Pål Nils Nilsson

Inge Pål-Nils Nilsson (July 7, 1929–May 25, 2002) , was a Swedish photographer and filmmaker.

Biography

Pål-Nils Nilsson was the son of sculptor Robert Nilsson (1894–1984) and celebrated textile artist Barbro Nilsson (1899–1983). After their marriage in 1928 the couple stay 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 south of Hoganas, Robert Nilsson's home region.

Nilsson started as an advertising photographer and with Sten Didrik Bellander, Harry Dittmer, Sven Gillsäter, His Hammarskiöld, Rune Hassner, Tore Johnson, Hans Malmberg, Georg Oddner and Lennart Olson 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 of these, Hans Hammarskiöld, Rune Hassner, Georg Oddner and Lennart Olson held prominent positions in the educational and institutional worlds and they regularly exhibited at the most important 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

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.

Edward Steichen included Nilsson’s slow-shutter picture of a rapt young girl listening to a pianist amidst the swirling throng of an adult party in the world-touring Museum of Modern Art exhibition The Family of Man that was seen by 9 million visitors. 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.

Personal Life

In 1954, at age 24, Nilsson married photographer Ingegärd Nanny Kristina Nilsson (1931–2002) who was born in Göteborg, and they had 2 children. They divorced in 1973.

Collections

The Riksantikvarieämbetet has acquired 300,000 of Pål-Nils Nilsson's landscapes and cultural images for its Antiquarian-Topographical Archives, and the Royal Library has portraits and stock photographs by him. He is also represented at the National Museum in Stockholm.

Publications

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.