Photographer and cameramanBesides cameraman and film director, John Fernhout (Ferno) also was a photographer. The Nederlands Fotomuseum holds his photographic collection and archive. It focuses on Fernhout in the context of the exhibition This is War! Robert Capa at Work & Gerda Taro. John Fernhout was a good friend of Robert Capa. Together they witnessed of the Spanish Civil War and subsequently they went to China.
This dossier informs you about the life and work of John Fernhout.
Realization
Willem Popelier, as an assistant for the research group photography at AKV|St. Joost, Avans Hogeschool. In cooperation with Flip Bool, senior collections & research Nederlands Fotomuseum and lector photography at AKV|St. Joost.
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John (Ferno) Fernhout
Web articles
Family (1913-1928)
John Fernhout was a photographer, cameraman and director. He was the second son of the painter Charley Toorop and the philosopher Hendrik Fernhout. His grandfather, Jan Toorop, was a well-known painter and his brother, Edgar Fernhout, also chose that profession.
Apprenticeship with Ivens (1928-1931)
At a young age, John was placed under the care of the filmmaker Joris Ivens by his mother, Charley Toorop. Under Ivens, the originally jack-of-all-trades Fernhout developed into a cameraman who contributed substantially to many of Ivens’s films.
Berlin (1931-1932)
Joris Ivens encouraged Fernhout to take a technical course in photography. Eventually Fernhout decided to go to the Agfa Schule in Berlin, where he met the Hungarian photographer Eva Besnyö. They were married in 1933.
The Association of Worker-Photographers (1932-1934)
In the Netherlands, Fernhout joined the Studio Ivens and the Association of Worker- Photographers (VAF). After having produced a number of documentaries for the VAF, Fernhout gravitated towards cinema.
Voyage on the Three-Master 'Mercator' (1934-1935)
Fernhout made his first films as a director and cameraman in collaboration with the Belgian director Henri Storck, aboard the training vessel Mercator.
The Spanish Civil War (1937)
In 1937, Joris Ivens asked Fernhout to be the cameraman for a documentary about the Spanish Civil War, De Spaanse Aarde (The Spanish Earth). Besides shooting footage, Fernhout also took photographs, which were shown at the exhibition foto ’37 in the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
The Sino-Japanese War (1938)
Returning from Spain, Fernhout travelled to China together with Robert Capa to work as a cameraman for Ivens on The 400 Million, a film about the Japanese invasion of China.
The United States and the Liberation of Europe (1938-1945)
After travelling through Europe for a while, Fernhout settled in the United States under the name of John Ferno. There he worked on several films. In 1943, his second wife, dancer Polly Korchien, gave birth to their son Douwes.
After the War (1945-1987)
During this time, Fernhout was primarily active as a filmmaker, travelling all over the world and living in France, Italy, Israel and other countries. In these years, he mainly took private photographs.
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