Evelyn Hofer (January 21, 1922 – November 2, 2009) was a German-American portrait and documentary photographer.

Life and work

Hofer was born in

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approxima ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The family moved to

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

in 1933 in order to escape Nazism, and later to

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

. Evelyn attempted unsuccessfully to enter the

Paris Conservatory The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

and then switched to photography, first apprenticing in

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

and

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

and then taking private tuition in Zürich. After

Franco Franco may refer to: Name * Franco (name) * Francisco Franco (1892–1975), Spanish general and dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975 * Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Congolese musician, the "Grand Maître" Prefix * Franco, a prefix used when ref ...

came to power they moved again, to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

in the early 1940s. It was in Mexico that she had her first work as a professional photographer. She moved to New York in 1946, where she worked with

Alexey Brodovitch Alexey Vyacheslavovich Brodovitch (also Brodovich; be, Аляксей Брадовіч, russian: Алексе́й Вячесла́вович Бродо́вич; 1898 – April 15, 1971) was a Russian-born American photographer, designer ...

of '' Harper's Bazaar'' and befriended Richard Lindner and

Saul Steinberg Saul Steinberg (June 15, 1914 – May 12, 1999) was a Romanian-American artist, best known for his work for ''The New Yorker'', most notably '' View of the World from 9th Avenue''. He described himself as "a writer who draws". Biography S ...

.William Grimes,
Evelyn Hofer, subtle photographer of people and places, dies at 87
, ''New York Times'', November 10, 2009. Accessed January 5, 2013. Hofer used a four-by-five inch view camera to make orderly and well-constructed portraits and scenic photographs. Her style centered on straightforward compositions that were clear, but not simple. Her portraits show subjects looking lost, sad, or at least ambiguous. She died in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

, aged 87.

Books

*''Los encantos de Méjico.'' Text by Maurice Sandoz. Th
WorldCat record for this
says " éxico, Kamin, 1953?. *''The Pleasures of Mexico.'' Text by Maurice Sandoz. New York: Kamin, 1957. The British edition of this book (London: Guilford Press, 1955; ) is instead illustrated by Rolf Dürig. *''The Stones of Florence.'' Text by Mary McCarthy. London: Heinemann, 1956. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1959. London: Heinemann, 1976. . San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987. . *''Florenz.'' Text by Mary McCarthy. Gütersloh: Bertelsmann, 1960. *''London Perceived''. Text by V. S. Pritchett. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1962. London: Chatto & Windus / Heinemann, 1962. London: Hogarth, 1986. . Boston: Godine, 1990. . London: Penguin, 2003. . London: Bloomsbury, 2011. . *''London. Herz und Antlitz einer Stadt.'' Text by V. S. Pritchett, trans. Margot Berthold. Munich and Zurich: Droemer, 1964. *''New York Proclaimed''. Text by V. S. Pritchett. Chatto & Windus / Heinemann, 1965. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1965. London: Reprint Society, 1966. *''New York. Herz und Antlitz einer Stadt.'' Text by V. S. Pritchett. Munich and Zurich: Droemer, 1966. *''Dublin: A Portrait''. Text by V. S. Pritchett. New York: Harper & Row, 1967. London: Bodley Head, 1967. London: Hogarth, 1991. . London: Bloomsbury, 2011. . *''The Presence of Spain''. Text by James Morris. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1964. London: Faber & Faber, 1964. *''Spanje zoals het is.'' Text by James Morris. The Hague: Gaade, 1965. *''Spanien. Porträt eines stolzen Landes.'' Text by James Morris, trans. Kai Molvig. Berlin: Deutsche Buch-Gemeinschaft, 1967. Knaur-Taschenbücher 176. Munich: Droemer, 1968. *''The Evidence of Washington.'' Text by

William Walton Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...

. New York: Harper & Row, 1966. London: Bodley Head, 1967. *''Portrait: Theory: Photographs and Essays by David Attie,

Chuck Close Charles Thomas Close (July 5, 1940 – August 19, 2021) was an American painter, visual artist, and photographer who made massive-scale photorealist and abstract portraits of himself and others. Close also created photo portraits using a very l ...

, Jan Groover, Evelyn Hofer, Lotte Jacobi, Gerard Malanga, Robert Mapplethorpe and James Van Der Zee.'' Edited by Kelly Wise. New York: Lustrum, 1981. *''Emerson in Italy.'' Text by

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...

and Evelyn Barish. New York: Holt, 1989. . *''Evelyn Hofer: Photographs.'' Lausanne: Musée de l'Élysée, 1994. . *''Evelyn Hofer.'' Edited by Susanne Breidenbach. Göttingen: Steidl, 2004. . Galerie m. .

Collections

Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fe ...

Museum of Fine Arts Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...

Notes

References

External links