In 1982, on the occasion of an Evelyn Hofer exhibition at the Witkin Gallery in Manhattan, Hilton Kramer, art critic of the New York Times, asked: “Is it possible in this age of publicity for a photographer to be both famous and obscure at the same time?” In an age of information overload, that remains, to a degree, a pertinent question.
Hofer, who died aged 87 in 2009, is one of those quiet but accomplished photographers whose importance has taken considerable time to accrue. When Kramer wrote his review, championing her as “one of the most illustrious of living photographers”, Hofer was 60, but, as Kramer pointed out, not one of her works featured in the Museum of Modern Art’s extensive permanent photography collection. “She seems not even to have been heard of,” he wrote, sounding personally affronted.
