Expeditions through American cities, social studies in a Welsh village, visits to artists’ studios or a series of portraits from the Val Bregaglia – Evelyn Hofer has created a photographic kaleidoscope that spans almost half a century. The work of the German-American photographer, who cultivated a close relationship with Switzerland, is multi-faceted and colourful. She already started photographing in colour in the 1950s, deliberately using it as a creative technique that was far ahead of her time. With her large-format camera, she focused on the essential and often crafted painterly photographs whose timelessness and stillness make them ripe for rediscovery today.
The exhibition at the Fotostiftung Schweiz brings together Evelyn Hofer’s diverse works for a comprehensive retrospective. The city portraits in book form, essayistic photo spreads for magazines and her independent works are shown side by side. This panoply of images in fine shades of grey and strong colours touches us with the warmth with which Evelyn Hofer has frozen moments for all eternity. She always encounters her subjects – be they an urban landscape, an interior, a farmer from Soglio or Andy Warhol – with the same curiosity and openness.

In collaboration with Galerie m, Bochum, and the Evelyn Hofer Estate, Munich.