Deutsche Arbeit by E.O. Hoppe 1930

Berlin: Verlag Ullstein, 1930. First edition. Hardcover. Quarto. 126, [2]pp. Original pictorial dustjacket over quarter cloth backed black paper covered boards with red lettering on front cover and white lettering on spine. Frontispiece portrait of a German worker. Publisher's logo on title-page.

Rare and fascinating work by one of the most important photographers of his era. Homage to Germany's industrial workers and their contribution to Germany's "rebirth" after WWI. This photographic work is profusely illustrated with 92 striking sepia tone photogravures depicting Germany's heavy industry and manufacturing sites and workers. Includes appendix with descriptions of photographs. Text in German.

Emil Otto Hoppé (1878 – 1972) was a portrait, travel, and topographic photographer active between 1907 and 1945. Although Hoppé was one of the most important photographic artists of his era and highly celebrated in his time, his body of photographic work sat entombed in a London picture library for over thirty years after his death, which led to his being forgotten in the latter half of the twentieth century. Curator Graham Howe retrieved Hoppé's work from the picture library in 1994 and merged it with the Hoppé family archive of photographs to make it available to the public.

First edition, first impression of a stunning series of photographs depicting German industry, engineering, and labour during the inter-war years. Hoppé was one of the most famous photographers of the early 20th century and a leading figure in the modernist movement, described by Cecil Beaton as "The Master". He moved from Germany to Britain as a young man with the intention of training as a financier, but took up photography and quickly became a top celebrity portraitist. He travelled extensively, and his photography encompassed all aspects of life, from images of literary and artistic figures, to the ballets of Diaghilev, industrial and urban scenes in Britain, the US, and Germany, and life in the developing world. Despite his prominence, he is relatively unknown today–in 1954 Hoppé sold his entire archive to a picture library that categorised the images by subject rather than photographer, and his identity vanished from the photographic record. His oeuvre has recently been reclaimed from obscurity and reunited with his letters and biographical documents, leading to a revival of interest in this important photographer. A scarce and beautifully produced book of modernist industrial photography in the original reversible dust jacket. Parr & Badger.