Since the 1960s, Thomas Hoepker has defined German photojournalism like no other. Beginning as a regular contributor to major magazines, as a photographer and correspondent, as well as an art director and internationally renowned Magnum photographer, he is now regarded as one of the most important exponents of committed, sensitive photojournalism. Yet he has always humbly seen himself as a commissioned photographer, an 'image maker'; someone who is interested in nothing less than the truth, the veracity of the moment. Hoepker originally made his name in the 1960s as a photojournalist with a desire to photograph human conditions.
Over the many decades of his active life as a photographer, a body of work has emerged that transcends the context in which it was created and is seen as complex, independent and immensely artistic. Calm, subtle and far removed from sensationalism, many of Hoepker's visually sensitive subjects have become icons of 'concerned photography' thanks to their precise composition and intense pictorial statements. He documented the destruction of the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001. Hoepker has 'portrayed' iconic places and icons of the art world, and produced a stunning portrait of Muhammad Ali.
ICONS by Thomas Hoepker was on display in the Leica Gallery Amsterdam between January 26 2024 and March 24 2024.
