German-American photographer Evelyn Hofer (1922–2009) routinely spent several months in the cities she photographed for her books of the 1950s and ’60s, published with renowned authors such as Mary McCarthy and V.S. Pritchett. In titles such as New York Proclaimed (1965) and Dublin, A Portrait (1967), Hofer combines portraiture, city and country views, still lifes and larger interior shots to create complex images of these metropolises.

From this perspective, Begegnungen / Encounters explores the idea of the “portrait” throughout Hofer’s oeuvre, in series on New York, Dublin and Washington; images of artists and their studios; selected photo-essays for magazines; the extended projects People of Soglio and Basque People; as well as previously unseen New York photos of Marlene Dietrich’s home and Andy Warhol’s Factory.