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| Hasselblad Foundation | |
|---|---|
| Name | Hasselblad Foundation |
| Formation | 1979 |
| Founder | Victor Hasselblad |
| Type | Foundation |
| Location | Gothenburg, Sweden |
| Leader title | Chair |
Hasselblad Foundation The Hasselblad Foundation is a Swedish philanthropic institution established to support photographic arts, scientific research, and cultural exchange. It administers a major international photography prize, maintains significant collections, and funds research projects in partnership with universities and museums. The Foundation operates from Gothenburg and is associated with the legacy of the Hasselblad camera company and figures in Scandinavian art and science.
The Foundation was created in the wake of legacies left by Victor Hasselblad and linked to the corporate history of Victor Hasselblad AB, the same context that produced cameras used by NASA during the Apollo 11 program and the Apollo 17 mission. Its formation followed precedents in Swedish philanthropy exemplified by institutions such as the Kungliga Vetenskaps- och Vitterhetssamhället i Göteborg and echoed earlier endowments like the Nobel Foundation. Over ensuing decades the Foundation engaged with European cultural centers including collaborations with the Royal Academy of Arts (United Kingdom), the Musée d'Orsay, and the Tate Modern. Prominent photographers associated through awards or exhibitions include Ansel Adams, Diane Arbus, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Cindy Sherman, and Anders Petersen. The Foundation’s history intersects with museums such as the Fotografiska and universities such as the University of Gothenburg and Lund University.
The Foundation’s remit spans photographic arts, natural science, and scholarly research. It supports exhibitions at institutions like the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and The Getty, while funding projects involving scholars from Harvard University, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, and the Karolinska Institutet. Activities include awarding prizes connected to figures such as Ernst Hasselblad and commissioning monographs comparable to publications by Aperture and Steidl Verlag. The Foundation partners with galleries like the National Portrait Gallery (London), archives such as the George Eastman Museum, and festivals including the Venice Biennale and Photofestival initiatives in Scandinavia.
The Foundation administers an international photography prize comparable in prestige to awards like the Turner Prize and the Pulitzer Prize in its field. Past laureates include William Klein, Sebastião Salgado, Nan Goldin, Thomas Struth, Olafur Eliasson (for crossover practices), and Malick Sidibé. The award has been presented alongside retrospectives in institutions such as the Centre Pompidou, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and announced at events connected with the Paris Photo fair. The prize influences academic study at centers like the Yale Center for British Art and exhibition programming at venues including the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The Foundation maintains a collection that includes works by pioneers such as Alfred Stieglitz, Man Ray, Walker Evans, Garry Winogrand, and Robert Frank as well as contemporary artists like Perejaume, Wolfgang Tillmans, Andreas Gursky, and Rineke Dijkstra. Its exhibition history features loans and collaborations with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Kunstmuseum Basel, and Museum of Contemporary Photography. The collection supports traveling exhibitions to venues including the Kunsthalle Zürich, Irish Museum of Modern Art, and regional Scandinavian museums such as the Göteborgs Konstmuseum and Moderna Museet. Catalogues and monographs produced in association with publishers like Thames & Hudson and Hatje Cantz document these holdings.
Grant-making supports projects at scientific and cultural institutions including the Royal Institute of Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, Stockholm University, and the École des Beaux-Arts. Funding priorities have supported conservation studies akin to projects at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and technical research similar to initiatives at the Max Planck Society and the Smithsonian Institution. The Foundation awards fellowships enabling residencies at sites such as the Centre for Contemporary Photography (Melbourne), archival research at the British Library, and interdisciplinary projects linking photography with climate research institutions like the Sveriges meteorologiska och hydrologiska institutet.
The Foundation is governed by a board with ties to industrial and academic spheres, reflecting precedents in foundations such as the Wellcome Trust and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Funding derives from endowments associated historically with the Hasselblad business legacy and investments managed in coordination with Swedish financial institutions including the Svenska Handelsbanken and asset managers comparable to AP4 (Sweden). Governance emphasizes partnerships with cultural ministries such as Sweden’s national agencies and cooperation with municipal entities in Gothenburg.
Headquartered in Gothenburg, the Foundation occupies facilities that host exhibitions, research archives, and a library comparable in function to collections at the Rijksmuseum Research Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The premises have housed shows in collaboration with the Göteborg Opera and neighboring cultural venues like the Röda Sten Art Centre and the Gothenburg Museum of Art. Conservation labs and archive storage meet standards used by institutions such as the Getty Conservation Institute and the National Archives of Sweden.
Category:Foundations based in Sweden