Christer Strömholm Explained

Christer Strömholm
Birth Date:July 18, 1918
Birth Place:Vaxholm, Sweden
Death Place:Stockholm, Sweden
Nationality:Swedish
Other Names:Christer Christian (pseudonym)
Occupation:Photographer

Christer Strömholm (July 22, 1918 – January 11, 2002), also known by the pseudonym Christer Christian, was a Swedish photographer and educator. He is known for his intimate black and white street photography portrait series, particularly his portraits of transgender women in Paris.[1] Strömholm received the 1997 Hasselblad Award.[2]

Life and career

Strömholm was born in Vaxholm, Sweden, to Lizzie Strömholm and Fredrik Strömholm, an army officer. His childhood was marked by family instability. The family moved frequently, and in 1924 his parents divorced, but remarried shortly thereafter. In 1934, Strömholm's father committed suicide.

Beginning in 1933, Strömholm was active in the Nazi Nordic Youth movement, modelled after Hitler Youth. He led one of its cells during this time, and in 1936 hoisted a flag of a swastika on the People's House in Stockholm.[3] Over the course of his young adulthood, however, his political perspective changed; he joined the Swedish Volunteer Corps at the age of 21, and supported the Norwegian resistance movement later in the war.[4]

In 1937 Strömholm travelled to Dresden to study art under the German painter .[5] However, he came into conflict with Paul Klee and other Bauhaus artists, and his stay in Dresden was brief.[6]

Strömholm was a member of Otto Steinert's Fotoform group of photographers for subjective photography.[2] He co-founded Fotoskolan academy in Stockholm in 1962 and was its director.[7] Alumni of the school include production designer Anna Asp, cinematographer Bille August, and photographers Anders Petersen, Björn Dawidsson (Dawid), and Gunnar Smoliansky.[8] He is noted for his depictions of transsexual women in the Place Blanche area of 1950-1960s' Paris, published as Les amies de Place Blanche.[9] The historian Philip Charrier has investigated how Strömholm represents his Place Blanche trans subjects relative to their own self-narratives and period societal views on transgenderism.[10] The critic Sean O'Hagan, writing in The Guardian, said he "is known as the father of Swedish photography both for his abiding influence and for his role as a teacher."[9]

In 1998 Strömholm received the 1997 Hasselblad Award. The award citation described him as "one of Scandinavia's leading photographers, and [...] the first post-war photographer to gain international renown".[2]

Books

Awards

Exhibitions

External links

Note: This article contains content from the Swedish-language edition of Wikipedia

Notes and References

  1. Philip Charrier, "The Trans Body in Christer Strömholm's Vännerna Från Place Blanche (1981)", Photographies 15(1) 2022: 33-56; Philip Charrier, "The Photographic Gaze Meets the Medical Gaze: Two Cross-Dressing Men in Christer Strömholm's Place Blanche," Photography and Culture 14(1) 2021: 51-70.
  2. Web site: Christer Strömholm. Hasselblad Foundation.
  3. https://tidningar.kb.se/4112714/1997-10-19/edition/11427/part/3/page/5/?q=Christer%20Str%C3%B6mholm%20straffarbete&from=1997-01-01&to=1997-12-31 Göteborgs-Posten 1997-10-19
  4. Book: Strömholm, Christer . Poste restante . 1967 . Norstedt . Stockholm . Swedish.
  5. Web site: Press release: Christer Strömholm is awarded the Hasselblad Foundation International Photography Prize for 1997. Hasselblad Foundation. September 30, 1997. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110809134417/http://www.hasselbladfoundation.org/assets/pdf/97-Stromholm-en.pdf. August 9, 2011.
  6. Book: Strömholm, Christer . CMR: the Hasselblad Award 1997 : imprints by Christer Strömholm . 1998 . Hasselblad center . Gothenburg . 91-630-6483-9.
  7. Web site: Les Amies de Place Blanche. March 21, 2014 . .
  8. Web site: Christer Strömholm . Steidl . July 5, 2021.
  9. Web site: Les amies de Place Blanche by Christer Strömholm – review. Sean O'Hagan. March 2, 2012. The Guardian.
  10. Philip Charrier, "The Trans body in Christer Strömholm's Vännerna Från Place Blanche" (1981), Photographies 15(1) 2022: 33-56; Philip Charrier, "The Photographic Gaze Meets the Medical Gaze: Two Cross-Dressing Men in Christer Strömholm's Place Blanche," Photography and Culture 14(1) 2021: 51-70.
  11. Web site: Christer Strömholm: Les Amies de Place Blanche. 21 March 2014 . .

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