CHRISTER STRÖMHOLM

905. Bleka damen (The Pale Lady), Barcelona, 1959

Christer Strömholm is regarded as one of the leading figures in Swedish photographic art, and his work has also gained international recognition. In the 1960s, he founded Fotoskolan in Stockholm and served as its director from 1962 to 1974. Through his teaching, he played a significant role in establishing photography as an accepted art form in Sweden.

Strömholm's primary mode of expression was classical black-and-white photography. He became known for his street photography, and his most celebrated works include intimate and documentary-style portrait series from Paris in the 1950s. Through his lens, he portrayed prostitutes, transsexuals, and people living on the margins of society. His portraits of friends around the nightclubs in Moulin Rouge and Place Blanche were considered provocative at the time but are now regarded as iconic classics within his production. Other well-known motifs include his photographs of children, taken during travels to Spain, the United States, India, and Japan, among other countries. Strömholm lived periodically in Paris during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, and his photographs capture both the poverty of post-war Europe and the darker aspects of life. As a person, Strömholm was controversial; he volunteered for the Spanish Civil War, the Finnish Winter War, and was involved in the Norwegian resistance movement.

"Bleka Damen" (The Pale Lady) is wearing heavy make-up and was photographed one afternoon in a brothel in Barcelona during a trip in 1959, between guided tours. Strömholm financed his photography and travels through a variety of temporary jobs, including work as a photojournalist, bartender, and tour guide. Bleka Damen is one of his most famous works, and the photograph has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City.

906. Hotel Central, Paris