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Art Bulletin ofNationalmuseumStockholm

Volume 21

Rolf Winquist and Kerstin Bernhard: Two Classics of 20th-Century Swedish Portraiture

Magnus OlaussonDirector of Collections and the Swedish National Portrait Gallery

4Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Volume 21, 2014

Photo Credits© Palazzo d’Arco, Mantua, inv. 4494/Photo: Nationalmuseum Image Archives, from Domenico Fetti 1588/89–1623, Eduard Safarik (ed.), Milan, 1996, p. 280, fig. 82 (Figs. 2 and 9A, pp. 13 and 19)© Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow (Fig. 3, p. 13)© bpk/Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden/Elke Estel/Hans-Peter Klut (Figs. 4, 5B, 6B and 7B, pp. 14–17)© Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program (Figs. 8 and 10B, pp. 18 and 20)© CATS-SMK (Fig. 10A, p. 20)© Dag Fosse/KODE (p. 25)© Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design/The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo (p. 28)© SMK Photo (p. 31)© From the article ”La Tour and Lundberg’s portraits of la princesse de Rohan”, by Neil Jeffares, http://www.pastellists.com/Essays/LaTour_Rohan.pdf, 2015-09-21, (p. 40)© The National Gallery, London. Bought, Cour-tauld Fund, 1924 (p. 42)© Stockholms Auktionsverk (p. 47)© Bukowskis, Stockholm (p. 94)© Thron Ullberg 2008 (p. 108)© 2014, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg (pp. 133–134)© Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie Dessau (pp. 138–139) © Museen der Stadt Bamberg (pp. 140 and 142)© Archive of Thomas Fusenig (p. 141)© Nordiska museet, Stockholm/Karolina Kristensson (pp. 148–149)

Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, is published with generous support from the Friends of the Nationalmuseum.

Nationalmuseum collaborates with Svenska Dagbladet and Grand Hôtel Stockholm. We would also like to thank FCB Fältman & Malmén.

Cover IllustrationsDomenico Fetti (1588/89–1623), David with the Head of Goliath, c. 1617/20. Oil on canvas, 161 x 99.5 cm. Purchase: The Wiros Fund. Nationalmuseum, NM 7280.

PublisherBerndt Arell, Director General

EditorJanna Herder

Editorial CommitteeMikael Ahlund, Magdalena Gram, Janna Herder, Helena Kåberg, Magnus Olausson and Lidia Westerberg Olofsson.

PhotographsNationalmuseum Photographic Studio/Linn Ahlgren, Olle Andersson, Erik Cornelius, Anna Danielsson, Cecilia Heisser, Bodil Karlsson and Sofia Persson.

Picture EditorRikard Nordström

Every effort has been made by the publisher to credit organizations and individuals with regard to the supply of photographs. Please notify the publisher regarding corrections.

Graphic DesignBIGG

LayoutAgneta Bervokk

Translation and Language EditingGabriella Berggren, Martin Naylor and Kristin Belkin.

PublishingIngrid Lindell (Publications Manager) and Janna Herder (Editor).

Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum is published annually and contains articles on the history and theory of art relating to the collections of the Nationalmuseum.

NationalmuseumBox 16176SE–103 24 Stockholm, Swedenwww.nationalmuseum.se© Nationalmuseum, the authors and the owners of the reproduced works

57 Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Volume 21, 2014

acquisitions/rolf winquist and kerstin bernhard

Thanks to two generous gifts, the Nationalmuseum has been able to add to its collections works by some of the classic figures of 20th-century Swedish portrait photography. The photographer Hans Gedda, who was an assistant to Rolf Win-quist in the 1960s, has given the Museum a major portion of the material the lat-ter left behind, while Kerstin Bernhard’s nephew, the photographer Carl Johan Bernhard, has donated a selection of her best portraits from the 1930s and 1940s. Between them, these images provide a rich insight into two of the most significant bo-dies of work of the period, which combi-ned technical brilliance with an eye for the character of the sitter.

Rolf Winquist (1910–1968) was an ex-tremely versatile photographer, with a re-pertoire that ranged from advertising and fashion work to street photography and experimental solarisations. But it was abo-ve all for his portraits that he became fa-mous. The display case outside his studio, Ateljé Uggla at Kungsgatan 18 in Stock-holm, acted as a magnet to professionals

Rolf Winquist and Kerstin Bernhard: Two Classics of 20th-Century Swedish Portraiture

Magnus OlaussonDirector of Collections and the Swedish National Portrait Gallery

Fig. 1 Rolf Winquist (1910–1968), Harriet Andersson (b. 1932), actress, 1959.

Gelatin silver print mounted on cardboard, 59 x 39 cm.

Gift of the photographer Hans Gedda. Nationalmuseum, Swedish National

Portrait Gallery, NMGrh 5029.



Fig. 2 Rolf Winquist (1910–1968), Albin Johansson (1886–1968), director of Kooperativa Förbundet (The Swedish Cooperative Union), 1956. Gelatin silver print mounted on cardboard, 58.7 x 39 cm. Gift of the photographer Hans Gedda. Nationalmuseum, Swedish National Portrait Gallery, NMGrh 5031.



right of the photographer’s day-to-day en-vironment (Fig. 4).

Rolf Winquist first worked in a Picto-rialist spirit, but soon turned his back on this form of fine-art photography. Hans Gedda has said of Winquist that he felt the greatest freedom as a street photographer, capturing passers-by unawares on his Lei-ca. Yet his significance for 20th-century portraiture cannot be underestimated. Winquist took part in a succession of in-ternational competitions and thus gained renown outside Sweden, despite his reti-ring nature. Richard Avedon was among his admirers.

Kerstin Bernhard (1914–2004) is best known for her fashion and food photo-

Grh 4894). With the images now acquired, he emerges more clearly in the role with which he is chiefly associated – that of the portrait photographer. When Winquist did not feel too constrained by his commissi-ons, he was able to develop his innovative side. His portraits of the actress Harriet Andersson (Fig. 1) and Albin Johansson, director of the Swedish Cooperative Union (Fig. 2), are both excellent examples of his sophisticated treatment of light. In his ren-dering of actress and model Lena Madsén, Winquist plays with different levels of reali-ty, contrasting the sitter with a silent-movie still of Greta Garbo (Fig. 3). Finally, his sensitive image of an elderly couple in his studio has become a document in its own

and amateurs alike, and many young pho-tographers turned to Winquist for advice. A somewhat reclusive man, he did not of-fer regular teaching. Instead, many of his assistants had to acquire their knowledge indirectly, by studying camera settings or helping with practical tasks. One of Win-quist’s assistants, Hans Gedda, who con-tinued to run the business for two years after the photographer’s death, has dona-ted what remains of his estate, consisting above all of exhibition material and work samples that were retained in his studio.

Previously there was just one work by Winquist in the Swedish National Portrait Gallery collection, his powerful portrait of the actress Gertrud Fridh as Medea (NM

Fig. 3 Rolf Winquist (1910–1968), Lena Madsén (b. 1934), actress and dance teacher, and a film still of Greta Garbo, b. Gustafsson (1905–1990), actress, character portrait from Mauritz Stiller’s film “Gösta Berlings saga” (“The Atonement of Gosta Berling”, 1924), 1961. Gelatin silver print mounted on cardboard, 42.3 x 45 cm. Gift of the photographer Hans Gedda. Nationalmuseum, Swedish National Portrait Gallery, NMGrh 5032.



genuity and humour, with a documentary element that represents a break with con-vention.

Bernhard’s photograph from the same year of her sister-in-law, the opera singer Gurli Lemon-Bernhard, on the other hand, follows the standard template for portraits of star performers. The subject is depicted

expression and the conventions of the day. One of her best and most groundbreaking portraits is that of her brother Carl Gustaf Bernhard, taken in 1939, which not sur-prisingly won her an award (Fig. 5). The sitter is shown at work as a doctor, a specia-list in the neurophysiology of vision. Here, Kerstin Bernhard demonstrates both in-

graphy, but began her training with two of the most sought-after portraitists of the early 20th century, Ferdinand Flodin and John Hertzberg. She initially worked as a portrait photographer with a studio of her own, which provided a steady income as she embarked on her career. Bernhard struck a skilful balance between personal

Fig. 4 Rolf Winquist (1910–1968), Unknown Woman and Man, 1961. Signed “RWinquist 61”. Gelatin silver print mounted on cardboard, 59 x 39 cm.Gift of the photographer Hans Gedda. Nationalmuseum, Swedish National Portrait Gallery, NMGrh 5016.



Fig. 5 Kerstin Bernhard (1914–2004), The artist’s brother Carl Gustaf Bernhard (1910–2001), doctor, neurologist and Professor, 1939. Gelatin silver print, 29.7 x 23.9 cm. Gift of the artist’s nephew and the sitter’s son, Carl Johan Bernhard. Nationalmuseum, Swedish National Portrait Gallery, NMGrh 4982.



Photo reportage and fashion photography in a French setting provided one source of income, a fundamentally pragmatic choi-ce that Bernhard turned into great art. In fashion work, especially, her experien-ce of portrait photography would stand her in good stead. In the post-war years, Bernhard also tackled new subjects as she revolutionised food photography. Overall, Kerstin Bernhard produced an extreme-ly broad range of work, within which her portraits would for a long time be over-shadowed.

subject’s face in sharp contrast. The mode of representation is reminiscent of publici-ty stills for drama films.

A typical example of the studio tradi-tion of the time is a portrait of the actress Viveka Brising, a close friend of the photo-grapher’s (see p. 99). Her downcast eyes mirror the stereotyped image of women as sweet, passive and introverted. For the cre-ative Kerstin Bernhard, standard portraits eventually lost their interest. After the Second World War, as borders reopened and she was able to travel across Europe again, she struck out in new directions.

in the role of the page in Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro (Fig. 6). To a portrait photographer visibility was essential, and Bernhard there-fore deliberately chose to take portraits of famous figures of stage and screen, images which often graced the covers of fashiona-ble magazines such as Idun. Another ex-ample of the genre is a character portrait of the celebrated actor Lars Hanson, probably as Herod in the Royal Dramatic Theatre’s 1945 production of Kaj Munk’s play Herod the King (Fig. 7). The staging of the shot reflects the dramatic lighting of the studio tradition, with a close-up of the

Fig. 7 Kerstin Bernhard (1914–2004), Lars Hanson (1886–1965), actor, character portrait as Herod in Kaj Munk’s play “En idealist” (“Herod the King”, Royal Dramatic Theatre, Stockholm), 1945. Gelatin silver print, 24.2 x 18 cm. Gift of the artist’s nephew Carl Johan Bernhard. Nationalmuseum, Swedish National Portrait Gallery, NMGrh 4980.

Fig. 6 Kerstin Bernhard (1914–2004), The artist’s sister-in-law Gurli Lemon, m. Bernhard (1916–2011), opera and operetta singer, character portrait as the page in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera “The Marriage of Figaro” (Royal Opera, Stockholm), 1939. Gelatin silver print, 29.7 x 23.7 cm. Gift of the artist’s nephew and the sitter’s son, Carl Johan Bernhard. Nationalmuseum, Swedish National Portrait Gallery, NMGrh 4981.

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