Hedvig Beata Marianne Bergström (née Björkman) (13 August 1921 – 12 October 2016) was a Swedish photographer. She is known for her portraits and dance and theatre images taken at the

Royal Dramatic Theatre The Royal Dramatic Theatre (, colloquially ''Dramaten'') is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's five running stages. The theatre has been at its present lo ...

Royal Swedish Opera Royal Swedish Opera () is an opera and ballet company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Location and environment The building is located in the centre of Sweden's capital, Stockholm, in the borough of Norrmalm (borough), Norrmalm, on the eastern si ...

, Vasa Theatre and other Stockholm theatres.

Career

Bergström studied at the Otte Sköld painting school in the late 1940s and then worked as a photography apprentice. She started her career as a theatre photographer in 1953 when she took photographs of the

Cramer Cramer may refer to: Businesses * Cramer brothers, 18th century publishers * Cramer Systems, a software company * Cramer & Co., a former musical-related business in London Other uses * Cramer (surname), including a list of people and fictional ...

Ballet at the

Chat Noir (French language, French for 'black cat') is a cabaret and revue theatre in Oslo, Norway. It was established in 1912 by Bokken Lasson. The current director is Tom Sterri. Establishment Chat Noir was established as a cabaret in 1912 by singer B ...

in Oslo. At the same time, she photographed a rehearsal at the Royal Dramatic Theatre of

Olof Molander Olof Johan Harald Molander (8 October 1892 – 26 May 1966) was a Swedish theatre and film director. He was most notable for his many Strindberg and Shakespeare productions. Biography Molander was born in Helsinki. He was the son of the dir ...

Oresteia The ''Oresteia'' () is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus in the 5th century BC, concerning the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra, the murder of Clytemnestra by Orestes, the trial of Orestes, the end of the curse on the House ...

for the Swedish newspaper ''

Dagens Nyheter (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major nationa ...

''. This led to her working there for 30 years and a collaboration with

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoun ...

for about 10 years starting with ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?''. She continued to work freelance at a number of theatres and dance companies including the Royal Swedish Opera,

Gamla Stan Gamla Stan (, "The Old Town"), until 1980 officially Staden mellan broarna ("The Town between the Bridges"), is the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Gamla Stan consists primarily of the island Stadsholmen. Gamla Stan includes the surrounding islets ...

Theatre, the

Stockholm City Theatre Stockholm City Theatre () is a live performance theatre located in Stockholm, Sweden. The theatre is situated near the Sergel fountain and the Stockholm City roundabout. Location It is located in one of Stockholm's most popular public buildi ...

, Vasateatern,

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

's Little Theatre, and

Folkteatern Folkteatern is a regional theatre in Gothenburg, Sweden. The theater receives grants and assignments from the Västra Götaland Regional Council. The theatre was built in 1951 at Järntorget and has from the start had close connections with th ...

. She also worked with the Swedish magazines ''Industria'' and ''Vi''. She photographed numerous people in the Swedish theatrical scene including Ingmar Bergman,

Anders Ek Anders Ek (7 April 1916 – 17 November 1979) was a Swedish film actor. He was born in Gothenburg, Sweden and died in Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous ...

Ernst-Hugo Järegård Ernst-Hugo Alfred Järegård (12 December 1928 – 6 September 1998) was a Swedish actor. Biography Järegård was born in Ystad. He received his acting training at Malmö City Theatre. From 1962 he was an actor in Sweden's prominent Royal ...

Sif Ruud Sif Einarsdotter Ruud Fallde born Sif Einarsdotter Ruud (6 May 1916 – 15 August 2011), best known as Sif Ruud, was a Swedish film actress. Born in Stockholm to Einar Ruud and Inez Engström, she began her career in 1938, and appeared in 14 ...

Ulf Palme Ulf Henrik Palme (18 October 1920 – 12 May 1993) was a Swedish film actor. He was born in Stockholm and died in Ingarö. Partial filmography * '' Black Roses'' (1945) - Gunnar Bergström * '' The Serious Game'' (1945) - Ture Törne * ''M ...

, Elsa-Marianne von Rosen, and

Mimi Pollak Maria Helena "Mimi" Pollak (9 April 1903 – 11 August 1999) was a Swedish actress and theatre director. Biography Pollak was born in Karlstad, Värmland to Austrian-Jewish parents and was trained in the performing arts at the prestigious Ro ...

Style

Up until Bergström, theatrical photography was staged, whereby actors and sets were arranged in tableaux. Bergström changed this by having a more documentary approach, where she photographed actual rehearsals and performances.

Personal life

Bergström had a son, Stefan, and lived until her death on 12 October 2016 in

Järna Järna may refer to: *Järna, Södertälje Municipality Järna is a locality situated in Södertälje Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 6,377 inhabitants in 2010. Järna has long been the centre of the anthroposophical movement in Swe ...

, Sweden.

Exhibitions

:''Bergman in Focus – Nobel Laureates Find a Director'', 21 September 2008 to 18 January 2009, Photographers K.G. Kristoffersson, Lennart Nilsson, Beata Bergström, Bo-Erik Gyberg, Per Adolphson, Arne Carlsson and Bengt Wanselius. :''Photo'', 19 April 2013 to 6 January 2014, Beata Bergström, Music and Theatre Museum, Stockholm.

Bibliography

:''Swedish Design'', Denise Hagsromer, atelj'e bellander and Beata Bergström (photographs), Sweden, nordisk rotogravyr, 1958. :''Ten Years with the Royal Dramatic Theatre'' (in Swedish), Beata Bergström, Stockholm, Nord. rotogravure, 1964, OCLC Number 16689310 :''Theater – Art of the Moment Captured in Photos'' (in Swedish), Beata Bergström, Stockholm,

Natur & Kultur Natur & Kultur is a Swedish publishing foundation with its head office in Stockholm. It is known for an extensive series of teaching materials, and its logotype is an apple tree. Overview The publishing house was founded in 1922 by Johan H ...

, 1976, :''The Dynamics of the Living'' (in Swedish), Beata Bergström, Stockholm, Kosmos, 1976, . :''Beyond a broad ocean: Kristina'' (in Swedish), Beata Bergstro¨m, Jan Mark, Lars Rudolfsson, Joel Berg, Lund, Leander Malmsten, 1996, .

References

External links

Almost 200 of Bergström's works
at

Moderna Museet Moderna Museet is a state museum for modern and contemporary art located on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, opened in 1958. In 2009, the museum opened Moderna Museet Malmö in Malmö. History The museum opened in Stockh ...

* Obituary published in Dagens Nyheter on October 20, 2016, p. 32 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bergstrom, Beate 1921 births 2016 deaths Swedish photographers 20th-century Swedish photographers 21st-century Swedish photographers People from Uddevalla Swedish theatre people People from Järna, Södertälje Municipality 20th-century Swedish women photographers 21st-century Swedish women photographers 20th-century Swedish women