An open conversation: Gallery management and building a photography collection with guest speaker MICHAEL HOPPEN (MICHAEL HOPPEN GALLERY）
The fourth Photobook Masterclass will be held in late October. Over this period the gallery will be closed, but we will be opening to host an evening with Michael Hoppen, founder of the eponymous gallery which has demonstrated such an affinity with the world of Japanese photography.
This event has free admission. During the course of his talk, Michael Hoppen will refer to past exhibitions held at the gallery, and his personal collection of photography.
©Michael Hoppen Gallery
The Michael Hoppen Gallery opened in 1992 and is founded on a passion for photography. The gallery is renowned for nurturing the careers of new and interesting artists and exhibiting them alongside acknowledged nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first century photographic masters. Spaced over three floors in the heart of Chelsea, London, it provides both a white-wall arena for contemporary artists and a more intimate, book and wood-lined context for the smaller and more eclectic works exhibited.
The breadth of the gallery’s collection is mirrored in the diversity of its collector base. Clients range from public and private museums, corporate collections, and experienced collectors, to those who are embarking upon their first photographic purchase. The gallery aims to present all those who come to the gallery with something unexpected; to broaden their perception of what photography can be whilst providing the expertise to understand it. As such, the gallery maintains a vigorous publishing program to compliment its exhibitions and expose its artists to a broader audience.
©Michael Hoppen Gallery
In 2007, the Michael Hoppen Gallery published ‘Eyes of an Island’ in conjunction with a major exhibition of influential Japanese photography from 1945 to the present day. Over the last eight years the gallery has cemented its relationship with Japan and now possesses one of the most extensive collections of post-war Japanese photography outside of Asia. The gallery is proud to represent many important Japanese estates and artists.
©Michael Hoppen Gallery
©Michael Hoppen Gallery
©Michael Hoppen Gallery
The last two decades has seen photography grow from a marginalised art form to one of the mainstays of the contemporary art world. Although collaborating with numerous non-photo specific collections and institutions, the gallery still enjoy the boundaries imposed upon us by the photographic medium. As T.S Elliot so adroitly noted “When forced to work within a strict framework, the imagination is taxed to its utmost and will produce its richest ideas”. Photography constantly pushes the boundaries that define it, and as such the gallery is constantly delighted and challenged by the artists with whom they work. Their great ambition is to continue to ignite this sense of intrigue in new and old audiences.
We hope that you will join us for this very special opportunity to hear Michael share his experience. We would encourage attendees to contribute to the discussion and prepare their own questions, to make the most of the period of informal conversation.
Date and time: 24th of October, starting at 7pm
Free Admission
Guest: Michael Hoppen (Michael Hoppen Gallery)
Moderator: Yumi Goto (Reminders Photography Stronghold)
※ The duration of the talk will be approximately an hour, with time for informal discussion and questions afterwards.
※ It is not necessary to apply in order to attend this event.
※ The talk will be held in English, with interpretation in Japanese.
◎Michael Hoppen and Michael Hoppen Gallery
©Michael Hoppen Gallery
Michael has been involved in photography in one form or another for over 40 years. Having attained a 1st class BA honors in photography film and television in 1980 at the LCC, he went on to study for a year at the Royal College of Art in London. Michael then ran his own studio as a commercial and art photographer, which he closed in 1991. The Michael Hoppen Gallery opened in 1992 and then Shine Gallery opened in 2000. Both galleries are committed to photography in all its forms and the gallery holds regular exhibitions in 19th, 20th and 21st Century photography. A third space was added in 2004 on the ground floor, enabling a much wider choice of photography to be exhibited. The Michael Hoppen Gallery has also exhibited at art fairs in New York, Mexico, Hong Kong, Basel, Amsterdam, Tokyo and Paris.
The gallery has worked with many of the great names and estates in photography including Jacques Henri Lartigue, Tim Walker, Man Ray, Sarah Moon, Masahisa Fukase, Bradford Washburn, Daido Moriyama, Lucien Hervé, Shomei Tomatsu, Yoshihiko Ueda, Brassai, Erwin Blumenfeldt, Peter Beard, Araki, Guy Bourdin, Richard Avedon, Richard Learoyd, Eamonn Doyle, to name a few, as well as many leading galleries and institutions around the world. The gallery specializes in 20th Century Japanese photography since 2006, and it continues to bring new and fascinating artists such as Sohei Nishino to the attention of collectors around the world.
The gallery deals on a regular basis with museums such as the Victoria and Albert Museum and Tate Modern in London, SFMoMA, The Pompidou Centre in Paris, The Albertina in Vienna, The National Gallery of Washington, The Rijks Museum, The Getty in LA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, finding museum quality and rare photographic material for acquisition.