Long Live The Large Family

Self-portrait in my home, around 1966. Doll and paintings by Marie-Louise De Geer (now Ekman).

Carl Johan De Geer is a healthy, creative and all-round delightful gentleman in his early 70s who, in rejection of his unhappy upbringing in one of Sweden’s most powerful aristocratic families, has lived his life as a perennial Swedish underground artist, working in counterpoint to the privilege of his surname.

Galleri Karlsson 1968

The Camera As Consolation

Long Live the Large Family

Med Kameran Som Tröst

For more information on Carl Johan De Geer’s snaps, visit boo-hooray.com

This picture, called The Double Bottomed Pacifism, was taken in the De Geer home in 1967. It’s of well-known media personalities Lars Svanberg and Håkan Alexandersson, in a humorous fight. Both have now passed away.

Gärdesfesten, 1970. In the now I mourn the dead.

Picnic in Drottningholmsparken in Stockholm, around 1972.

A trip with the then Madame De Geer around 1966.

The band Elektriska Linden in a stage design of mine at Filmhuset in Stockholm, 1975. I played the trombone (there’s an LP) and took the picture with my Leica on a tripod using the self-timer. I’m the chef guy in the middle, and had to rush there in the 10 seconds you get.

This photo of Annikka Nuora and her child was taken during the recording of Marie-Louise Ekman’s short film Sagan om den lilla flickan och den stora kärleken, 1985.

This was taken at a TV recording directed by Marie-Louise Ekman, around 1980. I can’t remember the name of the production, but this girl was a cat and I played a dog.

This picture was taken during the recording of the TV series Tårtan, 1972. It's of the wig and teeth of Janos, one of the main characters, and the fake nose and glasses of Frasse, another character.

The gerbil Hans from the TV series Doktor Krall, 1974. It was a difficult portrait to take because the animal kept jumping away. I used a flash and an old 90 mm Leica lens from the 50s to get an old-fashioned portrait style, and was shouting really loudly to paralyze the rodent during the second that was needed.

Gärdesfesten, an alternative music festival in Stockholm, June 1970.

A sailing demonstration outside Stockholm’s Royal Palace during the recording of Öyvind Fahlström’s film Du gamla, du fria, 1970. On the sail is a defamatory drawing of then Liberal Party leader Sven Wedén, who owned a tongs factory.

I took this at the recording of the TV series Tårtan, 1972. That’s me in the mirror to the left, and Jan Lööf to the right.

The student union occupation in 1968, with the media elite from Swedish Channel 2 in the foreground (Ingrid Dahlberg, Birgitta Bergmark, Staffan Lamm).

Variety ballet dancers backstage around 1980.

Musician Bo Anders Persson (Träd, Gräs och Stenar and Persson Sound) discussing Gärdesfesten’s illegality with the police.

My friend Arslan, around 1967.