“Girl with Bicycle” is taken from a group of works done in the mid 1960’s when Hofer was preparing a portrait of Dublin—the city’s buildings, streets, and most importantly, the inhabitants. The multifaceted nature of the task gave Hofer ample opportunity to demonstrate her intuitive yet precise mastery over photography. The young girl in the portrait clutches her over-sized bicycle in a rain-soaked street, a street that is only dimly lit by the afternoon’s cautious rays of sun. The red knee socks and pink sweater provide the key color accents. They fill the picture space with a warmth that relegates the barren, deserted street and the much too large a bicycle to the background. This image, with its iconic conciseness, counts as one of Hofer’s best-known works.
Evelyn Hofer (1922 Marburg an der Lahn, Germany – 2009 Mexico City, Mexico)
Eveyln Hofer’s career as a free-lance photographer began in New York City towards the end of the 1940’s. By the end of the 1950’s, she was working frequently for Harper’s Bazaar and, in collaboration with well-known authors such as V.S. Pritchett and Mary McCarthy, published a wide range of city and country profiles. Her work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in the United States, Mexico and Europe and today holds a key position in the annals of modern photography. Despite Hofer’s traditional training as a photographer, her work resists formal or thematic categorization, instead approaching each new motif with open and empathetic eyes.
