Obituary: Thomas Hoepker

Committed to truth: his pictures are direct, engaged, calm and empathic. Few others have shaped German photojournalism for as long a time as Thomas Hoepker. He leaves behind a decisive mark on photographic history, as a permanent contributor to important magazines, as a photojournalist and correspondent, as an artistic author photographer; but also as an Art Director and internationally renowned member of the Magnum Photo Agency.

He was a photo reporter in the classic sense of the word, though he liked to refer to himself as an “assignment photographer” or “image maker”. His interest was directed at societal themes and phenomena, which he preferred to convey through precisely staged portraits. Whether celebrities or nameless contemporaries, his pictures are defined by a friendly attentiveness, and an interest in people and their environment. Even though his motifs are at times flavoured with a pinch of irony, they are never voyeuristic or embarrassing. His humanistic view of the world combined with his refined visual sense, has given rise to an enormous body of work, including countless iconic images. Hoepker, who had been suffering from Alzheimer's for a number of years, passed away quietly in Santiago de Chile, on July 10th, one month after his 88th birthday. He was surrounded by his family, as his widow Christine Kruchen shared on Thursday.

Hoepker had his first successes at photokina in Cologne in 1954 and 1956, where he was honoured in youth competitions, and then exhibited in 1958. Born in Munich in 1936, he studied Archaeology and Art History, before giving up his studies in favour of his passion for photography. In 1960 he became a photo reporter for the Münchner Illustrierte, but quickly moved to the magazine Kristall; in 1964 he became a photographer for Stern in Hamburg. In 1976 he moved to New York as a US correspondent, became Executive Editor of the American edition of GEO, then returned to Hamburg from 1986 to 1989 as Art Director of Stern. In 1989 he became the first German member of the Magnum Photo Agency, serving as its Vice-President from 1992 to 1995, and as its President from 2003 to 2007. He produced numerous documentary films together with his wife, Christine Kruchen.

Hoepker was the recipient of many awards and published a large number of photo books and exhibition catalogues. He was honoured with the Leica Hall of Fame Award in 2014. Many Leica Galleries have exhibited his work, and in 2022 the Ernst Leitz Museum presented a major retrospective titled Thomas Hoepker – Image Maker. The same year, the film Dear Memories reached cinemas: it follows the photographer – who was already affected by Alzheimer's – on a road trip through the USA, remembering and repeating his legendary road trip of 1963. Many of the motifs captured back then are among his best known images, including the famous pictures of Muhammad Ali.

The powerful shot that Hoepker took on September 11, 2011 captured great attention: it provoked intense discussions, as it shows a group of young people who appear unconcerned as they watch the horror of the burning Twin Towers. It is a prime example of the ambivalence of truth and documentation to which the photographer dedicated himself throughout his life. The chance moment, as well as the perfection of the realisation, have turned this photograph into one of the first symbolic images of the 21st century. It will remain in our memories, like so many pieces from Hoepker's oeuvre.