German born, yet English by citizenship, photographer Emil Otto Hoppe has been called one of England’s most influential photographers of the Edwardian era. Born in Munich in 1878, Hoppe was actively photographing from about 1910 to 1940. Known for his portrait studies, his subjects ranged from the upper class British society to the natives of the Americas and Asia.
While Hoppe’s still life images were remarkable in their own right. As a photographer he also documented London before the First World War and published a number of books on the city in the early 1930’s. He is known to have photographed famous personalities including Thomas Hardy, George Bernard Shaw, TS Eliot, Albert Einstein as well as Rabindranath Tagore.
Two exhibitions showcasing his work can now be seen this year, The first one is shown in India for the first time, and is entitled "Hoppe’s Bombay 1929 and Santiniketan". It commemorates the 150th birth centenary of poet Rabindranath Tagore, who invited Hoppe to visit India in 1929. The exhibition includes photographs of Mumbai and Santiniketan, the university started by Tagore in West Bengal. The EO Hoppe Estate Collection in California published these pictures in the 1990s. The Mumbai photos are of street scenes of south Mumbai, Malabar Hill etc. The exhibition will then travel to Tagore's city, Kolkata, where it will be displayed at the Victoria Memorial Hall from April 16 to May 30, and from there the exhibition will travel to New Orleans. Details of the Mumbai exhibit can be found here.
The second one entitled "Hoppe Portraits: Society, Studio and Street" will be held at the National Portrait Gallery in London from February. Details of the exhibition can be found here, and a news article here.
Photo: Victoria Terminus, Bombay 1929, by Emil Otto Hopp ©
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