Occupation Photographer Died 1866, Menton, France Name Brita Hesselius | Citizenship Sweden Nationality Swedish | |
Brita Sofia Hesselius (1801–1866) was a Swedish daguerreotype photographer. She was likely the first professional female photographer of her country.
Hesselius was born in Alster parish in the Karlstad Municipality as the daughter of Olof Hesselius, inspector of an estate, and Anna Katarina Roman. From 1845 to 1853, she managed a girl school in Karlstad. In parallel, she was active with a daguerreotype photographic studio. She was as such the first professional female photographer of her country: before Hedvig Söderström, the first female photographer who opened a studio in Stockholm in 1857, who was long believed to be the first. The painter Marie Kinnberg also performed photography as an assistant and student of Bendixen and Adolph Meyer in Gothenburg in 1851.
Hesselius also performed portraits in oil. In 1853, she moved to Stockholm, and eventually to France, where she died in Menton.