Frontcover for a magazine about the port of Ghent, Belgium. Printed by Kossikoff on Agfa Brovira paper. Signed and dated in the negative.

Vintage silver print ca. 24 x 18 cm

Nikolaï Kossikoff (1898 - 1975) was born in Kharkov, Ukraine. Then part of the Russian Empire. In 1923 he arrived in Ghent, Belgium. He worked as a painter in the restauration works of churches. In 1925 he took back up his old hobby of photography. Being self-educated he developed his own technique and style with deep beautiful blacks.

From 1935 until the Second World War he worked on the documentary of the port of Ghent. Many of his photographs were published in the year books of the port. We offer a typical example of these harbor photos in a modernist style. Like other photographers during the interwar period, he works with extreme camera angles. As he writes in his biography:
"In order to have the most interesting points of view I climbed all the cranes of the port with an old view camera under a black blancket, despite heavy prostesting from my wife. It was a strange experience when the crane I was on started to swing to the right as if it was trying to shake me off! But I loved the sport and I was fascinated by the result despite the huge difficulties waiting for me at home : at the time I didn't have the right camera , no dark room, no enlarger and certainly not the money to buy them."

[Information and text based on the research done by Xavier Debeerst]

Literature:
There is a street in Ghent named "Nicolaï Kossikoffstraat".