German born, yet English by citizenship, photographer Emil Otto Hoppe has been called one of England’s most influential photographers of the Edwardian era. Born in 1878, Hoppe was actively photographing from about 1910 to 1940. Known for his portrait studies, his subjects ranged from the upper class British society to the natives of the Americas and Asia. While Hoppe’s still life images were remarkable in their own right. As a photographer he also documented London before the First World War and published a number of books on the city in the early 1930’s.
An early and important Modernist, his images are unusual and almost dream-like. His work paralleled those of Edward Weston and Imogen Cunningham.

Cecil Beaton called Hoppe "The Master" and wrote that his "photographs have managed to outlast fashion-one of the rare achievements of photographic history."