Anders Petersen
Anders Petersen (born 1944) is a Swedish photographer, based in Stockholm. He makes intimate and personal documentary-style black and white photographs. Petersen has published more than 20 books.
Also recorded as Anders Peterson
Anders Petersen
Frankie Fouganthin · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Born
- 1944
- Occupation
- Photographer
- Nationality
- Sweden
- Honours
- Dr. Erich Salomon Prize · Swedish Photo Book Prize
- Languages
- Swedish
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Anders Petersen (born 1944) is a Swedish photographer, based in Stockholm. He makes intimate and personal documentary-style black and white photographs. Petersen has published more than 20 books.
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In this article
Biography
Biography
He has had exhibitions at Bibliothèque nationale de France, Liljevalchs konsthall, MARTa Herford, and Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome. His work is held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Moderna Museet in Stockholm.
I serien City Diary (stadsdagbok) med fotografier från hela världen berättar Anders Petersen om egna erfarenheter och livet för dem han mött, i både privata och offentliga ögonblick, under många års resande och bildskapande. I utställningen på Stadsmuseet visas såväl bilder från Stockholm som från andra städer i världen. Fotografierna är tagna under en 50-årsperiod.
Frankie Fouganthin
Key facts
Key facts
• Born — 1944 • Occupation — Photographer
Biography
Biography
Petersen studied photography under Christer Strömholm in Sweden from 1966 to 1967. He is noted for his intimate and personal documentary-style black-and-white photographs. For three years beginning in 1967 he photographed the late-night regulars (prostitutes, transvestites, drunks, lovers and drug addicts) in Café Lehmitz, a bar in Hamburg, Germany. The resulting photobook was first published in 1978 by Schirmer/Mosel in Germany. Café Lehmitz has since become regarded as a seminal book in the history of European photography. One of the photographs from this series was used as the cover art for Tom Waits' album Rain Dogs. Petersen's first book Gröna Lund (Green Grove), which was published in 1973, is set in the amusement park of Gröna Lund situated on an island in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1970 Petersen co-founded SAFTRA, the Stockholm group of photographers, with Kenneth Gustavsson. At the same time, he taught at Christer Strömholm's school. He has been director of the Göteborg School of Photography and Film. He began to photograph for magazines, and continued his personal photo diary work, which continues to this day. He has photographed for extensive periods of time in prisons, mental asylums, and elderly care homes.
Exhibitions
Exhibitions
• From Back Home, with JH Engström, National Science and Media Museum, Bradford, UK, October 2010 – March 2011 • Anders Petersen: Rome, a diary 2012, Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome, Rome, September–October 2012 • Anders Petersen, photographies, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, November 2013 – February 2014 • Anders Petersen: Retrospective, MARTa Herford, Herford, Germany, December 2016 – March 2017 • Anders Petersen – Stockholm, Liljevalchs konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden, May–September 2019 • The Left Shore, with Johan Renck, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden, 12 June 2025 – 11 January 2026
Publications
• Gröna Lund = Green Grove. • Stockholm: Fyra Förläggare, 1973. Text by Arnaud Cottebrune. • Villejuif, France: Aman Iman, 2009.. Edition of 300 copies. • Villejuif, France: Aman Iman, 2013.. • Pyramyd Editions, 2013. French-language version. • Café Lehmitz. • Munich: Schirmer/Mosel, 1978. • French edition, 1979. • Stockholm: ETC Förlags, 1982.. Text by Roger Andersson. • Germany: Fischer Taschenbuch, 1985.. Paperback. • Fängelse = Prison. ETC; Stockholm: Norstedts Förlag, 1984.. Text by Leif G. W. Persson. • Rågång till Kärleken = On the line of love. Stockholm: Norstedts Förlag, 1991.. Text by Göran Odbratt. • Karnevalen i Venedig ETC Förlag, 1991. • Ingen har sett allt = Nobody has seen it all. 1995. • Du Mich Auch = Same to you. Stockholm: Journal, 2002. • Close/Distance. 2002. • Anders Petersen. Photo Poche No. 98. Arles, France: Actes Sud, 2004.. • Anders Petersen. Photofile. London: Thames & Hudson, 2013.. • Roma, a diary. 2005. • Sète # 08. France: Images En Manœuvres Editions - CétàVOIR, 2008. / • French kiss Stockport, Cheshire: Dewi Lewis Publishing, 2008. • Dear Diary. 2009. • From Back Home. Stockholm: Max Ström, 2009.. With JH Engström. Edited by Greger Ulf Nilson. • City Diary. Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2009. In three volumes.. • Strange Evidence. Self-published / Createspace, 2012.. Contains the images from the exhibition Mark Cohen: Strange Evidence curated by Peter Barbiere at the Philadelphia Museum of Art 2010/2011. • Rome, a diary 2012. Rome: Punctum, 2012. Edition of 40 copies. • Soho. London: Mack and The Photographers' Gallery, 2012.. • Veins. With Jacob Aue Sobol. Stockport, Cheshire: Dewi Lewis, 2013.. • Rome Collected photographs from three trips to Rome in 1984, 2005 and 2012. Curated by Marco Delogu in collaboration with Flavio Scollo. • Rome. Paperback. Köln: Walther König; Rome: Punctum, 2014.. • Rome. Hardback. Köln: Walther König; Rome: Punctum, 2014. Edition of 150 copies with signed print.
Collections
Petersen's work is held in the following permanent collections: • Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden • Museum of Modern Art, New York: 2 prints (as of 8 October 2023)
Awards
• 2003: Photographer of the Year, Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, France • 2007: Shortlisted, Deutsche Börse Photography Prize along with Philippe Chancel and Fiona Tan • 2008: Dr. Erich Salomon Prize, German Society for Photography, Germany • 2009: Contemporary Book Award, Rencontres d'Arles, Arles, France with JH Engström for From Back Home • 2009: From Back Home was nominated for The Best Photographic Book in Sweden, year 2009 • 2012: Winner, PhotoBook of the Year, Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards for City Diary (Volumes 1–3)
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1- SwedenPlace
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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