Gunnar Smoliansky – Biographical overview

1933  Gunnar Smoliansky was born in Visby (on the Swedish island of Gotland), the only child of Mary and Suska Smoliansky. His father was a pianist by profession and was working, at the time of Gunnar's birth, on Gotland.

1935  The Smolianskys returned to Stockholm, sharing a house for the next fifteen years with Mary's parents in the suburb of Lidingö.

1950 The Smolianskys moved to a home of their own in Saltsjö-Boo.

1951 Gunnar Smoliansky dropped out of upper secondary school. Thanks to his friend Bror Svärd he discovered the potential and mysteries of the photo darkroom, and began to see the possibility of working as a photographer. He purchased his first camera, a Rolleiflex.

1952 Gunnar Smoliansky was employed as a customs official at the Stockholm port of Stadsgårdshamnen. He began to take photos on his way to and from work, producing his first photographic series.

1954 Gunnar Smoliansky and Bror Svärd made their way to Sao Paolo, Brazil, where he worked as assistants to industrial photographer Leon Lieberman. Although Gunnar had his Rolleiflex with him in Sao Paolo, he only photographed sporadically.

1956 Gunnar Smoliansky returned to Sweden and was employed as an industrial photographer at Atlas Copco. He also took an evening course with renowned photographer Christer Strömholm. This encounter, and making the acquaintance of the other participants, including Tor Ivan Odulf, was decisive to Gunnar Smoliansky's future orientation as a photographer. In this context, he also met photographer Walter Hirsch, with whom he has had a lifelong friendship.

1962 Gunnar Smoliansky married jazz vocalist Nannie Porres, whom he met through Walter Hirsch in 1959. Through Nannie, a number of the most outstanding Swedish jazz musicians of the era became family friends.  Birth of Gunnar and Nannie's son Peter.

1965 Concluded his employment with Atlas Copco to become a freelance photographer. His main clients were publishers of textbooks. Gunnar Smoliansky had already developed quite a sophisticated use of imagery, often suitable for this type of work.

1968 The newsletter of RFSU (RFSU-bulletinen), the Swedish Association for Sexual Education, became one of Gunnar Smoliansky's main clients. In this context he collaborated with Erik Centerwall. Together, they also produced two books on high topical subjects: Livstid – om manlig längtan och förnekelse [Lifetime, On Men's Desire and Denial] and Mansbilder [Images of Men].

1971 Gunnar Smoliansky's first solo show, Rombilder [Pictures of Rome], was organized at the initiative of Annagreta and Erik Dyring in Uppsala, Sweden.

1972 Gunnar Smoliaknsky and Nannie Porres moved into to his parents' former home in Saltsjö-Boo.

1973 Gunnar Smoliansky met sculptor Lars Kleen during his major sculpture exhibit at the Stadsgårdshamnen port. Gunnar Smoliansky's photos from this show were the beginning of a collaboration between the two that is still ongoing today.

1974 Gunnar Smoliansky and Nannie Porres separated. Gunnar met photographer Stina Brockman.

1975 Gunnar Smoliansky established the photo agency Bildhuset in collaboration with others, including Walter Hirsch and Björn Myrman. Bildhuset became an important venue for contemporary photography.

1978 Gunnar Smoliansky became acquainted with photographers Dawid (Björn Dawidsson) and Ottmar Thorman. This creative friendship triggered the renewal of the Swedish photography scene, and a break with 35 mm photography, which otherwise characterized the 1970s. For example, they found new inspiration in more traditional techniques and used larger formats.

1979 Through Dawid, Gunnar met photographer Gerry Johansson. The three became close friends, and also worked together with the Bildhuset agency and, later, with DOG, a photo publishing house.

1980 Gunnar Smoliansky was awarded the annual PHOTO magazine prize, "Stora Fotografpriset".

1982 In collaboration with his friends Walter Hirsch and Dawid, Gunnar Smoliansky established the DOG photo publishing house. His own first book, Barn [Children], was published by DOG this same year, as was Walter Hirsch's Avd.9, [Ward 9], followed by Dawid's Rost [Rust], Birth of Gunnar and Stina's son David.

1985 Gunnar Smoliansky´s photographs were exhibited at Kim Klein's Galleri Barbar in Stockholm. Collaboration with Kim Klein continued, resulting in an exhibit entitled Promenadbilder [Promenade Pictures] at the Stockholm Museum of Modern Art, Moderna Museet, in 1986 and in another, Vi ses igen [See You Again] at Lido in Stockholm in 1987. These three shows confirmed Gunnar Smoliansky's status in Swedish photography, and were seminal to the continued development of the Gunnar Smoliansky's personal style of photography.

1986 Gunnar Smoliansky married photographer Stina Brockman, they lived together until 1993.

1990 Gunnar Smoliansky was granted a "state income guarantee for artists" for his contributions to photography. Birth of Gunnar and Stina's daughter Kajsa.

1991 Gunnar Smoliansky was commissioned to make a photographic portrayal of Waldemarsudde, today an art museum and originally the home of the artist, Prins Eugen of Sweden, son of King Oscar II (1865-1947). Hans Henrik Brummer, curator at Waldemarsudde, took an interest in the photography of Gunnar Smoliansky. This interest eventually resulted in three exhibitions: Gunnar Smolianskys fotografier från Slussen 1952 [Gunnar Smoliansky's Photographs from Slussen 1952] (2002), Waldemarsudde (2004) and Centralen Vårvintern 1956 [Stockholm Central Station, Early Spring 1956] (2006). The Waldemarsudde exhibition also took the form of a book of photographs with texts by Hans Henrik Brummer.

1998 After having been commissioned to photograph for the journal Stockholm New, Gunnar Smoliansky began to collaborate with art director Henrik Nygren. They produced books together, including Slussen (2002), Waldemarsudde (2004) and Sotbrand [Soot Fire] (2006).

2005 Gunnar Smoliansky was awarded the Lennart af Petersens Prize by the City of Stockholm.