Chas Gerretsen

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Chas Gerretsen & Caribinero Mutual Suspicion, Santiago, Chile

Chas Gerretsen (born July 22, 1943 in Groningen , the Netherlands ) is a Dutch photojournalist and advertising photographer .

Life

Gerretsen left his homeland at the age of 16 to travel Europe for two years. In 1961 he emigrated to Australia and from there in 1963 to the USA .

plant

In 1968 Chas visited Vietnam for the first time , he crossed the border from Cambodia at Go Dau Ha. Between 1968 and 1972 Chas was a war photographer in South Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Right at the beginning, Chas met the American photojournalist Dana Stone, who became known through his work for CBS in the Vietnam War . During this time, Chas worked as a freelancer for media such as ABC , Newsweek and United Press International .

Chas Gerretsen in front of one of his most famous photos of the Chilean coup in 1973. In 2010 the Dutch government donated three large images etched in glass to the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos in Santiago, Chile.

Gerretsen became internationally known for his photos of the military coup in Chile on September 11, 1973. His portrait of the dictator Augusto Pinochet , whom he photographed a few weeks after his coup, became famous . It is considered the embodiment of the South American dictator par excellence. Chas took the picture at the blessing of Pinochet by a Catholic priest in a church in Santiago. In 1974 he was awarded the Robert Capa Gold Medal together with David Burnett and Raymond Depardon for reporting on the coup in Chile in 1973 .

From 1975 to 1989 he lived in Los Angeles, where he founded the Mega Prod. Inc. photo agency . In 1976 he worked as a still photographer for Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979). He also starred in the 1984 American comedy Hunting for the Green Diamond .

literature

  • Gerretsen, Chas . In: Wim van Sinderen et al .: Photographers in Nederland: een anthologie 1852-2002. Ludion, Amsterdam; Fotomuseum, The Hague 2002, ISBN 90-76588-35-X , pp. 124-125.
  • Veronica Hekking: A photo as voertuig van de macht. Gebruik en hergebruik van Chas Gerretsen's portrait of Augusto Pinochet. In: Nelke Bartelings et al. (Ed.): Beelden in veelvoud. De vermenigvuldiging van het beeld in prentkunst en photography. Leids Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 12, Leiden 2002, pp. 409-426.

Web links

Chas Gerretsen at the Nederlands Fotomuseum (Dutch, English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biographical information at the Nederlands Fotomuseum (English).
  2. ↑ Zalin Grant: Dana and Louise: A war couple (English).
  3. ↑ Chas Gerretsen: Generaal Augusto Pinochet met officieren na afloop van de Heilige mis ter ere van Chili's Onafhankelijkheidsdag, Santiago (1973). Collection of the Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam.
  4. ↑ Chas Gerretsen in the Internet Movie Database (English).
  5. ↑ See cast of On the Hunt for the Green Diamond in the Internet Movie Database .
personal data
SURNAME Gerretsen, Chas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gerretsen, Charles Arthur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch photojournalist and advertising photographer
DATE OF BIRTH July 22, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Groningen , the Netherlands