Gunnar Sundgren

1901-1970.

Photographer.

Gunnar Sundgren grew up in a family of nine children at a small railway station between Sala and Gävle. 

Sundgren started at H.A.L. (Katedralskolan) in Uppsala in 1913 and was housed in a school household at Maria Lindgren's bakery at Skolgatan 13.

At the age of 21, Sundgren was accepted as a student of Ellen Claeson, the leading photographer in Uppsala at the time. In 1928 he opened a portrait studio at Östra Ågatan 29 and became one of Uppsala's foremost photographers in the 1940s and 1950s.

Gunnar Sundgren at the camera around 1969. Photo: Unknown photographer / UUB.

Gunnar Sundgren with his dog Klumpen, standing on Dombron in Uppsala sometime in the 1950s. Photo: Unknown photographer / UUB.

The portraits were made after in-depth personality studies, and Sundgren also produced significant environmental and architectural images.  Several famous people passed through the studio, such as Hugo Alfvén, Bror Hjort, Cora Sandel, Gösta Knutsson, Axel Hägerström, The Svedberg and Bo Setterlind.

Upplandsmuseet holds approximately 300,000 negatives from Sundgren's production.  He appeared on the radio as a strong agitator for photography as a separate art form.

In the 1950s, Gunnar Sundgren led guided tours of the Old Cemetery in Uppsala. At the gravesite there is a metal sculpture "Mother and Child" by an unknown artist.

Gunnar Sundgren's preserved photographs are a remarkable cultural and historical treasure.

 

Burial site: 0150-1988

Image description: Gunnar Sundgren, unknown year. Photo: Gunnar Sundgren / Upplandsmuseet. [The image is cropped]
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Alfred Dahlgren

1861-1908.

Photographer.

Alfred Dahlgren learned photography in Germany and from photographer Dahllöf in Stockholm. In 1890 he established his own studio at Dragarbrunnsgatan 48 in Uppsala where he worked as a portrait photographer.

In 1901, the Uppsala City Council decided that the city should be photographed, and Dahlgren was commissioned to take the 350 pictures to be delivered in two bound albums.

On weekdays he worked in his studio and early Sunday mornings, when the city was empty, he went out to take his pictures. After a year, the photographs were handed over in albums to the city council.

Nybron in Uppsala, decorated in connection with the Linnaeus Jubilee in 1907. Photo: Alfred Dahlgren / UUB.

Tobogganing through King John's Gate at Uppsala Castle, ca 1890. Photo: Alfred Dahlgren / UUB.

In 1908 he was commissioned to supplement the documentation with pictures of the city's outskirts and farm interiors from old city farms. In the same year, however, Alfred Dahlgren died and his last pictures were therefore handed over by his widow.

A total of 540 glass negatives are in the possession of the Uppland Museum and the two albums with the photographs are in Uppsala City Library. The photographs are a remarkable cultural and historical treasure.

 

Burial site: 0125-1150B

Image description: Alfred Dahlgren ca 1900. Photo: UUBThe image is cropped]
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Emma Schenson

1827-1913.

Photographer, watercolor painter.

Emma Schenson was probably the first female professional photographer in Uppsala and also one of the first women in Sweden to take photographs professionally.

She first trained as a watercolor painter, but from the 1860s she worked in parallel with both painting and photography. In the early days of photography, it was unusual for women to take photographs professionally, but after the 1864 Freedom of Trade Act, it became possible for women to enter the market and establish themselves as entrepreneurs and photographers.

Schenson was active in Uppsala from the 1860s onwards and had a permanent studio at Östra Ågatan 25 (between Nybron and Dombron). In 1888, the Fotografiska föreningen, which organized photographers, had three female members out of a total of 65. These women were Anna Hwass, Wilhelmina Skogh and Emma Schenson.

During Schenson's active period, the business card photograph and the larger cabinet photograph (format approx. 12×16.5 cm) became very popular in all social classes. It is very likely that there are pictures of older Uppsala families made by her.

The Domen quarter, Fyristorg and Uppsala Cathedral, Fjärdingen, Uppsala before 1885. Photographer: probably Emma Schensson, Uppsala / Upplandsmuseet.

"Svartbäcksgubbar" in Kvarnfallet at Akademikvarnen, Holmen district, Uppsala 1880s - 1890s. Photographer: Emma Schenson / Upplandsmuseet.

Between 1885 and 1893, Emma Schenson documented the major restoration of Uppsala Cathedral. Through her pictures we can follow the restoration from start to finish.

No negatives of Schenson's photographs are preserved today, but some photos have been preserved and are now in the Map and Image Collections at Uppsala University Library.

There is also an album showing the transformation of the cathedral during the time of the great restoration. The value of this photographic documentation was recognized early on, as can be seen in an inscription in Schenson's album, which concludes "unique of its kind and important for the future". The photographs that have been preserved are a remarkable cultural and historical treasure.

 

Burial site: 0101-0031

Image description: Emma Schenson, ca 1865-ca 1875. Photo: UUBThe image is cropped]
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Henri Osti

1826-1914.

Photographer.

Heinrich Osti, known as Henri, was born in Berlin, the son of a ribbon weaver from Italy.

Osti emigrated to Sweden at the age of 26 and in 1856 he began his photographic career in Stockholm. Three years later he opened a photo studio on Kungsgatan in Uppsala. The studio later moved to master shoemaker Sven Anders Hägg's farm between Östra Ågatan and Gräsgränd (the park on today's Bangårdsgatan) and eventually to Jervingska gården at Kungsgatan 55.

Heinrich Osti was the city's leading photographer for many years, winning several prizes for his photographs, and together with meteorologist Hugo Hildebrandsson he also photographed cloud formations for scientific purposes.

His collection of glass negatives with 16,000 images constitutes a broad documentation of the city's settlement and population at the time. The collection is a remarkable cultural and historical treasure preserved at Uppsala University Library.

 

Burial site: 0108-0450

Image description: Heinrich Osti, Uppsala 1860. Photo: Heinrich Osti / UUBThe image is cropped]
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Thekla Knös

1815-1880.

Poet, photographer.

After the father Gustav, who was vicar in Västeråker and Dalby, died in 1828, the mother Alida and daughter Thekla moved to Uppsala. They settled in the house at the northern end of Östra Ågatan, which is now part of the Fjellstedt School premises under the name Kavaljeren.

Thekla Knös and her mother became known in Uppsala as 'de små knösarna' (the little Knöses) and participated diligently in the social and literary life of the city. Thekla Knös gave language lessons and the 'little Knöses' also held literary salons in their home with the participation of Geijer, Atterbom, Järta, Törneros and Wennerberg. Knös also made translations, which was an income for many upper-middle-class women in the 19th century.

At Atterbom's urging, Knös competed in the Academy with the poetry cycle Ragnar Lodbrok and won the Swedish Academy's Grand Prize in 1851. Several of her works were also set to music.

She also published Fotografier över det forna Uppsalivet, the book Året, with the subtitle Teckningar ur barndomslivet, and storybooks and other books for children.

After her mother's death in 1855, Knös suffered from a deep depression, and what kept her going was her religiousness and her friends. She stayed with various friends and relatives and was also looked after by Malla Silfverstolpe for a time. However, her mental health deteriorated and Thekla Knös died after 16 years in Växjö Hospital.

The following example of Knö's poetry is taken from the poem 'Desire in the drawing room' from Dikter, Band 1-2, 1852-1853.

Alas, the hall was now beaming.
Alas, it was hastily changed
To the quiet, shady valley.
Where happy hours have fled!
O! be the soft couch
My dear, mossy stone!
And the carpet- floral plan,
And the lamp-the glow of the evening sun!

Oh, to be a whispering tern
A tender and shimmering birch;
Be a bowing gentleman - how nice!
A fir tree whispering dark!
The music - the birds chirping
And the murmur - the song of the waves!
But - in the lounge I am sitting,
And time makes me long.

 

Burial site: 0112-0591

Image description: Thekla Knös, year unknown. Photo: Svenskt biografiskt lexikon / RiksarkivetThe image is cropped]
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