The Michael Hoppen Gallery is wholly devoted to the photographic image as art. The gallery opened in Chelsea on October 1st 1993 and has become a formidable presence in the international photography community. The Michael Hoppen Gallery’s main goal is to encourage the love, appreciation, and collecting of the photograph.

Michael, who was a photographer himself with more than twenty years experience, and a long time collector of fine photography, is ideally qualified to help, advise and encourage the appreciation of the medium in all its guises: from acquainting collectors of the different periods and styles, to understanding the differences in photographic processes and many of the other important elements that go into making, not just the taking, of the photographic image as art.

Image is more important to the gallery than pictures whose value is derived merely from the possible prestige of the photographer. All the work displayed is judged firstly on the strength of the photograph itself. The Gallery's aesthetic integrity does not however stop at the image. Each photograph is individually mounted and presented in frames whose design and craftsmanship is in every way a reflection of the quality of the image it surrounds.

Founded in November 2000, the Michael Hoppen Contemporary Gallery has become a major international photographic gallery over the past seven years. Our reputation is built on our dedicated program to encourage and emphasise the important role photography plays in contemporary art today. Michael Hoppen Contemporary Gallery is part of Michael Hoppen Gallery and occupies the 2nd floor of the gallery. We have a strong exhibition programme of both, established and emerging artists. This balance provides a unique opportunity to encourage and promote innovative and inspiring artists from Great Britain and abroad. We support established artists such as Daido Moriyama, one of Japan’s leading photographers who – born in the aftermath of Hiroshima – recorded the breakdown of traditional values in post-war Japan and the rapid transformation and gritty reality of the country and its cities.

We also promote younger and lesser known artists, providing collectors with a venue to discover new art – such as Desiree Dolron’s work which we first exhibited in 2003. Her large-scale still lives and portraits evoke 17th century Flemish paintings, revealing her obsession to detail, colour and composition. Dolron’s substantial success resulted in her work being acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum London, The Metropolitan Museum in NY and Guggenheim Museum NY, Frankfurt am Main, DG Bank. Geneva, Banque SYZ & CO. Houston, The Museum of Fine Arts. New York, The Buhl Collection.Paris, NSM Vie / ABN AMRO.
In October 2005 her first solo retrospective was shown in the Fotomuseum den Haag to great acclaim, followed by a solo exhibition in November 2006 at Institut Neerlandais, Paris.

Being at the vanguard of the contemporary photography market, we also pride ourselves to provide a platform for artists who for long have worked outside the established art world. One such unknown artist, for example, is Miroslav Tichy, to us one of the most exciting ‘finds’ in recent years. His photographs of women – taken with cameras he made from tin cans, spectacle lenses and other junk – lay undiscovered for several decades in his home in a little town called Brno in Czechoslovakia. He won the ‘New Discovery Award 2005’ in Arles and his first major solo show in Kunsthaus Zürich was hailed as the most exciting photographic event in 2005. Michael Hoppen Contemporary Gallery has the primary representation in the UK and held his first exhibition in the UK in May 2006.

We also support a publishing program which works hand in hand with our artists and have published monographs under the name of ‘Guiding Light’ for Daido Moriyama, Helene Binet, Giles Revell, Dodo Jin Ming and Terry Richardson. We also co-publish with larger publishing houses and museums such as Roger Ballen with Phaidon, David Parker with Steidel and Desiree Dolron with the Fotomuseum in Den Haag.

We continue to work with many important corporate clients around the world such as: British Airways, GAP, Cantor Fitzgerald, Polo Ralph Lauren, N.M Rothschild & Sons, Citibank, The Elton John Collection, Goldman Sachs, Bank Cantrade AG, Syz Bank and many important private collectors including museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art NY, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Museum of Fine Arts Houston and The Guggenheim NY.

The gallery represents substantial holdings of rare vintage works as well as new and exciting contemporary talent. Our gallery program during 2008 and 2009 reflects the diversity and passion one expects from a gallery with a reputation to excite and inform.

Opening hours:
Mon - Fri  10:30 am - 6 pm
Sat  10:30 am - 5 pm
closed on Sun