Evelyn Hofer

Evelyn Hofer was a German-American portrait and documentary photographer.

Her family moved to Geneva in 1933 in order to escape Nazism, and later to Madrid. Evelyn attempted unsuccessfully to enter the Paris Conservatory and then switched to photography, first apprenticing in Zürich and Basel and then taking private tuition in Zürich. After Franco came to power, her family moved again, this time to Mexico. Evelyn moved to New York in 1946, where she worked with Alexey Brodovitch of Harper's Bazaar and befriended Richard Lindner and Saul Steinberg.

Hofer used a four-by-five-inch view camera to make orderly and well-constructed portraits and scenic photographs. Her style centred on straightforward compositions that were clear, but not simple. Her oeuvre reflects the tradition of August Sander and anticipates the colour work of William Eggleston, which led to her being called "the most famous unknown photographer in America" by New York Times art critic Hilton Kramer.