E.O. Hoppé, a British-German photographer, played a pioneering role in shaping the American road trip as a cultural tradition through his 1926 transcontinental journey, documented in Romantic America, 1927. Far from a casual traveler, Hoppé undertook a visionary photographic project that traversed the U.S. from coast to coast, capturing its dynamic contrasts; industrial urbanism, the vast Southwest, and diverse American identities.

His work offered an early and complex visual portrait of a nation in flux, portraying America not as a unified ideal but as a landscape of contradictions and change. With a sharp eye for composition and irony, Hoppé’s photographs reflect both the beauty and dissonance of modern America.

Though his legacy faded mid-century, the rediscovery of his archive in the 1990s has sparked renewed interest. Hoppé’s In Search of America compiles photographs from and for his book, that remains foundational to the visual language of the American road trip, transforming observation into revelation and enriching the nation’s cultural self-understanding.