Emil Hoppé: Photographs from the Ballets Russes

Hubert Stowitts, 1920, by Emil Hoppe. © E.O. Hoppé Estate Collection / Curatorial Assistance Inc.

In the 1920s and '30s, Emil Otto Hoppé (British, German-born, 1878–1972) was one of the most sought-after photographers in the world. Hoppé’s studio in South Kensington was a magnet for the rich and famous, and for years he actively led the global art scene on both sides of the Atlantic, making more than thirty photographically-illustrated books, and establishing himself as a pioneering figure in photographic art.

Emil Otto Hoppé and the Ballets Russes pays homage to the genius of two men: Sergei Diaghilev who, more than a century ago, founded the Ballets Russes, and Emil Otto Hoppé, who, between 1911 and 1921, photographed the champions of that illustrious company.

With both studio portraits and ballet sequences, this visual chronicle presents not only the leading stars of the Ballets Russes such as Vaslav Nijinsky, Adolph Bolm, Michel and Vera Fokine and Tamara Karsavina, but also celebrities whose connection with Diaghilev was tangential rather than axial – such as Mathilde Kschessinska, Anna Pavlova and Hubert Stowitts.

Curated by John Bowlt and Graham Howe

Click here to read our blog article about Sergei Diaghilev, Otto Hoppé and the Ballets Russes. ​