Evelyn Hofer

Concentration on the essential, a keen eye for proportion, light and colour, intuitive understanding of her subjects and technical brilliance: these are the unmistakeable hallmarks of Evelyn Hofer, America’s most famous “unknown” photographer. Her photographs have an inspiring depth and immediacy, and display an astonishing diversity. Her life’s work ranges from the hectic streets of New York, through Spain in the 1960s and the undulating Italian countryside, right up to austerely composed still lives and sensitive portraits. In their beauty, perfection and directness, these photographic motifs—as diverse as they are—always reflect the intuitive eye, the piercing intensity and remarkable tranquility of the photographer herself. For as Eveyln Hofer said, “all we photographers photograph is ourselves in the others, all the time.”

Evelyn Hofer works exclusively with 4x5-inch large-format cameras and long exposure times. She is an artist of light, who arranges her subjects—whether they are landscapes, cities or people—into images whose powers of suggestion are ineluctable.