On July 10, 2024, the photographer Thomas Hoepker passed away. Over the past ten years, the Bildhalle has been closely associated with Thomas Hoepker and has presented his iconic images in several solo exhibitions in Zurich and Amsterdam. Tribute to Thomas Hoepker (1936-2024) is on view until January 25, 2025 at Bildhalle Zurich.
Born in Munich in 1936, Hoepker is one of the most important German photojournalists of the late 20th century.
As such, he not only lived through, but also played a role in the second golden age of photojournalism after the 1920s and 1930s. He entered the history of photography not only for his contributions to magazines such as Stern, Geo, Kristall, and Münchner Illustrierte, but also as an art director, writer, and filmmaker.
As a reporter for Stern, he had the opportunity to portrait boxer Muhammad Ali in 1964, and continued to do so at regular intervals for 10 years. In 1966, Hoepker and his then wife, Stern reporter Eva Windmöller, accompanied the boxing legend to London and Chicago. In 1970, Hoepker was present with his camera when Ali, who had been out of the ring for some time, was preparing for the “fight of the century” against Joe Frazier. He met him again years later, when he was already suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Many of these images are known throughout the world and have become icons of photography. They have been widely exhibited in museums and are represented in numerous collections. In 1976, Hoepker moved to New York as a correspondent for Stern and, until 1981, was director of the American edition of GEO. From 1987 to 1989, he was artistic director of Stern in Hamburg. In 1989, he became the first German national to be accepted by Magnum as a full member, before becoming president of the agency from 2003 to 2006. Thomas Hoepker was married to filmmaker Christine Kruchen.
In 2017, Thomas Hoepker was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. He dreamed of traveling the United States one last time, as he had done in the early 1960s for his “Heartland” project. A film crew accompanied him and his wife Christine, resulting in “Dear Memories”, a visually documentary film about a photographer who has spent his life creating cultural and historical memories, and for whom these images now function as a kind of “externalized” memory.
“Thomas Hoepker’s photographs are characterized by an exuberant liveliness. However, he does not close his eyes to the misery of the world and has never succumbed to fear. of the world and has never succumbed to the temptation to exploit the horrors of the afflicted places to which he has been sent. He contradicts the cynical observation that the journalist is often lucky enough to record the misfortune of others, by demonstrating instead in his images that the misfortune of others necessarily applies to everyone. He has never failed to regard his camera as a weapon in the fight for justice. In the end, it is always people, with their worries, quirks and idiosyncrasies, who play the most important role. Hoepker’s unusual flair for composition invariably goes hand in hand with a deeply humanistic sensibility.” Freddy Langer
Hommage à Thomas Hoepker (1936-2024)
21 November 2024 – 25 January 2025
Galerie Bildhalle
Stauffacherquai 56
8004 Zürich, Switzerland
https://www.bildhalle.ch/
