Famous Portrait Photographer Hans Gedda Captures Intimate Moments

Portrait Photographer Hans Gedda, Angela Davis, ca 1972. Cecilia Heisser/Nationalmuseum ©Hans Gedda

ART REVIEW

Portrait Photographer Hans Gedda Captures Intimate Moment of Famous People

BY KAZAD

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN —The Nationalmuseum recently held a retrospective exhibition of works by photographer Hans Gedda, one of Sweden’s leading portrait photographers. Featuring almost 140 works, the exhibition covers the period from the 1950s to the present day. Included in the exhibition are Portrait Photographer Hans Gedda’s celebrated portraits of Angela Davis, Andy Warhol and Nelson Mandela which are appearing alongside famous Swedes such as Olof Palme, Birgit Nilsson, and Jonas Gardell. Also incorporated in the show are nature studies, still lifes and semi-documentary images.

Gedda began showing a keen interest in photography at a very young age. During his student days, he worked with Teddy Aarni in Eskilstuna and later was an assistant to Rolf Winquist at Ateljé Uggla. Gedda’s photography career advanced in 1967 with the portraits of Sara Lidman and Tove Jansson. Since then, his professional photography career has progressed with lots of photography jobs coming his way from around the globe. Gedda has worked as a commercial photographer all his life.

In his works, Gedda explores mixed portrait photography with semi-documentary photojournalism.  Gedda’s black and white photography captures his models’ intimate moments. His circus images of clowns commissioned by Cirkus Scott are particularly funny and dramatic. One of his most innovative works is a portrait of King Carl XVI Gustaf. His photographs of the Young Somali Refugee, 1992, and Somali Refugee Family, 1992 are very touching. They are reminders of a devastating moment in history, and the consequences conflict on children. Gedda’s photograph of Nelson Mandela taken shortly after he was released from jail has become even more iconic with the passing of this great African leader. Here are some of his works displayed at Nationalmuseum, Konstakademien, Fredsgatan 12, Stockholm.