Instituut, GISP 133
Architect Jos Klijn. J. Klijn archive. Collection Nieuwe Instituut, KLIJ s15
Workshop at Firma W.H. Gispen. File: Glass negatives workplaces. W.H. Gispen archive. Collection Nieuwe Instituut, GISP 240
Architect Berend Tobia Boeyinga. B.T. Boeyinga archive. Collection Nieuwe Instituut, BOEY 41
Group portrait of employees at Firma W.H. Gispen. File: Glass negatives group portraits. W.H. Gispen archive. Collection Nieuwe Instituut, GISP 243
Construction work at an unknown location. H.P. Berlage archive. Collection Nieuwe Instituut, BERL ph35
Working on the foundations of Blaak, Rotterdam, 1978-1984. Piet Blom archive. Collection Nieuwe Instituut, BLOM f263
Woman at a sewing machine in the factory of Firma W.H. Gispen. W.H. Gispen archive. Collection Nieuwe Instituut, GISP n81
Office worker at Van den Broek & Bakema. File: Siemens headquarters in Munich, 1971. Van den Broek & Bakema archives. Collection Nieuwe Instituut, BROX f1772-295
Woman pouring coffee at the Van den Broek & Bakema office. File: Siemens headquarters in Munich, 1971. Van den Broek & Bakema archive. Collection Nieuwe Instituut, BROX f1772-320a
Sixteen workmen at a table. File: Glass negative interiors. W.H. Gispen archive. Collection Nieuwe Instituut, GISP 161
Fitting out the Bijenkorf department store in Rotterdam, 1956-57. Abraham Elzas archive. Collection Nieuwe Instituut, ELZA f5
Group portrait at the entrance of Hamers architecture office with some of the staff members. M.H. Hamers archive. Collection Nieuwe Instituut, HAMH ph9
Cornelis van Eesteren with a group of students during classes in Weimar, sometime between 1927 and 1930. Van Eesteren archive, Collection Nieuwe Instituut, EEST 10.1324
Workshop at Firma W.H. Gispen. File: Glass negatives workplaces. W.H. Gispen archive. Collection Nieuwe Instituut, GISP 249
Architect Cora Nicolai-Chaillet at her drawing table. Cora Nicolai-Chaillet. Collection Nieuwe Instituut, CORA f8
Painters at work in Ateliers Cuypers & Co. Kunstwerkplaats Cuypers & Co. archive. Collection Nieuwe Instituut, CUCO n419
Windowcleaner. File: Christelijk Lyceum Almelo, 1957. Auke Komter archive. Collection Nieuwe Instituut, KOMT f61
Construction workers on the Sonneveld House building site, Jongkindstraat 12 in Rotterdam, c. 1932. Beheer Huis Sonneveld archive. Collection Nieuwe Instituut, SONN n9
Construction workers on the Sonneveld House building site, Jongkindstraat 12 in Rotterdam, c. 1932. Beheer Huis Sonneveld archive. Collection Nieuwe Instituut, SONN n9
Construction of the park with De Haar Castle and the original village in the background, 1895. Photographer: E.A. van Blitz. De Haar Castle archive, Collection Nieuwe Instituut, HAAR ph885
Group portrait with workmen and supervisors working at De Haar Castle, 1897. De Haar Castle archive, Collection Nieuwe Instituut, HAAR ph906
The Workwear exhibition is on show from 26 March in the Nieuwe Instituut. The images above are not part of this exhibition.
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Workwear