The Truth of the Moment

• Uniformed couple flirting during a military air show in Magdeburg, 1974
  © Thomas Hoepker/Magnum Photos
• Holidaymakers on the island of Rügen, GDR, 1974
  © Thomas Hoepker/Magnum Photos
• Visitors in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican, 1956
  © Thomas Hoepker/Magnum Photos
• Famine and smallpox epidemic. Villagers come out of their huts to beg for food, Bihar, India 1967 © Thomas Hoepker/Magnum Photos
• Lovebirds, Rome, 1956
  © Thomas Hoepker/Magnum Photos

Few photographers have influenced German photojournalism as profoundly as Thomas Hoepker (b.1936). His reportages took the Leica photographer around the globe, making him an eye witness to some of the most significant political and social events of the 20th century. Whether he covered the world’s crisis zones, created extraordinary city portraits of New York and Rome, or documented everyday life in the GDR during the 1970s: the people he encountered were always at the centre of Hoepker’s work.

The exhibition ‘Intimate History’ (on show at f³ – freiraum für fotografie in Berlin from February 24 to May 7, 2023) vividly conveys Hoepker’s interest in social issues, and his empathy for those he portrayed. Authenticity and sincere documentation are defining constants in the photographer’s oeuvre. Marked by precise compositions, condensed narratives and the absence of any sensationalism, his understated, subtle images have become timeless icons of Concerned Photography. In 2014, Thomas Hoepker was honoured with the Leica Hall of Fame Award in recognition of his exceptional life’s work.