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About the photographer Bernd & Hilla BECHER
As photographers Bernhard "Bernd" BECHER (1931-2007) and Hilla BECHER (1934-2015) gained international reputation with their b/w photographs in the 1970s. They founded the famous Düsseldorf School of Photography and educated many photographic personalities, who are today considered as the 'Becher School' from an international point of view outstanding representatives of German photography: Andreas GURSKY, Thomas STRUTH, Candida HÖFER, Thomas RUFF, Jörg SASSE, Axel HÜTTE, Elger ESSER, Götz DIERGARTEN, Petra WUNDERLICH and Tata RONKHOLZ among others.
Central for the perception of the work was the participation of the BECHERs at 'documenta 5' (1972), where they exhibited a series of industrial buildings, which should become formative for their future photographs. Ileana Sonnabend discovered BECHER's work for the USA and set up a first exhibition in her New York gallery in 1973. In 1973, photographs by Bernd and Hilla Becher were presented in Paris.
Bernd and Hilla Becher pursued the goal of documenting industrial buildings that were typical of their period of origin and often threatened with demolition. Characteristic for their approach are often 'unwindings', 6, 9, 12 or more photographs of the same object at fixed, differing angles. This resulted in 'typologies' of industrial buildings. The photographic work of Bernd and Hilla BECHER is a serial concept in the sense of New Objectivity. From the perspective of the visual arts, it was soon assigned to conceptual art.
Photo books by Bernd & Hilla BECHER
'Steine und Kalköfen' (2013); 'Zeche Hannover' (2010); 'Bergwerke und Hütten' (2010); 'Zeche Concordia' (2007); 'Getreidesilos' (2006); 'Leben und Werk' (2005); 'Typologien industrieller Bauten' (2003); 'Hochöfen' (2000); 'Serien Bernd & Hilla Becher' (2000); 'Industrielandschaften' (2000); 'Fachwerkhäuser des Siegener Industriegebietes' (2000); 'Bergwerke' (1998); 'Wassertürme' (1998); 'Fabrikhallen' (1994); 'Grundformen' (1993); 'Gasbehälter' (1993); 'Pennsylvania Coal Mine Tipples' (1991); 'Typologien' (1990); 'Fördertürme' (1985); 'Anonyme Skulpturen' (1970)