The German Work 1925 - 1938

Between 1925 and 1938, photographer E O Hoppe traveled the length and breadth of Germany, recording people and places at one of the most tumultuous times in the countrys history. He photographed movie stars and captains of industry, workers and peasants, and captured the birth of the Autobahn and UFA film studios in its heyday. He saw the rise of fascism, the creation of vast new suburbs, and the displacement of people from their traditional ways of life. With unprecedented access to the countrys world-famous factories and industrial installations, he witnessed Germany as few others could barreling headlong into the unknown. Moving, insightful, and deeply revealing, the full significance of Hoppes German work has been unknown until now. This volume combines photographs published in Hoppes legendary book of 1930, Deutsche Arbeit, with many new pictures never previously seen. From factory floor to the commuters of Berlin and Munich, Hoppes photographs reveal the profound social and economic tensions that preceded the Second World War.

This publication uncovers Hoppe as a pivotal figure in the history of twentieth-century photography, who introduced for the first time elements of typology, seriality and sequence, which have become key elements of contemporary photographic practice. Hoppe used his experience in Germany to develop a new modern style of photography showing not just how things looked, but how it felt to be there.

About the Author

Phillip Prodger is Curator of Photography at the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts. Recent publications include Impressionist Camera (2006), E.O. Hoppe's Amerika (2007), Darwin's Camera (2009) and Ernst Haas: Colour Correction (2010).