Thomas Hoepker, the Magnum photographer who died earlier this month aged 88, took this image at Central Park Zoo in 1992. Polar bears had been launched to the zoo in 1988, first Gus, after which his two feminine companions, Ida and Lily. Gus, specifically, turned the zoo’s star flip, seen by 20 million individuals earlier than his demise in 2013. He achieved specific fame a few years after this image was taken when he began compulsively swimming in a determine of eight sample for hours at a time.
The thriller drew reporters from all over the world, and prompted editorials in regards to the frustrations of captivity. Gus was depicted as a typical New Yorker, fretful, neurotic, depressive, an emblem of the town. There was a e-book, What’s Worrying Gus?, and a play dedicated to him. Lily and Ida, with whom he was continuously pictured cuddling, appeared to supply solely fitful consolation. The zoo finally employed a behavioural therapist at a value of $25,000 (£19,000) to look at Gus. He was prescribed toys and treats, and provided a programme of constructive reinforcement coaching classes. His habitat was redesigned to include a playground, and finally the compulsive determine of eights turned much less frequent, with out ever fairly going away.
Hoepker’s image appears, on this mild, to prefigure all of that angst. The photographer, who moved to New York from his native Munich in 1976, was additionally a profoundly stressed soul; he outlined his angle to discovering photos as “wanderlust”, the limitless pleasure of mooching about, trying. Maybe he sensed a kindred spirit within the animal behind the glass. The weightless bear anyhow appears to inhabit a storybook realm, simply out of attain of the imaginations of the watching kids. Earlier than the cares of the world begin to weigh both him or his viewers down.
Supply hyperlink
