Anders Petersen: City Diary

Anders Petersen, who has been working in Sweden since the late 1960s, always finds an odd, intimate moment. He steals them--from lovers strolling the night streets, inmates in Swedish prisons, patrons in a Hamburg bar--and discloses their often uncomfortable details with a probing, somewhat detached eye. Peterson's work is central to the history of Swedish photography. No one else has made a stronger impact on the current generation of photographers. His first book, Café Lehmitz (1967-70), which features pictures from the eponymous bar in Hamburg, was published in Germany in 1978 and in France the following year. One of its images, "Lily and Rose," which depicts a sleepy, bare-chested man embraced by a rather large, laughing woman, was used on the cover of Tom Waits' 1985 album, Rain Dogs. Waits' slightly deranged narratives and Anders' image compliment each other perfectly.