Henry B. Goodwin

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Henry Buergel Goodwin (February 20, 1878 – September 11, 1931)^[1] was a Swedish photographer and lecturer for nordic languages at the University of Uppsala born in Germany.

Goodwin was born in Munich, Germany, as Heinrich Karl Hugo Bürgel. His father Hugo Bürgel (1853 – 1903) was a landscape painter. He studied nordic languages at the University of Leipzig, graduating in 1903 with a Ph.D. thesis on the Icelandic manuscript Konungsannáll. Annales Islandorum Regii. While in Leipzig, he also learned to photograph in the studio of Nicola Perscheid.

In 1903, he married Hildegard Gassner, and the following year, they moved to Uppsala in Sweden, where Goodwin held a position as lecturer in German at Uppsala University from 1906 until 1909.^[2] With his move to Sweden, where he was naturalized in 1908, he also began to anglicize his name: he first added the "Goodwin" surname and omitted the Umlaut, changing "Bürgel" to "Buergel", and in 1907, he changed "Heinrich" to "Henry" and henceforth went by the name "Henry B. Goodwin". In 1909, he was divorced from Hildegard, who would move back to Germany with their three children three years later. Only a short time later, Goodwin wed Ida Helander, née Engelke (1874 – 1963), a teacher from Stockholm.

When his academic career did not really advance, Goodwin began concentrating more on photography. In 1913 he organized a photography course given by Nicloa Perscheid,^[3] and from 1916 on, he worked as a professional photographer with his own studio. Goodwin became known as Sweden's foremost Pictorialist photographer, and his works were exhibited and acclaimed internationally.^[4]

[edit] References

Main source:

Östlind, O.: The unknown Henry B. Goodwin, URL last accessed April 3, 2006.

Other sources:

^ Luminous Lint: Henry B. Goodwin, URL last accessed April 3, 2006.
^ Sixten Rönnow, "Goodwin, Heinrich (Henry) Carl Hugo Buergel", Svenskt biografiskt lexikon, vol. 17, p. 179.
^ Schumann, K.: Nicola Perscheid (1864-1930). Forschungen zu einem Berufsphotographen im Kontext der Kunstphotographie um 1900, M.S. thesis, Technische Universität Dresden, 2003. URL last accessed April 3, 2006.
^ Joseph Bellows Gallery: Henry B. Goodwin. URL last accessed April 3, 2006.

[edit] Further reading

Ehrs, B.; Bengtsson, C.: Goodwin, a tribute, Norstedts Förlag AB, Stockholm 1998. ISBN 91-1-300538-3; in English.
Östlind, O.: Den okände Henry B. Goodwin ("The unknown Henry B. Goodwin"), Carlsson Bokförlag AB, Stockholm 1997. ISBN 91-7798-811-6; in Swedish.