Evelyn Hofer: Eyes on the City - by Gregory J Harris & April M Watson (Hardcover)

About the Book

Evelyn Hofer was a highly innovative photographer whose prolific career spanned five decades. Despite her extraordinary output, she was underrecognized during her lifetime and was notably referred to by New York Times art critic Hilton Kramer as "the most famous unknown photographer in America." She made her greatest impact through a series of photobooks, published throughout the 1960s, devoted to European and American cities, including Florence, London, New York, Washington and Dublin, and a book focused on the country of Spain. Comprising more than 100 photographs in both black and white and color, Eyes on the City accompanies the artist's first major museum exhibition in the United States in over 50 years and is organized around her photobooks. The photographs feature landscapes and architectural views combined with portraiture, conveying the unique character and personality of these urban capitals during a period of intense structural, social and economic transformations after World War II. Exhibition: High Museum of Art, Atlanta, USA (03/24-08/13/2023)/ Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, USA (09/16/2023-02/11/2024).

Book Synopsis

How Hofer used the photobook form to chronicle American and European cities in an era of postwar transformation

Evelyn Hofer was a highly innovative photographer whose prolific career spanned five decades. Despite her extraordinary output, she was underrecognized during her lifetime and was notably referred to by New York Times art critic Hilton Kramer as "the most famous unknown photographer in America." She made her greatest impact through a series of photobooks, published throughout the 1960s, devoted to European and American cities, including Florence, London, New York, Washington and Dublin, and a book focused on the country of Spain.
Comprising more than 100 photographs in both black and white and color, Eyes on the City accompanies the artist's first major museum exhibition in the United States in over 50 years and is organized around her photobooks. The photographs feature landscapes and architectural views combined with portraiture, conveying the unique character and personality of these urban capitals during a period of intense structural, social and economic transformations after World War II.
Evelyn Hofer (1922-2009) was born in Germany and moved to New York in 1946. She was an early adopter of color photography and published assignments for many major magazines including Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. Hofer collaborated with authors such as Mary McCarthy and V.S. Pritchett on several books, including The Stones of Florence (1959), London Perceived (1962) and Dublin: A Portrait (1967). She died in Mexico City.

Review Quotes

Hofer showed, in her unflinching portraits and velveteen landscapes, that cities and people exist for each other.--Walker Mimms "New York Review of Books"

Elegant, carefully staged photographs...a milestone book.--Elena Clavarino "Air Mail"

Makes clear that Hofer was a formally brilliant photographer of people, places, environments and objects. Looking at her colour portraits of ordinary people in 1960s Dublin and New York, it's difficult to think of any other photographer who so evoked the atmosphere of those cities while creating images that are so rigorous and richly hued.--Sean O'Hagan "Guardian"

Searching for the transcendent resplendence of the mundane, the mystical truth of place that allows viewers to feel as though they are there, Evelyn elevated scenes of the everyday to the realm of fine art.--Sara Rosen "i-D"

These images showcase her humane vision and technical virtuosity.-- "Aperture"

Makes clear why Hofer was not a celebrity in her own time but should be now.--William Meyers "Wall Street Journal"