with his monumental suite of bridges, including
soaring images of the oft-depicted Brooklyn Bridge.
It was in 1952 that he photographed his first
bridge,Skanstullsbron, a reinforced concrete arch
bridge in Sweden. It was a decisive experience that
led Olson to explore the universe of bridges: their
shapes, motions, and relations in the landscape.
Each bridge has its own particular character, its
own exertion, its own abutments and combining
points. The poetical language of form is strength-
ened in the photographs by forward elevation of the
leading lines in the composition and by reduction of
details. Many of his photographs get very near the
geometrical abstraction, well demonstrated in the
1966 workTjo ̈rnbridge IV. Photographed by posi-
tioning himself under a flat-bed bridge spanning a
waterway, the image shows what appears to be a
black monolith against a white void reaching up
from a small hillock. The landscape is printed in
dusty, manipulated grays; a rudimentary reflection
indicates the mostly white space of the bottom third
of the work is indeed water. The bridge has been
transformed into an almost abstract composition of
great graphic power.
Discussing whether his work is abstract or doc-
umentary photography, Olson has always answered
‘‘both...and.’’ There lies the focal point in his lan-
guage of form, writes his old friend and colleague,
Kristian Romare:
He carries his image out, toward the extreme edge of
abstraction. Then he lets a recognizable detail, a head
sticking out over a parapet, maybe just a few rivets on a
surface of steel, reveal that we stand before a photo-
graphic image.
(Olson and Romare 1989)
Olson’s experience as a commercial photographer
and his distinctive fine arts work found common
cause with his fellow Swedish photographers seeking
to advance themselves. With Hans Hammarskio ̈ld
and others, he founded the collective Tio Fotografer
in 1958. This experience also led him to filmmaking,
and he worked as a freelance cameraman for Swed-
ish television for nearly 20 years between 1960 and
the 1980s. He often fulfilled overseas assignments,
and on these assignments took the opportunity to
photograph such notable artists Jean Tinguely, Niki
de Saint Phalle, Tristian Tzara, Man Ray, and Fer-
nand Leger. Examining both his still and moving
pictures, one can collate his approach and methods
of working to discern that the main theme running
Olson’s work is clarity, not only in overall composi-
tion, but in detail and depth of imagery.
In the 1970s, Olson’s interest turned to photo-
lithography, which suited his already highly graphic
style. In the 1980s, with the return in interest to
more traditional photographic techniques of that
era, he made his first photo gravures and began to
explore the gum bichromate process, mediums that
seem antithetical to his prior hard-edged style. His
works also became more sensual in subject matter;
phallic forms emerged, as inPostbridge, Dartmoor,
England, 1991, which shows a weathered handmade
stone bridge seemingly glowing with moisture in
dim light; a stone bridge and its reflection in still
waters evokes a vaginal image inGrange-in-Borrow-
dale I. River Derwent, England, 1991, proving Olson
to be a restless creative spirit always interested in
further exploration.
In summary of his quest, Olson stated:
In documentary filmmaking I’m looking for straightfor-
wardness, in my stills I’m looking for ambiguity. One
usually sees a film only once; if one hasn’t understood it
by then, it’s too bad. One ought to be able to come back
to a picture many times, and it should stimulate one’s
own fantasy for different interpretations.
JohanSwinnen
Seealso:Abstraction; Architectural Photography;
Documentary Photography; Hammarskio ̈ld, HansBiography
Born Gustaf Lennart Eugen Olson, 21 December 1925,
Go ̈teborg, Sweden. Childhood and adolesence in Fritsla,
where his father was a photographer. From 1940 until
1948 employed by various photographic enterprises.
1945–1946 served in the Swedish Air Force. 1948,
employed by Foto Henried, picture agency in Stock-
holm. Travels to Paris, 1950. In 1952 he starts working
at Fo ̈rbergfilm in Stockholm, where he produces films
based on still photographs. In 1955, freelance photogra-
pher working mainly with assignments in the field of
architecture, art, industrial, and commercial photogra-
phy, also with picture stories, published in magazines,
such asVi,Form,Industria, andKonstrevy. In the period
1955–1960, several journeys in Europe and Asia on
assignments for, among others,Nordiska Uppslagbo ̈cker,
Arkitektur,Form,Konstrevy, andVi.Founding member
Tio Fotografer group, 1959; photo agency Tiofoto,- In 1960 he produces his first television films during
a reportage around the Black Sea in collaboration with
Kristian Romare. Freelance cameraman for Sveriges
Television, Sweden, 1960–1980. In 1984 he leaves Stock-
holm to settle at the seaside in southern Sweden.
Individual Exhibitions
1980 Camera Obscura; Stockholm, Sweden
1982 Stephen White Gallery; Los Angeles, California
1985 Lennart Olson, Retrospective; Ostergotlands Lansmu-
seum, Linkoping, Sweden
1986 Lennart Olson; Lunds Konsthall, Lund, Sweden
1993 Hasselblad Center; Go ̈teburg, Sweden
2003 Galleri Kontrast; Stockholm, SwedenOLSON, LENNART