NYKVIST, SVEN

born Dec. 3, 1922, Moheda, Sweden Swedish cinematographer best known for his subtle, luminous camera work in the films of Ingmar Bergman. Nykvist studied photography, worked as an assistant cameraman, and spent a year at the Italian Cinecitta studios before joining the Swedish production company Sandrews in 1941. He shot his first film in 1945 and his first for Bergman, Gycklarnas afton (The Naked Night, or Sawdust and Tinsel), in 1953. In 1960 he worked on Bergman's Jungfrukllen (Virgin Spring), after which he became Bergman's regular director of photography at Svensk Filmindustri. He worked on more than a dozen Bergman films, including Viskingar och rop (1972; Cries and Whispers) and Fanny och Alexander (1983; Fanny and Alexander), for both of which he won Oscars in cinematography from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In working with Bergman, Nykvist typically operated the camera himself in order to be in close touch with the director's instructions. He shared Bergman's passion for light, eschewing technical gloss in favour of an expressive simplicity that directly conveys the bleak beauty of the Swedish landscape. Nykvist also worked with most of the other important Swedish directors and on some international productions, including Siddhartha (1972), Black Moon (1975), Pretty Baby (1978), Starting Over (1979), and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981).