Inge Pål-Nils Nilsson (July 7, 1929 – May 25, 2002),[1] was a Swedish photographer and filmmaker active from the 1950s to the 1990s.

Goran Jarborg (1956) Portrait of photographer Pål-Nils Nilsson February 20, 1956

Early life edit

Pål-Nils Nilsson was the son of sculptor Robert Nilsson (1894–1984) and celebrated textile artist Barbro Nilsson (1899–1983).[2] After their marriage in 1928 the couple went abroad on a three-year artist scholarship, living mainly in Rome, where their son Pål-Nils Nilsson was born in 1929. Back in Sweden, the family lived in Stockholm. Summers were spent in Lerberget in the south of Höganäs, Robert Nilsson's home region.

Professional photographer edit

 
Pål-Nils Nilsson (c.1960) Stonemason
 
Pål-Nils Nilsson (1953) Painter and garden architect Emma Lundberg, grandmother of Pål-Nils Nilsson.

Nilsson started as an advertising photographer and with Sten Didrik Bellander (1921–2001), Harry Dittmar, Sven Gillsäter (1921–2001), Rune Hassner(1928–2003), Hans Malmberg (1927–1977), Georg Oddner(1923–2007), and Lennart Olson (1925–2010), Hans Hammarskiöld (1925–2012), Tore Johnson, and Hans Malmberg was a member of the professional collective Tio Fotografer ('Ten photographers') formed in 1958 and their subsequent photo agency Tiofoto. The group was influential in Swedish photography especially because among its members, Pål-Nils Nilsson, Hans Hammarskiöld, Rune Hassner, Georg Oddner and Lennart Olson held prominent positions in the educational and institutional spheres and they regularly exhibited at significant venues for photography, and the whole group was presented at the Hasselblad Centre in 1998, the year Nilsson became a professor of photography at the Fothögskolan in Gothenburg.

Work and recognition edit

In particular, Pål-Nils Nilsson has become famous for photos of Swedish landscapes and cultural environments and for his films for television. From 1955 for 30 years he illustrated the Swedish Tourist Association's annual journals and other books. He worked on stories that promoted the interests of the minority group, the Laplander Sami.[3] His photographs of the reindeer round-up in Sweden were featured in The Times in 1965.[4]

Edward Steichen included Nilsson in the world-touring Museum of Modern Art exhibition The Family of Man that was seen by 9 million visitors; it is a slow-shutter picture of a rapt young girl listening to a pianist amidst the swirling throng of an adult party.[5] Nilsson was included in two other MoMA exhibitions; Postwar European Photography, May 26 – August 23, 1953, and Photographs from the Museum Collection, November 26, 1958 – January 18, 1959.[6]

Personal life edit

In 1954, at age 24, Nilsson married photographer Ingegärd Nanny Kristina Nilsson (1931–2002) who was born in Göteborg, and they had two children. They divorced in 1973.

Collections edit

Publications edit

  • Jansson, Sven B. F. (Sven Birger Fredrik); Nilsson, Pål-Nils; Svenska turistföreningen (1980), Runstenar, Svenska turistföreningen, ISBN 978-91-7156-015-5
  • Nilsson, P.-N. (1956). Landskap. From series: Vi fotograferar, Stockholm: Bonnier.
  • Viggo Sten Møller: A book about Barbro Nilsson, with pictures by Pål-Nils Nilsson, Trevi, Stockholm 1977, ISBN 91-7160-299-2
  • Vägval (projekt), Nilsson, P.-N., & Landstingsförbundet. (1991). Vägval: Hälso- och sjukvårdens övergripande strukturer och framtiden. Stockholm: Landstingsförb.
  • Nilsson, P.-N., Reuterswärd, B., Reuterswärd, H., & Rädda barnen. (1988). Från barn till barn, fjärran syskon: Om barn i Peru till barn i Sverige : en berättelse hur det gick till när svenska barn samlade pengar till barn på Andernas högplatå. Stockholm: Rädda barnen. Lindström, P. (2008). Svart på vitt om Tio fotografer. Lund: Historiska media.
  • Nilsson, P.-N., & Ruong, I. (1967). Duov'dagat ja bargot: Låkkamušat sámi-gillii. Stockholm: SÖ-förl.
  • Nilsson, P.-N., Olson, L., Grünstein, D., Penn, I., Shore, S., Pare, R., Wiklund, P., ... Camera obscura. (1983). Camera obscura: 1983. Stockholm: Camera obscura.
  • Nilsson, P.-N., & Hård, . S. U. (1963). Nordiska Galleriet: Nybrogatan 11, Stockholm ö, 67 05 55. Snekkersten: Mobilia.
  • Jansson, S. B. F., Nilsson, P.-N., & Svenska turistföreningen. (1980). Runstenar. Stockholm: Svenska turistföreningen.

References edit

  1. ^ "Nationalmuseum - Pål-Nils Nilsson". Swedish National Museum. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  2. ^ "skbl.se - Barbro Nilsson". Swedish Women's Biographical Dictionary. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  3. ^ Hard af Segerstad, Ulf, Andersson, Gösta, & Nilsson, Pål-Nils, Dakkan. En bok om samernas slöjd. Ulf Hard af Segerstad, text, Gösta Andersson, Pål-Nils Nilsson, bild & bildtext. Sthm, Utbildningsförl., 1971.
  4. ^ "Reindeer Round-up in Sweden". Picture Gallery. The Times. No. 56516. London. 30 December 1965. p. 16. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  5. ^ Steichen, Edward; Steichen, Edward, 1879–1973, (organizer.); Sandburg, Carl, 1878–1967, (writer of foreword.); Norman, Dorothy, 1905–1997, (writer of added text.); Lionni, Leo, 1910–1999, (book designer.); Mason, Jerry, (editor.); Stoller, Ezra, (photographer.); Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.) (1955). The family of man : the photographic exhibition. Published for the Museum of Modern Art by Simon and Schuster in collaboration with the Maco Magazine Corporation. {{cite book}}: |author6= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ "Pal-Nils Nilsson". MoMA. Retrieved 2018-10-03.

External links edit

[1]