Ib Jesper Brieghel Høm (5 October 1931 – 1 March 2000) was a Danish photographer and

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

. After opening his own studio in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, he travelled widely, finally working for Agence VISA in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. Høm was a co-founder of Copenhagen's Delta Photos, an organization designed to inspire and assist press photographers. Most of the remainder of his career was devoted to film, where he participated in the making of several Danish films as cinematographer, screenwriter and director.

Career

Still photography

Jesper Høm was the son of Paul Brieghel Høm and Kirsten Mariane Henriksen, who were both artists. From 1948 to 1950, he received training in photography at Gutenberghus, a magazine publisher in Copenhagen, after which he spent a year working as a fashion photographer for ''Jardin des Modes'' in

."Jesper Høm", ''Den danske film database''
Retrieved 25 February 2010. Tage Poulsen, "Mennesker og mønstre", in ''Dansk Fotografi Historie'', ed. Mette Sandbye (Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 2004), p. 287 et seq. . The year he spent in Paris introduced Høm to the most advanced photography of the times, not least the work of the American-born photographer William Klein who excelled in expressiveness and appreciation of the decisive moment. Høm was quick to take up these new ideas, adapting them to his own style and promoting photography as an art."Jesper Høm", ''Det Nationale Fotomuseum''
Retrieved 25 February 2010. From 1955 to 1959, he ran his own studio in

concentrating on architectural and design photography. He then went to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

where he worked for Weiner & Gossage, an advertising agency. As a freelancer, he worked in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and for an extended period in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. He then spent three years working for Agence VISA in

with assignments in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. His photographs were published by

Stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...

and

Paris Match ''Paris Match'' () is a French-language weekly news magazine. It covers major national and international news along with celebrity lifestyle features. History and profile A sports news magazine, ''Match l'intran'' (a play on ''L'Intransigeant' ...

, culminating in his book ''Meet the Danes'' in 1964. Taking the French-based international photographic bureau Magnum as a model, together with Gregers Nielsen and others he set up Delta Photos in 1964. The organization was designed to support press photography in Denmark.

Cinema

Høm began as a film photographer in

Astrid Henning-Jensen Astrid Henning-Jensen (born Astrid Smahl; 10 December 1914 – 5 January 2002) was a Danish film director, actress, editor and screenwriter. Early life Henning-Jensen was born in the Copenhagen district of Frederiksberg in 1914, to parents Fer ...

's 1967 short film ''Min bedstefar er en stok'', followed by the children's film ''Thomas er fredløs'' and several others. One of two films he directed was ''Smil Emil'' in 1969, which became an award-winning success. In 1973, together with his wife Elsebeth Reingaard, he opened the Delta Art Cinema which later became known as the Delta Bio. The venture had a very positive effect on spreading interest in quality filmmaking in Denmark. However, as a result of financial difficulties, he gave up his job as cinema manager in 1979. In 1985, he was one of the founders of the Danish-Swedish photography agency Billedhuset. In 1986, he returned to filmmaking with the successful ''Take It Easy'' in which Eddie Skoller played the role of jazz musician

Leo Mathisen Leo "The Lion" Mathisen (10 October 1906 – 16 December 1969) was a Danish jazz pianist, composer, arranger, singer and bandleader. He was a leading figure of the thriving Danish scene during the years around World War II—a period which ...

Exhibitions, works and awards

Jesper Høm has exhibited widely, written several books and participated in a number of films:

Exhibitions

*Louisiana, Humlebæk, 1959 *

Danish Museum of Art & Design The Designmuseum Denmark () is a museum in Copenhagen for Danish and international design and crafts. It features works of famous Danish designers like Arne Jacobsen, Jacob Jensen and Kaare Klint, who was one of the two architects who remodeled ...

, 1963 *Landesbildstelle,

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, 1964 *Meet the Danes, 1964 New York World's Fair, 1964–65 *Kunstpavillion,

Esbjerg Esbjerg (, ) is a seaport town and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is west of Kolding and southwest of Aarhus. With an urban population of 71,698 (1 January 2022)

, 1982 *Joy of Timing,

Forte dei Marmi Forte dei Marmi () is a sea town and ''comune'' in the province of Lucca, in northern Tuscany (Italy). It is the birthplace of Paola Ruffo di Calabria, Queen of the Belgians from 1993 to 2013. Tourism is the principal activity of Forte dei Marmi's ...

, 1982 *Nye farvefotografier, Galleri Asbæk, Copenhagen, 1982 *Galleri Image,

Århus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

, 1983 *Irske billeder, Louisiana, 1986 *Retrospective. Øjeblikkets fascination (The fascination of the moment), Museumsbygningen (gallery), 2015

Books

*''Say Cheese...and Cry'', 1959 *''Sådan er Danmark, sådan da'' (photos by Jesper Høm and Bror Bernild, commentary by Henning Nystad), 1961 *''Meet the Danes'', 1964 *''Nogen kalder os glædespiger'' (commentary by Erik Nørgaard), 1975 *''Børnenes Billedbog'' (with Sven Grønlykke), 1975 *''Samba'' (commentary by Henrik Stangerup), 1982 *''Joy of Timing'', 1982 *''Brasiliansk fodbold'', 1984 *''Toneangivende danskere'', 1991

Films

*''Min bedstefar er en stok'' (cinematographer), 1967 *''Balladen om Carl-Henning'' 'Ballad of Carl-Henning''(cinematographer), 1968 *''Smil Emil'' 'Smile, Emil''(writer, director, cinematographer), 1969 *''Stille dage i Clichy'' 'Quiet Days in Clichy''(cinematographer), 1970 *''Thorvald og Linda'' (cinematographer with Claus Loof), 1982 *''Take it Easy'' (writer, director, cinematographer), 1986

Awards

*Star Photographer of the Year, London, 1967 *Filmfondets Årspris, 1970

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hom, Jesper 1931 births 2000 deaths 20th-century Danish photographers Danish photographers Danish male screenwriters Danish film directors Danish cinematographers 20th-century screenwriters Burials at the Garrison Cemetery, Copenhagen