Carolina Mathilda Ranch (23 June 1860 – 11 June 1938) was a Swedish female photographer who ran a studio in

Varberg Varberg () is a locality and the seat of Varberg Municipality, Halland County, Sweden, with 35,782 inhabitants in 2019. Varberg and all of Halland are well known for their "typical west coast" sandy beaches. In Varberg the coast changes from wi ...

in south-western Sweden. A pioneer amongst female photographers, she produced thousands of photographs, many of which are preserved in the archives of the

Halland Museum of Cultural History Halland Museum of Cultural History (Swedish: ''Hallands kulturhistoriska museum'') is a museum of cultural history in Varberg, Sweden. The museum was formerly known as Varberg County Museum (Swedish: ''Länsmuseet Varberg''). The name was changed i ...

Biography

Born on 23 June 1860 in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, Denmark, Mathilda was the daughter of the photographer and engineer Wilhelm Ranch (died 1906). She moved to Sweden with her family when she was 10, first to

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

and then to Varberg where her father established a photographic studio in 1871. In 1882, when she was only 22, her father transferred the studio to her, preferring to act as a shipping agent. She proved not only to be a good photographer but a successful businesswomen, soon opening branches in

Slöinge Slöinge is a locality situated in Falkenberg Municipality, Halland County, Sweden, with 950 inhabitants in 2010. Archeological excavations has revealed a chieftain A tribal chief or chieftain is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom ...

, Horred and

Kungsbacka Kungsbacka () (old da, Kongsbakke) is a locality and the seat of Kungsbacka Municipality in Halland County, Sweden, with 19,057 inhabitants in 2010. It is one of the most affluent parts of Sweden, in part due to its simultaneous proximity to the ...

. She engaged up to five employees to assist her in her work, mostly women, except for Elof Ernwald whom she hired in 1894. Ernwald took care of the administrative work while Ranch handled the photography. In addition to portraits and wedding photographs, Ranch took many landscapes and street photographs in Varberg and the surroundings. Her work includes images of train derailments, air shows and royal visits. She also took photographs for the newspaper ''Hvar 8:e Dag'' and the tourist publication ''Svenska Turistföreningens årsskrift''. Ranch was also an active feminist, fighting for women's rights under her motto ''kvinnor kan'' (women can). Mathilda Ranch died in Varberg on 11 June 1938.

Gallery

;Photographs by Mathilda Ranch File:Varbergs kyrka, Mathilda Ranch.jpg, Varberg Church File:Varbergs hamn ca 1900.jpg, Varberg harbour ca. 1900 File:Varbergs hafsbad, Badstranden.jpg, Varberg beach (postcard) File:Torghandel i Varberg.jpg, Varberg market square

Biography

Gallery

References

Further reading