Now opening "Hans Hammarskiöld - A Life in Highlight" at Fotografiska

On May 17, 1925, Hans Hammarskiöld was born in Stockholm, and 24 years later, what would become a lifelong career as a photographer took off. He soon moved effortlessly between different genres, including as an internationally successful fashion photographer and often commissioned to portray famous artists, writers, photographers, and royalty.

In the new exhibition Hans Hammarskiöld - A Life in Highlights, everything from 1950s London to abstract still lifes, fashion photographs, and several of his now iconic portraits are displayed.

- All of Hans's works are characterized by the desire to experiment and the ability to find new perspectives. That he was also a person with humor and warmth shines through in everything he did, says Niclas Östlind, photography professor and curator of the exhibition.

Above all, Hans Hammarskiöld was a photographer with an artistic eye, and with an ever-burning interest in how light, space, and the depicted interact and form an interesting composition.

"Had an ability to capture the everyday"

- Hans Hammarskiöld had an ability to capture the everyday in a way that made it appear both universal and personal. It is always clearly visible in his photographs the enormous trust he received from the people he portrayed, says art historian Joakim Geiger, who curated the exhibition together with Niclas Östlind.

In the photographs from London in the mid-1950s, Hans Hammarskiöld's strong sense of detail is evident, his ability to sense, convey, and depict the character of places - and not least the Londoners. The fashion photographs, from the 1950s and 1960s, are characterized by elegance and inventiveness, with examples from the covers of British Vogue where Hans Hammarskiöld worked from 1954 to 1956.

Most of the images in the exhibition consist of portraits from five decades, often of the great artists of the time, as Hans Hammarskiöld was close to the avant-garde art scene in the 1960s. Here you can also see several of Hans Hammarskiöld's photographic experiments where the images are often more abstract than representational. A separate section highlights his documentation of the legendary exhibition She - A Cathedral, which was shown at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm in 1966.

Shaped Swedish photography over several decades

Along with Georg Oddner, Rune Hassner, and Lennart Olsson, Hans Hammarskiöld founded the group Ten Photographers in 1958. Together they shaped Swedish photography over several decades. When Hans Hammarskiöld passed away in 2012, he was the last remaining representative.

- Their work truly marked a new era for photography, and the reportage-like and experimental images exuded a different boldness and strength than the previous generation's, says Fotografiska's exhibition manager Lisa Hydén.

The memorial exhibition Hans Hammarskiöld - A Life in High Light is produced by Fotografiska Stockholm and curated by photography professor Niclas Östlind and art historian Joakim Geiger in collaboration with Hans Hammarskiöld Heritage.

Artist Talk with Hammarskiöld in Focus

On Friday, January 31, we invite you to a discussion about Hans Hammarskiöld - a photographer who shaped Swedish photography over decades. Joining the discussion are Hans Hammarskiöld Heritage represented by Richard Hammarskiöld and the exhibition curators Niclas Östlind and Joakim Geiger. The discussion is moderated by Konstkompaniet's Jenny Danielsson.

Hans Hammarskiöld - A Life in High Light is on display from January 31, 2025 - October 5, 2025.

Read more and see more exhibitions at Fotografiska.se.