Vintage photographers and their AKAs - A notebook

[CosmoK]

That is reminding me that months ago, I found a connection between Allan Sass and Ulf Stjernbo. If I remember correctly, there were several identical erotica pictures on both web sites of theirs.

I have to check that again in order to provide the relevant links here.

[CosmoK]

My memories were wrong: the connection is in fact between Allan Sass and Siwer Ohlsson...

So here are the links were I found the galleries with matching photographs for
Sass and Ohlsson where among others, one can find this kind of samples:


Sass_______________________Ohlsson


Sass_________________________Ohlsson

[effCup]

Originally Posted by CosmoK

Sass_________________________Ohlsson

Barbara Castle's set with the lion in Mayfair 18-09, 1983-09 was credited to Siwer Ohlsson.
Related pics. in Newlook (Fr) no.13, 1984-09 were credited to "Cosmos/Terence Spencer/Siwer Ohlsson".

We need to beware that:

• mags. at times perhaps made mistakes in the photog. credits?
• several photogs. seemingly at times also operated as distributors/re-sellers of other photogs' work.

So I'm not denying the possibility of connexions between Peter Flodqvist and Allan Sass, or Siwer Ohlsson and Allan Sass, just urging caution without significant (repeated) evidence.

[CosmoK]

I think you're right effCup, because of the mentioned reasons we need to remain careful on that matter of aliases.

Nevertheless, I think we can exclude mag mistakes in this case, since the two samples shown above are not just an exception. As you can see below, there are some other examples of similarity within the galleries of the respective personal websites of Sass and Ohlsson (first pic: Ohlsson's site, second: Sass' one):







I also noticed that in Sass gallery, most of the picture's filenames that match with a photograph of Ohlsson's site start with the letters "so" (i.e. "so1001_08.jpg"), and that every of theses pictures displays "Copyright Allan Sass. All rights reserved" when right-clicking on it.

These are the reasons why I am seeing a connection between these two names. I just don't know yet what kind of connection it could be here, alias or work partnership.

[effCup]

For now it seems like Sass simply purchased some of Ohlsson's product/work. /shrug/

Having different credits for the same/related work back around the time it was first published/produced, in that sense, can perhaps be more telling... provided it's not just a mag. cock-up.

I'm not meaning to doubt or diminish the value of your (or anyone else's) research: please carry on with more/similar such.

[CosmoK]

Looking for further clues I found these portraits for comparison:


Allan Sass in 1978 and later _________________ Siwer Ohlsson

Thus, I'm closing the case.

[effCup]

Some more on Peter Flodqvist--see also earlier here.

In this post CosmoK links to the mag. post of Neues Satins no.05. Unfortunately some of those scans by funka are now dead, but CosmoK says all the pictorials were credited (on the now-dead p.2) to Peter Foldquist and Ulf Stjernbo, i.e. the latter is a known aka of Peter Flodqvist and the former a very likely one as well, if not simply a typo.

The image that CosmoK quotes is another scan that's now dead, but note not only the distinctive semi-circular window with the blinds but also a white moulded pot for holding plants. Now, time to examine some pics. of a different model, Greta Andersen. It might seem easier to refer to her vef thread but the pics. on Cream Cheese actually seem better-organised for this exercise. Look at Greta's set from CIUK 13-10, 1984-10 as Patricia, photog. by Robert Lorraine. There you can see what I believe is the same moulded white pot for holding plants. Note also the red metal frame of the bed, and what looks like a stucco surface to the wall behind the bed. In the fifth pic. one can also just see some of the long shaggy pile of the white carpet on the floor. These are all features in common to other work by Peter Flodqvist, as can be seen from the pics. of other models in Neues Satin no.05--moulded white plant pot, stucco wall, long white carpet pile, & red metal bed frame.

So, Robert Lorraine is a possible aka for Peter Flodqvist. I have yet to study other sets by him in any thoroughness so my info. is probably pretty patchy, but I currently know of the following Robert Lorraine credits:

Lucinda Anderson as Peg in CIUK 13-07, 1984-07, here.
Greta Andersen as Patricia in CIUK 13-10, 1984-10 - already discussed above.
Trine Michelsen as Janet in CIUK 13-12, 1984-12, here.
Jane Burroughs as Elise in CIUK 14-01, 1985-01 - reappearing in CIUS, 1985-07
Charlotte Bronberg as Judy in CIUK 14-02, 1985-02
Annette Brusewitz as Bobby in CIUK 15-02, 1986-02
Tanya in CIUK 15-07, 1986-07

I have provided links for some of the above sets.
Lucinda Anderson is also on a metal-framed bed but in her case painted white and gold, the wall is again white stucco, and there is a familiarly-shaped white moulded pot for plants, and the white or cream-coloured carpet has a long shaggy pile.
Trine Michelsen has a white stucco wall and white moulded pot for plants.

So, I think Robert Lorraine is a probable aka for Peter Flodqvist, and that many of these pics. are from the same studio with the semi-circular window, coloured blinds, long shaggy white carpet, etc. The same setting credited not only to Peter Flodquist | Ulf Stjernbo but also to Basil Crawford-Smith. The anomaly in that scenario is the credit to Sascha Alexander, an aka for Hans Moser, Jr. for the pics. of Nini Larssen. Note also that the metal bed frame there is painted black, while that for Valerie Milton is painted grey. Perhaps Moser bought the pictures of Nini from Flodqvist but put his own name on the credit in Sweet Little 16--maybe at additional cost? /shrug/

[CosmoK]

"Perhaps Moser bought the pictures of Nini from Flodqvist but put his own name on the credit in Sweet Little 16--maybe at additional cost?"

I think you are also guessing well about that, since I can at least testify that in Moser's magazines, every pictorials by Serge Jacques (and aliases) are credited to Sascha Alexander. And from what I can remember, Alexander's name is in fact credited on almost every photographs...
Perhaps he had the right to do so because he bought the necessary copyrights to put his name on it, in the same way as MeyerPress, Blumebild and other agencies did at the same period?

Anyway, thanks for your excellent work of investigation!

[effCup]

Now to discuss Jan (or Yan) Svensson.

Those names are credited twice in Mayfair. Bernadette Masson's first set in Mayfair 19-05, 1984-05 as Jasmin is credited to Jan Svensson.

Coincidentally, some other of her sets are credited to Serge Jacques--CIUK 13-08, 1984-08, supposedly about some KU disco club, and Newlook (Fr) no.08, 1984-04 as Cannelle. But those sets are unrelated to the one of Masson as Jasmin.

Diane Fullerton's pics in Mayfair 21-01, 1986-01 were credited to Yan Svensson. Note the snow (although to me, as a non-skier, it instead looks more like salt?) setting and distinctive red white blue stripe fabric (towel?).

Annabel Fairchild's pics in CIUK 14-01, 1985-01 as Helga were credited to Serge Jacques. Note the snow setting and the distinctive red white blue stripe fabric.

So, could Jan (or Yan) Svensson be an aka for Serge Jacques?

Hold that thought.

----

Back to Greta Andersen. Her set as Krista in Knave 16-09, 1984-09 is credited to Jan Svensson. Here the blinds are purple (mauve?) and the carpet is brown with a short pile. There is a white pot for holding plants but it looks metal.

Now look at Greta's set as Philippa Smyth in Mayfair 20-03, 1985-03, which is credited to Basil Crawford-Smith. The blinds are a different colour again, but it looks like the same white metal pot for holding plants. The carpet also resembles the white, long shaggy pile seen in the studio mostly associated with Peter Flodqvist.

So, does that mean that Basil Crawford-Smith is an aka for Serge Jacques and not for Peter Flodqvist? Or could Jacques and Flodqvist sometimes have used the same studio? Or does it mean something else? Maybe it was just a mag. credits mix-up?

If one looks at the text in Greta's set from Knave one sees a mock-humorous "rant" from the "editor" complaining about the blinds appearing in so many different pictorials. That text also claims that three different Swedish photographers all share that same studio with the blinds. My feeling is still rather sceptical. We know that one of the reasons photographers had different akas was in order to seem to add "variety" to mags' content--e.g. some mags. containing all work credited only to Hans Moser, Jr. & Sascha Alexander, or likewise but to Peter Flodqvist & Ulf Stjernbo. So my initial thought was simply that: they were cynically trying to preserve the illusion of different photogs. when instead there were fewer. But that's highly speculative/without much evidence.

It is also dangerous to place too much emphasis upon artefacts like pots for plants. Yes they can be distinctive but they're also often mass-produced, so on their own they shouldn't carry too much weight (pun unintended).

----

edit: Some further credits for Jan Svensson:

Dominique in Knave 16-07, 1984-07, at Cream Cheese here.
Kelli in Knave 17-01, 1985-01, at Cream Cheese here.
Shaun in Knave 17-07, 1985-07, at Cream Cheese here.
Cressida in Knave 17-08, 1985-08, at Cream Cheese here.

Some of the shots of Dominique on the beach, in the brown/tan bikini, remind me somewhat of one of Anna Ventura's Penthouse sets, only she's a different model.

[CosmoK]

So, could Jan (or Yan) Svensson be an aka for Serge Jacques?

Since the moment I spotted the same pictorials you mention, Svensson was rated with a "very high probability" in my list of Jacques' aliases.

Don't have further clue about Basil Crawford-Smith, however, I have been told that when working in London, Jacques had some fun tricking publishers using aliases. For example, he asked Claudie Perrin to embody the photographer Sarah Joyce at the time he was using this alias for his own work. That "mystification", intended to help him opening some doors for business purpose, seems to have succeeded to a certain point.

That is to say that I won't be surprised at all to know that Jacques used one or more typical British names for alias during the time he worked in England (and maybe even after).