Evelyn Hofer has been a photographer all her life. She belongs to that group of artists that during the 1900s fulfilled their potential as professional photographers .A historically dramatic period particularly for women, however, a period that favoured creativity and initiative. Nobody believed in a young woman, who wanted to become a photographer, if not to take pictures of suburban children .However, afterWW2 and the reconstruction she went to New York and found work with Harper’s Bazaar .At that time the American Dream could still come true.

She was born in Germany in 1922 and started work as an assistant for two commercial studios in Zurich .In one she used a Leica 35mm and in the other a 8x10; here her job was to insert and remove the delicate glass plates and take them to be developed. There was no time to attend the Photography school where Hans Finsler taught, so she asked him for private lessons in Dark Room procedures. In 1942 she moved with her family to Mexico .Here she was struck by the colours and vases of Oaxaca, which she photographed in beautiful still.-life up until the 90s .In 1946 , she decided to move to New York ,here her friend the painter Richard Linder introduced her to Alexey Brodovich. So she started work as a commercial photographer for the fashion industry, with commissions from magazines, which in the years just after the war were becoming more and more important, leading to the creation of a means of information and communication that nowadays we take for granted. A means of information that was constantly in need of quality photos .It was in 1976 that the Witkin Gallery showed her first exhibition .Her inspiration comes from photographers such as André Kertesz , Brassai, Germaine Krull , August Sander, but also painters like Rembrandt (for his skill in capturing the soul of his subjects) and Ingres .Her artistic career reflects the wealth and complexity of her professional experience, the early fashion shoots for Harper’s Bazaar ,beautiful photographic volumes , portraits, interior design photos for Vogue and House and Garden. The volume “Evelyn Hoffer” published by Steidl portrays a wide selection of these. there are “the Stones of Florence”1959, taken when she wanted to eliminate Man from her photos and concentrate only on buildings and the Tuscan countryside, “London Perceived”1962, which show London rebuilt after the bombardments of the second world war, Spain, New York (New York proclaimed 1964), and Dublin (Dublin: A Portrait, 1967).there are also many portraits shown , such as the ones from the series “just married”1974 and finally the still –life photos from the late 90s . The texts by Christof Ribbat, Kim Sichel and Beat Wismer help you to understand this silent photographer .