We mourn the loss of a great photographer and friend. We offer our deepest condolences to his family and his loving companion and wife Christine Kruchen. Thomas' humour and warm nature will always remain alive in our memories and hearts. Many of his iconic photographs have already inscribed themselves in people's collective memory; he will live on through these images.
Born in Munich in 1936, Hoepker ranked among the foremost German photojournalists of the late 20th century. As such, he not only experienced but also played a defining role in the second golden age of photojournalism, after the 1920s and '30s. He has made photographic history not only for his contributions to magazines such as Stern, Geo, Kristall and the Münchner Illustrierte, but also as art director, writer and filmmaker. Many of his black-and-white photo essays rank among the greatest of photojournalism.
As a reporter for Stern, he had the opportunity to portray the boxer Muhammad Ali in 1964, continuing to do so at regular intervals for 10 years. In 1966 Hoepker and his then wife, Stern journalist Eva Windmöller, joined the boxing legend in London and Chicago. In 1970, Hoepker was on hand with his camera when Ali, who had been out of the ring for some time, was preparing himself for the "fight of the century" against Joe Frazier. He met up with him again years later when he was already debilitated by Parkinson's. Many of these pictures are known worldwide and have become icons of photography. They have been widely exhibited in museums and represented in many collections.
In 1976, Hoepker moved to New York as a correspondent for Stern and, until 1981, he was director of the American edition of GEO. From 1987 to 1989, he worked as the Art Director of Stern in Hamburg. In 1989, he became the first German national to be accepted by Magnum as a full member, going on to become president of the agency from 2003 to 2006. Thomas Hoepker was married to filmmaker Christine Kruchen.
Thomas Hoepker was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2017. His dream was to travel the USA one last time, as he did in the early 1960s for his "Heartland" project. A film team accompanied him and his wife Christine, resulting in "Dear Memories", a visually powerful and touching documentary film about a photographer who has spent a lifetime creating cultural and historical memories and for whom these images now function as a kind of "outsourced" memory.
Thomas Hoepker passed away peacefully on 10 July 2024, surrounded by his family.
"Thomas Hoepker's pictures are characterized by exuberant liveliness. However, he does not turn a blind eye to the misery of the world and has never succumbed to the temptation of exploiting the horrors of the afflicted locations to which he has been sent. He contradicts the cynical observation that it is often the reporter's good fortune to record the misfortune of others, instead demonstrating in his pictures that the misfortunes of others necessarily apply to everyone. He has never failed to treat his camera as a weapon in the fight for justice.
In the final analysis, it has always been the people with all their worries, quirks and idiosyncrasies, who play the most important role. Hoepker's unusual flair for composition invariably goes hand in hand with a profoundly humanist sensibility."
Freddy Langer