Tribute to America: “Thomas Hoebker – My Way, America”

A sad clown stares into space lost in thought. Exhausted, he held the coffee cup. In hat, collar and tie, he sits casually on a stool in an absolutely crowded American restaurant in Nevada. Her make-up face looks like a splash of color in the crowd – even though the picture is black and white. Photographer Thomas Hoebker captured this moment with his camera in 1963.

Moving pictures in turbulent times

The famous Magnum photographer’s unique vision of his adopted America can now be seen in the exhibition “My Way” at the Americahaus in Munich. It’s a tribute to the country, with black-and-white photos of his road trip across America in the 60s, color photographs of New York in the 80s, and impressive portraits of celebrities like Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Muhammad Ali.

The images are a cross-section of America, sensitively and honestly showing the daily lives of people on the streets, in bars, casinos, backyards and poor neighborhoods. Despite Thomas Höpker describing himself as shy in a previous interview with BR: “I’m really shy, I have reservations about holding a camera in anyone’s face, especially people I don’t know.”