Street Photography 1917-2017 /Jean Hermanson
Swedish master of photography Jean Hermanson is also at the Street Photography exhibition in Copenhagen. With photos from
Dublin in the 60’es. I picked – with the help of curator Finn Larsen and a link to information about his exhibition in Swedish town Landskrona 2016 – one:
A girl on a rainy street in Dublin 50 years ago. Of course it reminds me of the boy with wine bottles in Paris, caught by the camera of Henri Cartier-Bresson. The girl in Dublin carries a bottle of milk and – can’t really see it – a pack of cigarettes? She is waiting for cars to pass so she can pass and go home to mum and dad. The Swedish filmmaker and photographer caught the situation and as a true documentarian conveys the atmosphere. In an upcoming film about Hermanson, he says ”when it rains, it is damn poetic and sensual”. And a text taken from the Landskrona exhibition:
At the end of the 1960s the photographer Jean Hermanson (1938–2012) travelled to Dublin. His plan was to follow in the footsteps of James Joyce, with the camera as his instrument. But instead of recreating Leopold Bloom’s route on that famous day he chose to point his camera at the children. Children became Hermanson’ guide in the streets, in this world of both darkness and play, and his documentation of their life developed into a large, full work with a strong feeling for the children’s experiences. The photographs from Dublin were Hermanson’s first major photographic work. But almost fifty years were to pass before he began to sort the rich material towards the end of his life…
The film being made on Hermanson is produced by Stavro Film and supported by SVT, Sweden among others. So at some point it will be broadcast. Link below.
Gadefotografi 1917-2017, Øksnehallen, København. 28. juni – 1. august, Daily 10.00 – 20.00, Friday and Saturday 10.00 – 22.00.
