Keld Helmer-Petersen – Photographs 1941-2013

‘Keld Helmer-Petersen, Photographs 1941-1995’ provides a retrospective view of the long career of the photographer Keld Helmer-Petersen.

Keld Helmer-Petersen (1920-2013) is an internationally renowned Danish photographer. His first photo book, ‘122 Colour Photographs’, is considered unique for its time, and he made a name for himself when ‘LIFE Magazine’ published several pages from the book in 1949.

His style is modernistic and experimental with a lyrical simplicity. It captures the beauty of his immediate surroundings, often turning the motifs that fascinate his eyes and mind into graphic structures. His use of colour is masterly, and the landscapes and portraits possess a quiet, simple beauty.

This edition includes a new introduction, ‘Developing a New Eye: Form, Structure, Surface’, by Danish Professor of Photography Studies Mette Sandbye, and an essay by the former head of the Museum of Photographic Art in Odense, Finn Thrane. Every chapter has a short introduction by the photographer himself and his close friend and fellow photographer, Jens Frederiksen, who has contributed with the text Black Noise to this revised edition. Finally, the book contains an interview with Keld Helmer-Petersen by British photographer Martin Parr. 

‘Keld Helmer-Petersen, Photographs 1941-1995’ is an updated reissue of ‘Keld Helmer-Petersen. Photographs 1941-1995’ (2007).