SJOSTEDT, Ulf (Georg) 1935-

PERSONAL: Born April 7, 1935, in Karistad, Sweden; married Brita Karang in 1970 (divorced, 1985); children: Katarina. Education: Studied graphics and photography at Konstindustriskolan, Göteborg, Sweden, 1959-62; Institute of Higher Marketing Education, Göteborg, graduate degree, 1973.

ADDRESSES: Home—Valnotsgatan 6, S-426 74 V. Frolunda, Sweden.

CAREER: Photographer. Tryckare (publishing company), Göteborg, Sweden, employee, 1962-64; Nordisk Tidskrift för Fotografi (magazine), editor, 1964-66; Hasselblad Magazine, editor-in-chief, 1967-75; Victor Hasselblad AB (photo equipment company), Göteborg, advertising manager, 1969-82, regional sales manager, 1983-91, Hasselblad FORUM, editor, 1994—. Exhibitions: Works included in permanent collections at Fotografiska Museet, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, at Varmlands Museum, Karlstad, Sweden, and Boras Museum, Sweden. Solo exhibitions include Swedish Artisans at the Historical Museum, Göteborg, 1966, Pictures at Pentax Gallery, London, England, Instituto Fotografico, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1982, and Lycksele Konstforening, Sweden, 1990. Group exhibitions include Two Generations at the Art Museum, Göteborg, 1961, Fantastic Photography in Europe, Fondacion Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain, 1976, and Naturfotografi i Sverige, Hasselblad Center, Göteborg, 1992. Military service: Swedish Army Infantry, Falun and Stockholm, 1957-59.

AWARDS, HONORS: Municipal Culture Award, Göteborg, 1967; Welinder Award, Swedish Photographers Association, 1967; Swedish Authors Fund Award, 1972, 1976, 1979, 1982, 1985, 1989, 1993.

WRITINGS:

Min Bilderbok, [Göteborg, Sweden], 1961.

Modern Reklam, text by Lars Foxe, [Göteborg, Sweden], 1967.

En Bok om Några Vanner, ([Göteborg, Sweden], 1971.

Katarina: Stina och Sommaren, [Göteborg, Sweden], 1976.

Sjön Suger, text by Bengt Petersen, [Göteborg, Sweden], 1976.

Mina Mest Subjektiva Bilder, [Alingsås, Sweden], 1979.

Den Fotografiska Bilden, Spektra [Halmstad, Sweden], 1979.

Barn på Bild, [Halmstad, Sweden], 1981.

Foto på Resaw, [Halmstad, Sweden], 1981.

Nya Bilder, Fotografiska Museet I Moderna Museet [Stockholm, Sweden], 1981.

(Photo-illustrator) Svenungson, Erland, Vid Stranden, [Göteborg, Sweden], 1981.

Fotokomposition, [Halmstad, Sweden], 1984.

Färgfotografi, [Halmstad, Sweden] 1990.

Poetisk Bilderbok, [Göteborg, Sweden], 1994.

Fotografiskt Bildtänkande, [Halmstad, Sweden], 1994.

Contributor to numerous publications, including Petersen's Photographic, Foto, and Nuova Fotografia.

SIDELIGHTS: A Contemporary Photographers writer noted that Ulf Sjöstedt has often been called Sweden's "best-known amateur photographer," even though he has shot professionally since 1950. The writer suggested, "In spite of a very prolific photographic activity, Sjöstedt has succeeded in preserving the amateur's curiosity and delight in experiment."

In a Contemporary Photographers entry, Sjöstedt said, "Most of my pictures are documentary, but, as photography can be used in many different ways, I am more interested in creative photography, in what Professor Otto Steinert called 'subjective photography.' Painters, draughtsmen, and graphic artists can use their media in order to capture a man's mood or his experience, and so can the photographer. It is true that photography has not yet produced a Leonardo, a Rembrandt or a Picasso, but be sure there will be one, someday."

Sjöstedt has maintained beginner's enthusiasm while working professionally as the head of a drawing department for a publishing company, and as an editor of several photo journals, including Hasselblad Magazine and Nordisk Tidskrift för Fotografi. An experienced lecturer, he has published more than one dozen books, including Min Bilderbok, Modern Reklam, Katarina: Stina och Sommaren, and Sjon Suger. Sjöstedt has also contributed articles on photography to many journals.

In an article Sjöstedt wrote in Petersen's Photographic, titled, "In Search of Great Themes, Windows and Walls," the photographer remarked, "Many photographers have trouble finding things to shoot. Actually there's good subject matter everywhere. You just have to know when—and where—to look for it." The Contemporary Photographers writer said, "Much of what he does can be classified as family and holiday photos."

Sjöstedt's better-known works are photographs from the 1970s that convey a 1950s aesthetic—the '50s were a period of widespread subjective photography. An admirer of the work of Russian constructivists Aleksandr Rodchenko and Wassily Kandinsky, Sjöstedt applies these artists' theories of geometrical composition to his own "subjective" photos.

Other areas of interest include birches, which Sjöstedt considers a symbol of Sweden; romanticism; and the sea, a symbol of his new home, the West Coast. He participates in exhibitions internationally.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Contemporary Photographers, third edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1996.

Wigh, Leif, Fotograferna och det Svenska landskappet (exhibition catalogue), Fotografiska Museet: Fyra Förläggare (Stockholm, Sweden), 1982.*