Ib Jesper Brieghel Høm (5 October 1931 – 1 March 2000) was a Danish photographer and

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

. After opening his own studio in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, he travelled widely, finally working for Agence VISA in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Høm was a co-founder of Copenhagen's Delta Photos, an organization designed to inspire and assist press photographers. Most of the remainder of his career was devoted to film, where he participated in the making of several Danish films as cinematographer, screenwriter and director.

Career

Still photography

Jesper Høm was the son of Paul Brieghel Høm and Kirsten Mariane Henriksen, who were both artists. From 1948 to 1950, he received training in photography at Gutenberghus, a magazine publisher in Copenhagen, after which he spent a year working as a fashion photographer for ''Jardin des Modes'' in

."Jesper Høm", ''Den danske film database''
Retrieved 25 February 2010. Tage Poulsen, "Mennesker og mønstre", in ''Dansk Fotografi Historie'', ed. Mette Sandbye (Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 2004), p. 287 et seq. . The year he spent in Paris introduced Høm to the most advanced photography of the times, not least the work of the American-born photographer William Klein who excelled in expressiveness and appreciation of the decisive moment. Høm was quick to take up these new ideas, adapting them to his own style and promoting photography as an art."Jesper Høm", ''Det Nationale Fotomuseum''
Retrieved 25 February 2010. From 1955 to 1959, he ran his own studio in

concentrating on architectural and design photography. He then went to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

where he worked for Weiner & Gossage, an advertising agency. As a freelancer, he worked in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and for an extended period in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. He then spent three years working for Agence VISA in

with assignments in

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and the

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. His photographs were published by

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and

Paris Match ''Paris Match'' () is a French-language weekly gossip magazine. It covers major national and international news along with celebrity lifestyle features. ''Paris Match'' has been considered "one of the world's best outlets for photojournalism". ...

, culminating in his book ''Meet the Danes'' in 1964. Taking the French-based international photographic bureau Magnum as a model, together with Gregers Nielsen and others he set up Delta Photos in 1964. The organization was designed to support press photography in Denmark.

Cinema

Høm began as a film photographer in

Astrid Henning-Jensen Astrid Henning-Jensen (born Astrid Smahl; 10 December 1914 – 5 January 2002) was a Danes, Danish film director, actress, editor and screenwriter. Early life Henning-Jensen was born in the Copenhagen district of Frederiksberg in 1914, to par ...

's 1967 short film ''Min bedstefar er en stok'', followed by the children's film ''Thomas er fredløs'' and several others. One of two films he directed was ''Smil Emil'' in 1969, which became an award-winning success. In 1973, together with his wife Elsebeth Reingaard, he opened the Delta Art Cinema which later became known as the Delta Bio. The venture had a very positive effect on spreading interest in quality filmmaking in Denmark. However, as a result of financial difficulties, he gave up his job as cinema manager in 1979. In 1985, he was one of the founders of the Danish-Swedish photography agency Billedhuset. In 1986, he returned to filmmaking with the successful ''Take It Easy'' in which Eddie Skoller played the role of jazz musician

Leo Mathisen Leo "The Lion" Mathisen (10 October 1906 – 16 December 1969) was a Danish jazz pianist, composer, arranger, singer and bandleader. He was a leading figure of the thriving Danish scene during the years around World War II—a period which ...

Exhibitions, works and awards

Jesper Høm has exhibited widely, written several books and participated in a number of films:

Exhibitions

*Louisiana, Humlebæk, 1959 *

Danish Museum of Art & Design The Designmuseum Denmark () is a museum in Copenhagen for Danish and international design and crafts. It features works of famous Danish designers like Arne Jacobsen, Jacob Jensen and Kaare Klint, who was one of the two architects who remodele ...

, 1963 *Landesbildstelle,

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, 1964 *Meet the Danes, 1964 New York World's Fair, 1964–65 *Kunstpavillion,

Esbjerg Esbjerg (, ) is a seaport city and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is west of Kolding and southwest of Aarhus. With an urban area, urban population of 71,554 (1 January ...

, 1982 *Joy of Timing,

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, 1982 *Nye farvefotografier, Galleri Asbæk, Copenhagen, 1982 *Galleri Image,

Århus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

, 1983 *Irske billeder, Louisiana, 1986 *Retrospective. Øjeblikkets fascination (The fascination of the moment), Museumsbygningen (gallery), 2015

Books

*''Say Cheese...and Cry'', 1959 *''Sådan er Danmark, sådan da'' (photos by Jesper Høm and Bror Bernild, commentary by Henning Nystad), 1961 *''Meet the Danes'', 1964 *''Nogen kalder os glædespiger'' (commentary by Erik Nørgaard), 1975 *''Børnenes Billedbog'' (with Sven Grønlykke), 1975 *''Samba'' (commentary by Henrik Stangerup), 1982 *''Joy of Timing'', 1982 *''Brasiliansk fodbold'', 1984 *''Toneangivende danskere'', 1991

Films

*''Min bedstefar er en stok'' (cinematographer), 1967 *''Balladen om Carl-Henning'' 'Ballad of Carl-Henning''(cinematographer), 1968 *''Smil Emil'' 'Smile, Emil''(writer, director, cinematographer), 1969 *''Stille dage i Clichy'' 'Quiet Days in Clichy''(cinematographer), 1970 *''Thorvald og Linda'' (cinematographer with Claus Loof), 1982 *''Take it Easy'' (writer, director, cinematographer), 1986

Awards

*Star Photographer of the Year, London, 1967 *Filmfondets Årspris, 1970

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hom, Jesper 1931 births 2000 deaths 20th-century Danish photographers Danish photographers Danish male screenwriters Danish film directors Danish cinematographers 20th-century Danish screenwriters Burials at the Garrison Cemetery, Copenhagen