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Hans Hammarskiöld belonged to a group of angry young photographers who demanded their place on the Swedish photography scene after the Second World War. With its new experimental approach to photos, the group protested against the photographic esthetics that portrayed Sweden in a perpetual romantic light during the 1940s. In his ”Unga fotografer” exhibition in 1949, Hammarskiöld provoked the conservative body of photographers with his graphically simplified images, with coarse grain. These abstract photographs attracted significant media attention and led to work within the newspaper and publishing industry in Stockholm. Strong design-based fashion work and portraits opened the door in 1954, when he moved to London to work with the British ”Vogue” fashion magazine. With even better self-confidence, Hammarskiöld returned to Sweden after two years and subsequently became one of the country’s leading photographers, with an unusually versatile repertoire. In 1958, Hammarskiöld and nine of his contemporary photographers, formed the group ”Tio fotografer” , which has been a force that has set the tone for photography in Sweden ever since. During the 1970s, he worked with electronically controlled slideshow, with up to 36 slide projectors simultaneously. Since the 1990s, he has employed considerable sensitivity to portray old historical environments in Sweden, which has led to a large number of book projects. Exhibitions One-man (selected) 1951 Rotohallen, Stockholm, Sweden. 1956 The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, England 1979 Douglas Elliot Gallery, Los Angeles, USA 1989 Gotlands Fornsal, Visby, Sweden 1993 The Modern Museum of Art, Stockholm, Sweden 1994 Palais de la Decouverte, Paris, France 2009 Nationalmuseum / National Museum, Stockholm, Sweden
CV 1925 - Born in Stockholm, Sweden. 1941 - Started to photograph. 1944 - Graduated from high school. 1948 - Assistant to the legendary portrait photographer Rolf Winqvist at Ateljé Uggla in Stockholm. 1949 - Employed photographer at Ateljé Bellander. 1951 - Be awarded the Svenska Dagbladet photographic prize. 1952 - Participate in the ”Subjektive fotografie” exhibition, Saarbrücken, managed by Otto Steinert. 1952 - Travels to New York where he meets Edward Steichen, Irving Penn, Cecil Beaton and W.Eugene Smith. 1955-6 - Moves to London, employed photographer at ”Vogue”. 1955 - Participate in the exhibition ”The Family of Man”, New York. 1968 - Starts working with slideshows. 1971 - Produce a slideshow ”Perspective on technique”, to the industrial company ASEA, Västerås. 1971 - Decorate the Sheraton Hotel in Stockholm with large size photographs, with subjects from Stockholm. Represented (selected) Hasselblad Center, Gothenburg, Sweden Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, Sweden Nationalmuseum / National Museum, Stockholm, Sweden Library of Congress, Washington, USA Finnish Museum of Photgraphy, Helsinki, Finland Worester Art Museum, Massachusetts, USA Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris, France. |