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E. O. Hoppé

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Adapted from the English Wikipedia article E. O. Hoppé, available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 11 August 2025
Emil Otto Hoppé
BornTemplate:Birth date
Munich, Germany
DiedDecember 9, 1972(1972-12-09) (aged 94)
OccupationPhotographer
Years active1907–1945
Known forPortraiture, travel, and topographic photography

Emil Otto Hoppé (14 April 1878 – 9 December 1972) was a German-born British photographer known for his work in portraiture, travel, and topographic photography between 1907 and 1945. Originating from a prosperous family in Munich, he relocated to London in 1900 intending to pursue a career in finance but soon redirected his focus toward photography, where he rapidly gained acclaim.

As the sole heir of a distinguished banking family, Hoppé received his education across Munich, Paris, and Vienna. After spending a decade apprenticing in German banking institutions, he accepted a role with the Shanghai Banking Corporation; however, he never traveled to China. Instead, following his marriage to Marion Bliersbach—sister of a former school companion—he settled in London. While employed at Deutsche Bank, he developed a strong interest in photography and established a portrait studio in 1907. Bill Jay noted:

"Within a short period, E.O. Hoppé emerged as the foremost figure in European pictorial portraiture. His fame rivaled that of his subjects, capturing leading personalities from politics, literature, art, and theatre."

Although recognized as one of the preeminent photographers of his time, Hoppé sold his photographic archive in 1954 at age 76 to the Mansell Collection, a commercial image library based in London. There, his photographs were categorized by subject among millions of stock images, losing direct association with him. This caused the contributions of Britain’s most significant international photographer from 1907 to 1939 to remain largely unacknowledged for decades.

In 1994, photographic art curator Graham Howe retrieved Hoppé’s archive from the Mansell Collection and reunited it with biographical materials held by the family. This event represented the first comprehensive reunification of the E.O. Hoppé Collection since its dispersal in 1954. Following this recovery, extensive efforts in cataloging, preservation, and scholarly research were undertaken to restore the collection’s prominence.

Portraits and typologies

Hoppé’s renown attracted influential figures from British and North American political, literary, and artistic circles. Prior to World War I, he captured portraits of eminent personalities including Henry James, Rudyard Kipling, John Masefield, Léon Bakst, Anna Pavlova, dancers from the Ballets Russes, Violet Hunt, Richard Strauss, Jacob Epstein, and William Nicholson. During the early 1920s, he received commissions to photograph members of the royal family such as Queen Mary and King George V. Other distinguished subjects throughout the 1920s included Albert Einstein, Benito Mussolini, Robert Frost, Aldous Huxley, George Bernard Shaw, and A.A. Milne. In the 1930s, Hoppé documented dancers affiliated with the Vic-Wells company including Margot Fonteyn, Ninette de Valois, Hermione Darnborough, and Beatrice Appleyard.

In 1925, he provided female nude portraits for Peter Landow’s publication Natur und Kultur: Das Weib ("Nature and Culture: Woman").

Hoppé maintained studios in London beginning at 10 Margravine Gardens (1907–1910), then relocating to Baker Street from 1911 onward. By 1913, he leased 7 Cromwell Place, occupying all thirty-three rooms of what had been the residence of Sir John Everett Millais. This address later became associated with dance photographer Gordon Anthony and painter Francis Bacon. Beyond photographing high-profile individuals, Hoppé also chronicled London's working-class population—including cleaners, maids, and street vendors—both within studio settings and on location, an approach he continued during his international travels.

Travel and landscape

By 1919, Hoppé had broadened his scope to include international travel photography, documenting landscapes and cultures throughout Africa, Germany, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, the United States, Cuba, Jamaica and the West Indies, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaya, India, and Ceylon. His extensive global collection was featured in numerous publications. A significant example is his 1930 book released by Ullstein Verlag, Deutsche Arbeit - Bilder vom Wiederaufstieg Deutschlands, which visually chronicled Germany’s revival through his photographic work.

Publications

  • Studies from the Russian Ballet. E. O. Hoppé and Auguste Bert. London: Fine Art Society, 1913.
  • New Camera Work by E. O. Hoppé. Introduction by John Galsworthy. London: Goupil Gallery, 1922.
  • The Book of Fair Women. New York: Knopf, 1922; London: Jonathan Cape, 1922.
  • Taken From Life. John Davys Beresford, featuring seven photogravure plates by E. O. Hoppé. London: W. Collins Sons & Co., Ltd., 1922.
  • Gods of Modern Grub Street: Impressions of Contemporary Authors. Arthur St. John Adcock, accompanied by 32 portraits from E. O. Hoppé. London: Sampson Low, Marston and Co., 1923.
  • In Gipsy Camp and Royal Palace: Wanderings in Rumania. Authored and illustrated by E. O. Hoppé with a preface by the Queen of Rumania. London: Methuen, 1924.
  • To Rome on a Sunbeam: With Camera Studies by E. O. Hoppé. Wolverhampton: Sunbeam Motor Car Company Ltd., 1924.
  • A Collection of Photographic Masterpieces by E. O. Hoppé. Exhibition Catalogue. Tokyo: Tokyo Asahi Shimbun Hakkojo, 1925.
  • London Types: Taken from Life. E. O. Hoppé; text by W. Pett Ridge. London: Methuen, 1926.
  • Forty London Statues and Public Monuments. Tancred Borenius, featuring special photographs by E. O. Hoppé. London: Methuen, 1926.
  • Fire Under the Andes: A Group of North American Portraits. Elizabeth Shepley Sergeant, photographs by E. O. Hoppé. New York: Knopf, 1927.
  • Romantic America: Picturesque United States. E. O. Hoppé. New York: B. Westermann Co., Inc., 1927; Berlin: Ernst Wasmuth Verlag AG, 1927.
  • The Glory that was Grub Street: Impressions of Contemporary Authors. Text by Arthur St. John Adcock with 32 portraits by E.O.Hoppé. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 1928.
  • The Story of the Gipsies. Konrad Bercovici, illustrated with 8 plates by E.O.Hoppé. London: Cape, 1929.
  • Deutsche Arbeit ("German Work"). E.O.Hoppé; introduction by Bruno H. Burgel. Berlin: Ullstein, 1930.
  • The Fifth Continent. E.O.Hoppé. London: Simpkin Marshall Ltd., 1931.
  • Romantik der Kleinstadt ("Romantic Towns"). E.O.Hoppé. Munich: Verlag F. Bruckmann, 1932.
  • Unterwegs ("In Passing"). E.O.Hoppé; Berlin: Ernst Pollak Verlag, 1932.
  • London. E.O.Hoppé; London: Medici Society (Picture Guide Series), 1932.
  • The Face of Mother India. Katherine Mayo. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1935.
  • The Image of London. E.O.Hoppé; London: Chatto & Windus, 1935.
  • A Camera on Unknown London: Sixty Photographs and Descriptive Notes of Curiosities of London to be Seen Today. E.O.Hoppé; London: J.M Dent and Sons Ltd., 1936.
  • The London of George VI. by E.O.Hoppé; London:J.M.Dent and Sons Ltd.,1937.
  • Country Days. Text from A.G Street's BBC Broadcasts with eight photographs by E.O.Hoppé; London:Faber,1940.
  • Hundred Thousand Exposures: The Success of a Photographer. E.O.Hoppé; introduction by Cecil Beaton. London and New York:Focal Press,1945.
  • Rural London in Pictures. E.O.Hoppé; London:Odhams Press Ltd.,1951.
  • Blaue Berge von Jamaica ("Blue Mountains of Jamaica"). Karl-Heinz Jaeckel; Berlin:Safari Verlag,1956.
  • Pirates, Buccaneers and Gentlemen Adventurers. E.O.Hoppé; New Jersey:Barnes and London:Yoseloff,1972.
  • Camera Portraits by E.O.Hoppé,1878-1972. Terence Pepper; catalogue for National Portrait Gallery exhibition.London:The National Portrait Gallery,1978.
  • Cities and Industry : Camera Pictures by E.O.Hoppé. Edited by Val Williams and Terence Pepper; essay by Ian Jeffrey.York:Impressions Gallery,1978.
  • Hoppé's London. Mark Haworth-Booth; London:Guiding Light,2006.
  • E.O.Hoppé's Amerika: Modernist Photographs from the 1920s. Phillip Prodger; New York:W.W.Norton & Co.,2007.
  • E.O.Hoppé's Australia. Edited by Graham Howe; essays by Erika Esau and Graham Howe.New York:W.W.Norton & Co.,2007.
  • E.O.Hoppé's Santiniketan: Photographs from 1929. Essays by Pratapaditya Pal and Graham Howe.Mumbai:The Marg Foundation and Curatorial Assistance, Inc.,2010.
  • E.O.Hoppé's Bombay: Photographs from 1929. Essays by Pratapaditya Pal and Graham Howe.Mumbai:The Marg Foundation and Curatorial Assistance, Inc.,2010.
  • Hoppé Portraits: Society, Studio and Street. Phillip Prodger and Terence Pepper.London:National Portrait Gallery,2011.
  • One Hundred Photographs:E.O.Hoppé and the Ballets Russes. Essays by John Bowlt,Graham Howe,Oleg Minin.Moscow:Art of the XXI Century,(Iskusstvo-XXI),2012.
  • E.O.Hoppé's Indian Subcontinent of the Cusp of Change. Mumbai:Marg Publishing,2013.
  • E.O.Hoppé:The German Work,1925-1938. Phillip Prodger.Göttingen:Steidl Verlag,2015.
  • E.O.Hoppé:Photographs of Greater Romania,1923. Adrian Silvan Ionescu,Graham Howe,Marika Lundeberg and Michelle Dragoo.Pasadena,California:Curatorial Books,2019.

Exhibitions

  • International Photography Exhibition, Dresden, 1909
  • Royal Photographic Society, London, 1910
  • Modern Camera Portraits by E.O. Hoppé, Goupil Gallery, London, 1913
  • Studies from the Russian Ballet, Ryder Gallery, London, 1914
  • Wanamaker's Gallery, New York, 1921
  • New Camera Work by E.O. Hoppé, Goupil Gallery, London, 1922
  • Victoria and Albert Museum, Theatre Exhibition, 1922
  • Photographic Masterpieces by E.O. Hoppé, Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo and Osaka, 1925
  • Dover Gallery, London, 1927
  • 79 Camera Pictures, David Jones, Sydney, 1930
  • A Half Century of Photography, Foyles Art Gallery and Lenbachhaus, Munich, 1954
  • British Council traveling exhibition in India, 1954–56
  • Retrospective, Kodak Gallery, London, 1968
  • Camera Portraits by E.O. Hoppé, National Portrait Gallery, London, 1978
  • Cities and Industry: Camera Pictures by E.O. Hoppé, Impressions Gallery, York, 1978
  • London, Michael Hoppen Gallery, London, 2006
  • Amerika, Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York, 2007
  • Australia, Customs House, Sydney, 2007
  • Discoveries, Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York, 2010
  • Hoppé Portraits: Society, Studio & Street, National Portrait Gallery, London, 2011

Collections

Galleries

See also

Related profiles

PPaul AchleitnerJJohann BerenbergSSalomon HeineCConrad Johann Matthiessen
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