Sune Jonsson: Life and Work by Val Williams

by Sune Jonsson

Sune Jonsson (1930-2009) spent most of his life in the county of Västerbotten in the north of Sweden, where he documented the agrarian lifestyles he saw disappearing in the wake of an increasingly urban and industrial society. Subject to the whims of harsh weather, unpredictable seasons and often infertile soil, these men and women lived in constant states of homes were impermanent, self-built structures, crops were few, and animals fewer. Jonsson published his work in a series of 25 photo books, which began in 1959 with Byn med det blå huset ( The Village with the Blue House ) and ended almost 50 years later with And Time Becomes a Wondrous Thing (2007). These volumes were not solely photographic complementing his black-and-white documentary-style pictures were Jonsson's written narratives, a poetic mix of fact and fiction gleaned from interviews with his subjects and combined with his own political and philosophical concerns. Sune Life and Work not only republishes some of the most powerful photographs Jonsson took over the course of his lengthy career, but also provides intimate insight into the artist's historical, literary and social interests. Explicatory text by Val Williams provides contextual analysis.

Genres: Photography

Hardcover

First published July 31, 2014

About the author

Olov Sune Jonsson was a Swedish documentary photographer and writer.

Jonsson was born in Nyåker outside Nordmaling in the province of Västerbotten, Sweden. After studying folklore and literature in Stockholm and Uppsala, Jonsson returned in the early 1960s to northern Sweden. His debut book Byn med det blå huset (The village with the blue house) was published in 1959 and includes personal portrays of people of his native village Nyåker. As in his second photobook, Timotejvägen, the relationship between text and image play an important role.

Between 1961 and 1995, Jonsson was hired as a photographer at the Museum of Västerbotten in Umeå, where he became dedicated to long-term cultural photographic works, mainly in the province of Västerbotten. Thematically, his photography was focused on the rural population, farmers, the man-made landscape and religious gatherings. Jonsson's artistic visual production was inspired by internationally known photographers such as August Sander, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Wayne Miller and Edward Steichen, notably in the photo exhibition The Family of Man in 1955. Swedish writer Ivar Lo-Johansson and his social work Den sociala fotobildboken was an important role model.

In addition to his photographic work, Jonsson was a skilled documentary film maker and he produced, in cooperation with the Museum of Västerbotten and Swedish television, documentary films about small farms, mining and fishing in the sparsely populated northern Sweden.