Gallery Newsletter

Dear Friends, 

Visiting a photographer's ‘inner-temple’, better known as their darkroom or archive, has always been a privilege. If one is fortunate enough to be invited in, one gains insight into the mind of the photographer – the outtakes, working contact sheets, good prints against less good prints, and the stories! All the ephemera that surrounds this profession has always been a passion of mine, and sharing this experience with you has brought back many fond and also exciting memories of my first visit to Hiroshi Hamaya’s home and archive in Japan."

Welcome to our second Viewing Room where you can discover and enjoy a selection of the works that we had gathered for the postponed edition of Paris Photo New York. Our presentation was focused on a group of rare and important vintage Japanese prints, including Hiroshi Hamaya, as well as new work by gallery artists. 

On the VIEWING ROOM link below, you can find links to both our entire booth selection and the second instalment of our series which explores the world of photography from a more personal perspective. This week I have focussed on my visit to the Hiroshi Hamaya Archive. 

I do hope that you enjoy this second iteration of the Michael Hoppen Gallery Viewing Room. I would be delighted to hear your feedback so that we can refine this series and make it even better! 

We very much look forward to hearing from you, 
Michael Hoppen

Dear Friends,

I want to welcome you to our first Viewing Room. The past year I have been championing the haptic - or physical - experience and encouraging people to go and see photographs, and where possible, to hold them, look at them closely and examine their surfaces and tonality. In so doing we appreciate their physical properties, which is so different for every photograph.

However, this new world we currently find ourselves in has made the haptic experience almost impossible. And so, since lock-down the gallery has been working remotely to produce a new, and we hope, exciting experience for you that contains many new facets that you can explore.

We have photographed the pieces, sometimes in raking light, so as to offer something other than a scan, we have created short videos of some pieces, written personal responses about particular works and artists and unearthed material from our research files. In the coming weeks we will share additional content from our archives, whilst offering further personal insights and material that we hope offers something authentic and insightful about what excites us now and what has sustained our passion for over 30 years.

I do hope that you enjoy our first iteration of the Michael Hoppen Gallery Viewing Room. Please send us feedback as we can only make it better and better if we know what you want to see.

I very much look forward to hearing from you.

Michael Hoppen