Beginning in 1959, Bernd Becher (b. 1931, Siegen, Germany, d. 2007, Rostock, Germany) and Hilla Becher (b. 1934, Potsdam, Germany, d. 2015, Düsseldorf, Germany) pursued a project of systematically documenting industrial architectural forms—an objective that took inspiration from the precisionist approach of the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) artists of the 1920s. The ubiquitous cooling towers, gas tanks, blast furnaces, and grain elevators of the post-war landscape provided the Bechers with the raw matter for their “typologies,” an effort to visually organize and render comparable the unique details of each structure and the intricate relationship between form and function. Important one-person shows include those at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, which traveled to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA (2022); Photographic Collection/SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne (2006, 2010, 2013); the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2008); Nationalgalerie Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2005); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2004); K21 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf (2003); and XLIV Venice Biennale (1990), for which they were awarded the Golden Lion. Their work is held in prominent public collections including Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Kunsthalle Hamburg; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; and the Tate Collection, UK.
Bernd & Hilla Becher
1. Silo fur Kokskohle (Bachum Ruhr District), 2. Silo fur Erz (Waldolgesheim bei Bingen), 3. Silo fur Kohl (facht Auguste Victoria Essen), 1972
gelatin silver prints mounted together
9 images each: 9 1/4 x 7 in. (23.5 x 17.8 cm)
frame: 40 1/4 x 28 5/8 x 1 in. (102.2 x 72.7 x 2.5 cm)
Bernd and Hilla Becher: In Dialogue with Carl Andre and Sol LeWitt, Installation view, 534 W 21st Street, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, 2018.
Bernd and Hilla Becher: In Dialogue with Carl Andre and Sol LeWitt, Installation view, 534 W 21st Street, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, 2018.
Bernd & Hilla Becher
Detail Blast Furnace, La Louvière, 1985
gelatin silver print
image: 23 1/2 x 17 1/2 in. (59.7 x 44.5 cm)
frame: 36 x 29 1/2 x 1 1/4 in. (91.4 x 74.9 x 3.2 cm)
Edition 2 of 5
Bernd & Hilla Becher
Detail Blast Furnace, Diffedange, 1983
gelatin silver print
image: 23 1/2 x 17 in. (59.7 x 43.2 cm)
frame: 36 x 29 1/2 in. (91.4 x 74.9 cm)
Edition 3 of 5
Bernd & Hilla Becher
Detail Blast Furnace, Georgsmarienhütte, Osnabruck, 1987
gelatin silver print
image: 23 1/2 x 17 1/2 in. (59.7 x 44.5 cm)
frame: 36 x 29 1/2 in. (91.4 x 74.9 cm)
Edition 2 of 5
Bernd & Hilla Becher
PARTIAL VIEW OF BLAST FURNACE, Unterwellenborn, Thuringen, Germany, 1991
gelatin silver print
image: 23 1/2 x 16 3/4 in. (59.7 x 42.5 cm)
frame: 36 x 29 1/2 in. (91.4 x 74.9 cm)
Edition 3 of 5
Bernd & Hilla Becher
PARTIAL VIEW OF BLAST FURNACE, Uckange, Lorraine, France, 1991
gelatin silver print
image: 23 1/2 x 17 in. (59.7 x 43.2 cm)
frame: 36 x 29 1/2 in. (91.4 x 74.9 cm)
Edition 3 of 5
Bernd & Hilla Becher
PARTIAL VIEW OF BLAST FURNACE, Duisburg-Bruckhausen, Germany, 1991
gelatin silver print
image: 23 1/2 x 17 1/2 in. (59.7 x 44.5 cm)
frame: 36 x 29 1/2 in. (91.4 x 74.9 cm)
Edition 3 of 5
