Waitress, Garrick Club, London

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Object Details
Artist/Maker
Evelyn Hofer, American, born Germany, 1922–2009
Date
1962
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
Please contact the Museum for more information
Credit
Gift of Daniel Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser in honor of Brett Abbott
Accession #
2016.458
Image Copyright
© Estate of Evelyn Hofer.
Description
Called by a New York Times critic “the most famous unknown photographer in America,” Evelyn Hofer explored the relationships between people and their environment in a series of photo books devoted to various cities in Europe and America. She was especially noted for her keen ability to capture her sitters’ bearing, expression, and dress in a way that revealed the subtle imprint of class, labor, and place on them. This work, made for her 1962 book London Perceived, shows a mature waitress standing proudly but with a certain tentativeness behind her beautifully set table in London’s oldest “gentlemen’s club,” which remains exclusively male today.