Thomas Hoepker: Wanderlust
On 8 January 2023, Leica Gallery London inaugurated an exhibition of 20 photographs by Thomas Hoepker, with a particular focus on his documentary color frames. The works span decades, starting in the 1960s and ending in 2013.
The exhibition also links to one of Hoepker’s classic images, Advertisements and Passengers on the Bus. New York City 1963 chosen as Leica Picture of the Year 2022. This work is part of a larger portfolio of “Leica Legends” prints available exclusively through the global Leica Galleries as a limited edition collector’s print.
Thomas Hoepker is widely recognized for his personal humility, tight visual statements, and refined imagery. His work is totally committed to the truth and captures the quiet and the everyday – he is a true example of a concerned photographer – and still, after more than 60 years of photography, he is considered one of the greatest representatives of humanistic photojournalism. His photographs are famous throughout the world and are held in both international and private collections.
About the Author
“I am not an artist. I am an image maker.”
Thomas Hoepker, 1936, studied art history and archeology, then worked as a photographer for Münchner Illustrierte and Kristall between 1960 and 1963, reporting from all over the world. He joined Stern magazine as a photo-reporter in 1964.
Magnum began to distribute Hoepker’s archive photographs in 1964. He worked as a cameraman and producer of documentary films for German television in 1972, and from 1974 collaborated with his wife, the journalist Eva Windmoeller, first in East Germany and then in New York, where they moved to work as correspondents for Stern in 1976. From 1978 to 1981, Hoepker was director of photography for the American edition of Geo.
Hoepker worked as an art director for Stern in Hamburg between 1987 and 1989 when he became a full member of Magnum. Specializing in reportage and stylish color features, he received the prestigious Kulturpreis of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Photographie in 1968. Among many other awards for his work, he received one in 1999 from the German Ministry of Foreign Aid for Death in a Cornfield, a TV film on Guatemala.
Hoepker currently lives in New York. He shoots and produces TV documentaries together with his second wife, Christine Kruchen. He was president of Magnum Photos from 2003 to 2006.
Thomas Hoepker: Wanderlust
8 January – 12 February 2023
Leica Gallery London
