Published by Verlag Buchkunst Berlin, *Thomas Hoepker DDR/East Germany: Colour Works 1972–1990* brings together the German Magnum photographer’s extensive color documentation of the German Democratic Republic across nearly two decades. Drawn from extensive archive research, this volume marks the first comprehensive gathering dedicated exclusively to Hoepker’s GDR color photography, presenting well-known compositions alongside a substantial selection of previously unpublished images.

Hoepker approached life behind the Iron Curtain with an empathetic, observant eye, capturing ordinary routines, urban spaces, and political realities through the distinct palette of Kodachrome film. Rather than reducing East Germany to monochrome austerity, his compositions employ subtle wit, warmth, and keen human observation, underscoring his standing as a humanist documentary photographer during a transformative era of divided Germany.

Accompanying the visual sequence is an essay by the poet and songwriter Wolf Biermann, whose written contribution situates Hoepker’s photographic record within its broader cultural and historical landscape. For serious collectors of postwar European documentary photography and photobooks on the Cold War era, this hardcover monograph offers an indispensable, chromatic perspective on daily existence in East Germany leading up to reunification.