La Fundacion Mapfre is showing for the first time in Madrid, until May 20, 2012, the work of photographer Emil Otto Hoppé. Born in Munich in 1878, E.O. Hoppé moved to Great Britain in 1902 where he began working as a photographer in 1907. A recognized portrait artist, he became part of the intellectual and artistic elite of early 20th century England. He also knew how to leave the studio for the street. The exhibition at the Fundacion Mapfre is the next step for this exhibition featured at the National Portrait Gallery of London and mounted by Curatorial Assistance and the E.O. Hoppé Estate Collection. Head curator Philip Prodger, photography curator fo the Peabody Essex Museum (Massachusetts), and Terence Pepper, photography curator for the National Portrait Gallery explain in the exhibition catalog how amateur photographer E.O. Hoppé grew to celebrity status in such short time. Also how, in 1937, he created the Dorien Leig Agency to distribute and commercialize his archives and those of other photographers. And how this archival collection, absorbed later by the Mansel collection, became unidentifiable. It wasn’t until the work of Graham Howe in 1994 that the identity of the photographer’s work was revealed.

To highlight this visibility, the curator separated the exhibition in four sections. First, studio works, those of the recognized portrait artist with pictures of celebrities, among others, Georges Clemencau, Ezra Pound, or George Bernard Shaw…, Elisabeth Bowes Lyon, Duchess of York, future Queen Elisabeth or Tilly Losch… Neither pictorialist or constructivist, his style focused on the subject’s expression, and on details like the hands, “facial expressions can often be controlled, but the hands, we often forget the hands” (A hundred thousand exposures, 1945).

Close to the portrait, The beauties is the second section of the exhibition. It features the 1922 book The book of Fair Women featuring portraits of 32 women. It was designed to question beauty standards of the day, reference to background and economic status, from poor Tahitian women to rich British ladies. Suffice it to say that this book, now a reference in the field, created a scandal when it was released.

Continuing in this vein, E.O. Hoppé tried to trace the stereotypes of these social groups. That is the theme of the third section of the exhibition. Again, they aren’t just portraits, but compositions based on the face and the torso to highlight their uniqueness. For the most part, these pictures were featured in the books Taking from Life (1922) et London types (1926).

From 1920 onward, E. O. Hoppé left the studio and began a documentary approach. The daily life of the street contrast with his posed studio portraits. They are the exhibition’s fourth section. His work here is largely influenced by Bernard Shaw, by the inventorial work of social British class and by the desire to take pictures of blue collar workers in their daily lives, in cafeterias, in hospitals, in cemeteries for animals… or other unique activities, like tattoo artist George Bruchett.

"Dans la photographie de rue, Hoppé expérimente, recherche l’excentricité, l’absurde et parfois le grotesque".

Bernard Perrine
Bernard.Perrine1@orange.fr

Exhibition
E. O. Hoppé, Studio & Street
Until May 20, 2012

Fundacion Mapfre
Instituto de Cultura
General Peron 40.
Madrid
Espagne