New Topographics

About the New Topographics

The 'New Topographics' is a contemporary style of photography that emerged in the USA during the 1970s. The term derives from the 1975 exhibition at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York entitled 'New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-altered Landscape', in which curator William Jenkins presented works by Robert ADAMS, Lewis BALTZ, Bernd and Hilla BECHER, Joe DEAL, Frank GOHLKE, Nicholas NIXON, John SCHOTT, Stephen SHORE and Henry WESSEL. These photographers turned their attention to places and landscapes or sections of landscapes (often urban suburbs) characterized by human intervention. It was not the ideal conception of landscape, but the documentary view of an environment shaped by industry, transportation and the exploitation of nature that became the subject of a new photography critical of civilization. The approach of photographers in this genre is often conceptual.

Reception

The 'New Topographics' is generally understood as the beginning of a new photographic view of the landscape and a drastic change in US landscape photography. Until then, photographers such as Ansel ADAMS and Edward WESTON in particular had defined the ideal of modern American landscape photography, guided by the view of a landscape and nature largely untouched by man.
The impetus provided by the photographers of the 'New Topographic Movement' continues to have an impact on the current generation of photographers. Joachim BROHM, Hans-Christian SCHINK, Michael SCHMIDT, Hildegard OCHSE and Heinrich RIEBESEHL, among others, can be seen as German representatives of this movement with parts of their work. (Text created using a Wikipedia entry, retrieved on 25.01.2024)

Literature about the 'New Topographics'

• 'New Topographics. Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape' (1975); 'New Topographics' (1999, by Paul Highman); 'New Topographics' (2013, by Britt Salvesen); 'New Topographics. Texte und Rezeption' (2013); 'Reframing the New Topographics' (2013); 'New Topographics and Tomboy. Landscape transformation and photography' (2016, by Akihito Onishi); 'New American Topographics' (2018)

About the photographers associated with and influenced by the 'New Topographics'

• Robert ADAMS, Lewis BALTZ, Bernd and Hilla BECHER, Joe DEAL, Frank GOHLKE, Nicholas NIXON, John SCHOTT, Stephen SHORE, Henry WESSEL, Joachim BROHM, Hans-Christian SCHINK, Michael SCHMIDT, Hildegard OCHSE, Heinrich RIEBESEHL

Photo books by and with works by photographers associated with and influenced by the 'New Topographics'

• ADAMS, Robert
  BALTZ, Lewis
  BECHER, Bernd and Hilla BECHER
  DEAL, Joe
  GOHLKE, Frank
  NIXON, Nicholas
  SCHOTT, John
  SHORE, Stephen
  WESSEL, Henry
• BROHM, Joachim
  OCHSE, Hildegard
  RIEBESEHL, Heinrich
  SCHINK, Hans-Christian
  SCHMIDT, Michael