DOI Heft:
No. 346 (January 1922)
DOI Artikel:Mr. E. O. Hoppe's photographs at the Goupil Gallery
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21395#0045
MR. E. O. HOPPE'S PHOTOGRAPHS
AT THE GOUPIL GALLERY.
IT is a little difficult to understand why
so many of the present-day photog-
raphers should try to justify their claim
to be reckoned as artists by playing tricks
with the process which they use as their
means of expression. The real artist
has a regard for his medium, seeks to
understand its qualities and its limitations,
and gains his results by applying it in
the way which gives the fullest scope to its
inherent characteristics ; the photogra-
pher, calling himself an artist, labours
more often than not to disguise the fact
that photography is his medium and to
produce things that will look as little as
possible like camera work. But fortunately
there are some men who realise that the
photograph can be artistic in conception
and execution and yet be true to the
medium to which it owes its existence.
The examples which are reproduced here
of the work of Mr. E. O. Hoppe, from
an interesting collection he is showing at
the Goupil Gallery, claim consideration,
particularly because he happens to be a
believer in the responsiveness of the camera
to the intentions of the man who knows
how to use it, and because he is convinced
that he can attain results worthy of
acceptance without resorting to mechanical
tricks to produce sham works of art. He is
frankly a photographer and what he does
is pure photography. But he brings into
his practice a definite individuality of
vision, a personal taste, and a clear
appreciation of what should be the essen-
tials of a good pictorial subject. He knows
how to make the right selection from
the material available for him, and what
is the best moment to deal with the motive
that seems to him fit to be recorded. He
has a thorough control over the mechanism
of his craft, and through this control he
is able to complete in a satisfying manner
what his vision and his taste have told
him to choose as fitted for pictorial
realisation. Therefore, his work has a
significance which entitles it to a position
of distinction in the record of modern
photography. W. K. W.
28
'GRAND CANYON”
FROM APHOTOGRAPH
BY E. O. HOPPE
AT THE GOUPIL GALLERY.
IT is a little difficult to understand why
so many of the present-day photog-
raphers should try to justify their claim
to be reckoned as artists by playing tricks
with the process which they use as their
means of expression. The real artist
has a regard for his medium, seeks to
understand its qualities and its limitations,
and gains his results by applying it in
the way which gives the fullest scope to its
inherent characteristics ; the photogra-
pher, calling himself an artist, labours
more often than not to disguise the fact
that photography is his medium and to
produce things that will look as little as
possible like camera work. But fortunately
there are some men who realise that the
photograph can be artistic in conception
and execution and yet be true to the
medium to which it owes its existence.
The examples which are reproduced here
of the work of Mr. E. O. Hoppe, from
an interesting collection he is showing at
the Goupil Gallery, claim consideration,
particularly because he happens to be a
believer in the responsiveness of the camera
to the intentions of the man who knows
how to use it, and because he is convinced
that he can attain results worthy of
acceptance without resorting to mechanical
tricks to produce sham works of art. He is
frankly a photographer and what he does
is pure photography. But he brings into
his practice a definite individuality of
vision, a personal taste, and a clear
appreciation of what should be the essen-
tials of a good pictorial subject. He knows
how to make the right selection from
the material available for him, and what
is the best moment to deal with the motive
that seems to him fit to be recorded. He
has a thorough control over the mechanism
of his craft, and through this control he
is able to complete in a satisfying manner
what his vision and his taste have told
him to choose as fitted for pictorial
realisation. Therefore, his work has a
significance which entitles it to a position
of distinction in the record of modern
photography. W. K. W.
28
'GRAND CANYON”
FROM APHOTOGRAPH
BY E. O. HOPPE