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Bernd and Hilla Becher
Meeting as painting students at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in 1957, Bernd and Hilla Becher forged a lifelong collaboration photographing industrial architecture of the twentieth century. Together they scouted and researched industrial sites to record with an 8 x 10-inch view camera. They soon settled upon a typological approach: photographs of similar structures taken from a consistent viewpoint, meticulously printed and arranged in grids. Their work was first exhibited in Germany in 1963 and became better known in the United States with the publication of their book Anonyme Skulpturen (Anonymous Sculptures) in 1970. The Bechers were shown at the George Eastman House and in solo exhibitions at Sonnabend Gallery, New York, in 1972. In 1974, they traveled to North America for the first time, touring sites in New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and southern Ontario. Depicting a range of industrial structures, from imposing coal breakers to humble wooden winding towers, the Bechers explore the relationship of utility and form. Seven of these North American typologies were shown in New Topographics. The Bechers' subsequent teachings in Germany would bring the influence of New Topographics to bear on a new generation in Europe: the Düsseldorf school of photography is now celebrated in museums and galleries worldwide.
1. PIT HEAD, BEAR VALLEY, PENNSYLVANIA, 1974 Gelatin silver prints 4 prints; each 12 in. x 16 in. Lent by Hilla Becher in association with Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne © Hilla Becher, 2009.
2. LOOMIS COAL BREAKER/WILKES BARRE, PENNSYLVANIA, 1974 Gelatin silver prints 8 prints; each 16 in. x 12 in. Lent by Hilla Becher in association with Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne © Hilla Becher, 2009.
3. HARRY E. COLLIERY COAL BREAKER, WILKES BARRE, PENNSYLVIAN, 1974 Gelatin silver prints 8 prints; each 16 in x 12 in. Lent by Hilla Becher in association with Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne © Hilla Becher, 2009.
Audio excerpt from a 2008 interview with Hilla Becher, generously provided by the J. Paul Getty Museum, © J. Paul Getty Trust.
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Hilla Becher discusses how she and Bernd first approached their subjects.
ROBERT ADAMS
LEWIS BALTZ
BERND AND HILLA BECHER
JOE DEAL
FRANK GOHLKE
NICHOLAS NIXON
JOHN SCHOTT
STEPHEN SHORE
HENRY WESSEL, JR.
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