THOMAS HOEPKER (* 1936)
‘Muhammad Ali (dark fist scratched)’, Chicago 1966

Estimate: € 8.000–10.000

Gelatin silver print, printed in the 2000s

58,6 x 41,6 cm

Signed and numbered by the photographer in ink and pencil on the reverse, his studio stamp on the reverse, edition no. 7/20

PROVENANCE acquired by the present owner directly from the photographer

LITERATURE Ulrich Pohlmann (ed.), Thomas Hoepker Photographien 1955-2005, Munich 2005, p. 60; Magnum Contact Sheets, Munich 2011, p. 158; Thomas Hoepker, Champ: Muhammad Ali, Berlin 2010, cover.

In 1966 Thomas Hoepker was commissioned by the magazine Stern to portray Muhammad Ali, so he accom- panied Ali over a lengthy period of time. This resulted in unique photographic images of this exceptional athlete. The present photograph, taken with the Leica MP-88, shows Ali in a confrontational boxing pose, looking straight into the camera with his clenched fist directly in front of the lens in the foreground. Hoepker himself recalls its genesis: »During his training session on another evening the champ [...] sees me standing on the sidelines, in the shadow. He comes over and aims his fist at my Leica — left, ›wham‹, right, ›wham!‹, left! The light is terrible, miserably low. I try to get the fist into focus, and just when I have only three images in the can, Ali prances back to his punching bag.« One of those three images, available as signed large format print, was only recently discovered by Hoepker in his archives. It shows Ali’s left fist in the dark. Hoepker left the negative like it was, unretouched and scratched. For Hoepker this variant is a good juxtaposition and synonym for Ali’s less known dark side.

Start price: €4.500