e.o. hoppe's photographs of england

i came across the work of photographer e.o. hoppe today and was struck by the softness of his industrial landscapes and the immediacy of the people who are captured - seemingly unknowingly - in his photographs. entirely black and white, his images capture a time long past both chronologically and experientially. hoppe depicts a simpler time when there was no conception of the forces that were being invoked (and damaged) as the world moved inexorably towards a perception that massive scale and mass production were necessary arbiters of a countries' status and well-being.

if you begin here, you will enter a page in which you will discover that this (to me) relative unknown was in fact well-known by the great photographers. where stieglitz and kasebier knew him well, he seems to have ducked below the radar of contemporary awareness. this will likely be addressed through the release of eight books of his work, each focussing on specific areas of interest in hoppe's work.

i've selected some of my favourite photographs here to give you a taste of this incredibly talented and perceptive man's work.

british museum underground station, london, 1937



men on a street surrounded by brick walls, london, 1933



the canal, manchester, lancashire , 1925



near buxton, derbyshire 1925


in addition to the page linked above, you can view some really lovely images of london by visiting here.