During January and February 2023, Leica Gallery London will stage Thomas Hoepker’s Wanderlust exhibition, concentrating on twenty of Hoepker’s photographs and focusing on his colour documentary stills. The works span six decades, beginning in the 1960s and ending in 2013.
Thomas Hoepke’s Wanderlust exhibition also ties in with one of Hoepker’s classic images, Advertisement and Passengers on Bus New York City 1963, which was chosen as the Leica Picture of the Year 2022. This work is one of a larger portfolio of ‘Leica Legends’ prints which will be available exclusively through the global Leica Galleries as a limited-edition collector’s print.
Thomas Hoepker (born in Munich in 1936) studied art history and archaeology before working for various German publications and then joining the staff of the prestigious Stern magazine as a photo- reporter in 1964. In 1966, while on assignment for the German publication Kristall, he produced his seminal and seminal series “The Greatest” about Muhammad Ali.
Magnum began to distribute Thomas Hoepker’s photographs in 1964. From the 1970s, he became involved in documentary film-making, first in Germany and then in New York while working as a correspondent for Stern magazine. Hoepker became the photography director of the American subsidiary of Geo magazine from 1978-81, and in 1989 he joined Magnum as a full member, where he championed the colour feature.
Thomas Hoepker is widely recognised for his personal humility, tight visual statements and refined imagery. His work is utterly committed to the truth and captures the quiet and everyday — he is a true example of the concerned photographer — and still, after over 60 years of taking photographs, is considered one of the greatest representatives of humanistic photojournalism. His photographs are world-renowned and are held in both International and private collections.
Thomas Hoepker’s Wanderlust Exhibition will take place between 8 January and 12 February 2023 at Leica Gallery London, 66-64 Duke Street, London, W1K 6JD. Prints will be for sale on request.
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I saw rather a large exhibition of work by Hoepker at the gallery in the Ernst Leitz Museum when I was there for the Leitz Auction last June. It contained many impressive works. One of the most interesting items was a photo of Muhammad Ali pointing one of Hoepker’s Leicas at him. I showed Hoepker’s famous (perhaps infamous) photo of 9/11 in my article of 17th November about the highlights of the then upcoming Leitz Photograph Auction. The item did not sell. I think it reached 19 or 20K, but was then withdrawn, implying a higher reserve. The photo was controversial when it was published about 5 years after 9/11, as it appeared to show some young people enjoying a day out while New York City across the water bore the scars of a massive attack. Hoepker has always claimed that he just recorded what he saw and did not engage with the young people in case this would make the photo unnatural and a false representation of what he had observed. .
William
From a reader who is unlikely to attend this exhibition, thank you for presenting this glimpse of Thomas Hoepker’s exhibits.