Evelyn Hofer Libri

The starting point for this book is Evelyn Hofer’s Dublin: A Portrait, which features an in-depth essay by V. S. Pritchett and photos by Hofer, and enjoyed great popularity upon its original publication in 1967. Dublin: A Portrait is an example of Hofer’s perhaps most important body of work, her city portraits: books that present comprehensive prose texts by renowned authors alongside her self-contained visual essays with their own narratives. Dublin: A Portrait was the last book published in this renowned series. The newly conceived Dublin focuses on the photos Hofer took on behalf of the publisher Harper & Row in 1965 and 1966. In Dublin Hofer repeatedly turned her camera to sights of the city, but mainly to the people who constituted its essence. She made numerous portraits—be they of writers and public figures or unknown people in the streets. Her portraits give evidence of an intense, respectful engagement with her subjects, who participate as equal partners in the process of photographing.

The starting point for Evelyn Hofer’s New York is the 1965 book New York Proclaimed, which features an in-depth essay by V. S. Pritchett and photos by Hofer, and enjoyed great popularity upon its original publication. New York Proclaimed is an example of Hofer’s perhaps most important body of work, her city portraits: books that present comprehensive prose texts by renowned authors alongside her self-contained visual essays with their own narratives. The newly conceived New York focuses on Hofer’s photos of the 1960s as well as until now unpublished images from the early 1970s. In Hofer’s photos of the street and (semi-)public spaces, people and architecture become symbols of a particular time and place. She immersed herself in New York society and captured these aspects of the everyday—inconspicuous and subtle, yet all the more enduring for being so—in images that invariably reflect the zeitgeist. New York contains a new essay by John Haskell which posits possible stories behind Hofer’s photos and draws connections between images taken over the course of ten years.

Evelyn Hofer zählt trotz ihrer heute geringen Bekanntheit zu den wohl bedeutendsten Fotografinnen der Nachkriegszeit. Mit ihren zeitlosen, äußerst präzise geplanten Arbeiten in Schwarz-Weiß und Farbe widersetzte sie sich der Schnappschuss-Ästhetik, wie sie in den 1970er- und 1980er-Jahren populär war. Ihre Fotografien bestechen durch ihre durchdachten Kompositionen und eine ihnen innewohnende Ausgeglichenheit, sie zogen in den 1950er- und 1960er-Jahren besonders das Interesse von Autoren wie Mary McCarthy und Victor S. Pritchett auf sich. So entstanden Architektur- und Porträtfotografien, aber auch Interieurs und Landschaftsaufnahmen für literarische Stadtporträts wie The Stones of Florence (1959), London Perceived (1962) oder Emerson in Italy (1989). Hofers große Leidenschaft für das menschliche Gegenüber spiegelt sich in Serien wie People of Soglio (1990/91) und den Porträts namhafter Persönlichkeiten wie Balthus, Saul Steinberg, Arthur Rubinstein und Roy Lichtenstein. Darüber hinaus fotografierte Hofer zahlreiche gesellschaftliche, politische und sozialkritische Essays für Magazine wie Life International, The New York Times Magazine und das Londoner Sunday Times Magazine. Das Museum Villa Stuck widmet der Fotografin eine umfassende Retrospektive und zeigt auch bisher wenig bekannte und unveröffentlichte Fotografien, insbesondere ihre Essays für Magazine und Illustrierte.