Hilla and Bernd Becher :

[MattKing]

They are also perfect examples of the point that, for many artists, one ought to approach and consider their body of work, rather than individual works in isolation.

 

[jtk]

Matt said something important about "body of work"

I think they are more significant as photographers than those of us who restrict themselves to more easily appreciated subject matter (rocks, trees, water, nudes etc).

 

[logan2z]

For anyone who is interested, there is a virtual opening of the show lead by curator Jeff Rosenheim on Thursday July 28th at 7pm ET.

You can register here:

Bernd & Hilla Becher Virtual Opening

A virtual celebration of Bernd & Hilla Becher featuring a tour of the exhibition with Jeff Rosenheim, Joyce Frank Menschel Curator In Charge, Department of Photographs.

www.metmuseum.org

 

[Arthurwg]

Arthur...you've seen the "book/catalog"? I might want one but I don't really want background info so much as good reproductions...which have you seen, which do you prefer?

The book has a huge amount of text, including interviews and explanations. It seems to also have every picture from the show, but many are in groups. Not at all like a monograph. And at $65.00, rather expensive IMHO.

 

[Arthurwg]

I note also that there are a few examples of some later work that are simply described as "landscapes," or "industrial landscapes." They are large horizontal one-offs, not part of a repetitive series. I found them very beautiful.

 

[AgX]

Yes, they used a view camera.

Plaubel Peco Profia N

 

[AgX]

The work of Adams lacks the serial aspect. They also had it obout "typologies", "basic forms" even as titles of their books.


(By the way, had the Bechers even heard of Adams? I doubt it.)

 

[AgX]

I have not seen one photo showing Hilla Becher somehow active at their camera. Not even one photo of her alone with the camera.
When both are shown with their camera he is at the film side (or even leaning at the tripod with her on the other side with her hands behind her back).

 

[AgX]

Here a different kind of Hilla Becher photography:


http://www.feuilletonfrankfurt.de/wp-content/uploads/Rh-Becherartikel-E_03.pdf
(page 50)

 

[halfaman]

When AA was commissioned by the government to photograph the Natural Reserve Parks, park by park, this could be considered as a serial 'mission'.

I don't think AA had the Becher's "typologies" approach. They choose a particular type of structure and showed it in all possible variations to define it, like a zoologist or a botanist would do. The isolated photos were not important but the group of them.

Something like this with water towers.

 

[AgX]

I think that there was at that time no professional or knowledgeable hobbyist who hadn't heard of AA (or Weston, who was till a certain extend AA's predecessor and motive to look at AA's work), the publication of his photos and (technical-) writings began in the interbellum if I am not mistaking.

Do not take Flanders for Germany. Germany was kind of autark concerning technical books and magazines. There were practically no such in foreign languages available locally. Which forms a certain mindset! There also was practically no large-format amateur photography in Germany.

I never heard any german photo-historian mention Adams in a lecture or in private.

 

[AgX]

I hope this isn't a misogynistic statement...

I had to look up this word.
And I have not the slightest idea what made you think so. My comment was worded absolutely neutral, thus could you see it as feministic with same reasoning. That you chose one certain interpretation at all, and then even the other way, rather indicates a certain mindset at your side.
Thnink about it...




Something else to think of:

This thread and that video speak of Hilla and Bernd Becher, whereas the exposition itself has it about Bernd and Hilla Becher.

At least in Germany the Becher couple is designated the latter way, as it was generaly use in Germany to designate a couple at least in their days.

 

[AgX]

I already hinted at the Becher couple as teachers. They established the very first class on photography at a classic art-academy, they introduced a photographic approach thus called Düsseldorf School.

This all led to them being used in a political stride going on in Germany for some years about the allegded position of Düsseldorf as photographic capital.

To what extent they were influencial on the recognition of industrial heritage may be argued too. But their series not only cover industrial or technical objects, but plain houses too.


So there is more to them than their own set of photographs, which may not be realized abroad.

 

[AgX]

AA had 'his' Yosemite park, they had 'their' Ruhrgebiet.

The Becher couple also went to England to make a series on those shaft towers. Their series on half-timber house was made outside the Ruhrgebiet.

But if one makes a series, that even necessitates certain natural lighting situtation it is benefitial if one has not far to travel.
Those houses also bear resemblance in their sceleton structure with the industrial towers.

 

[macfred]

In May 2008, there was a remarkable interview with Hilla Becher in the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Unfortunately, the interview is only available in German - googletranslate should help here.
Ms. Becher speaks here - shortly after the death of her husband - about new projects, which she still wanted to realize.
Furthermore she talks about the way of working, which she established together with her husband Bernd.
It is also interesting to note that Bernd was actually not interested in photography.

Hilla Becher - Sure, we were freaks ... https://sz-magazin.sueddeutsche.de/kunst/klar-waren-wir-freaks-75418

 

[jtk]

macfred ... thanks for that sz magazine link and big thanks for reminding us about googletranslate, which is probably available to all of us. Hilla seems to have answered all of the questions that have been raised here (and more). A very attractive person.

"That sounds like the mentality of an archivist or historian. Did you see yourself as an artist at all?
What is an artist? Anyone who calls themselves an artist is by no means an artist, others determine that. It is completely useless to say: I am an artist!

Why have you never photographed people, never photographed faces?
Because people were not our topic. People are a different matter.


But an attractive one.
Maybe for others, not for us. When someone photographs cathedrals, nobody asks: where is the pastor? where is the church That would not be adequate. When a human is in a picture, he dominates it. And if it doesn't belong to the topic, then it gets in the way.

Why conveyor systems and blast furnaces?
Because they are honest. They are functional and show what they are doing, we liked that. A man is always what he wants to be, never what he is. Even an animal mostly plays a role in front of the camera.

But to only photograph industrial architecture, you have to make a conscious decision first.
That got so high. In the beginning, Bernd wanted to preserve and bring back his childhood with these pictures. He had grown up in the Siegerland between ore mines and blast furnaces.

But you had a completely different background. You come from Potsdam.
That's right, as a child I took photos in the castles and gardens. But at some point I found it boring. You always have these images in your head. And then I came to the Ruhr area for the first time and was completely perplexed. I had never seen anything like it, it was new and strange, it was an adventure for me. "

 

[Arthurwg]

From some of Hilla's statements I get the impression that Bernd was the brains behind the conceptual operation. But it's also true that Hilla was an excellent photographer before they got together, while Bernd was a brilliant draftsman.

Interest in the Dusseldorf school of photography can be pursued through a book of that name by Stefan Gronert. Those photographers include, among others, Elger Esser, Andreas Gursky, Candida Hofer, Thomas Ruff and Thomas Struth.

Additionally, no one has mentioned Albert Renger-Patzsch, an excellent German photographer who seems to be a precursor of the Bechers. His focus was "objectivity."

 

[AgX]

I might have used a to strong word, sorry for that.
But considering somebody as as less, or even not, participating because she is standing there with her hands on her back or not holding tripod, it doesn't means that she isn't 'active'.

Again you got something on your mind that you are projecting onto me.

To make it clear: I did not have about "activity" in general, but had it just about the camera and their degree of interaction with it. Looking at the several photos of their camera, available to me, depicting that difference surprised me time ago.
It is up to anyone to draw his own conclusion or even see this all as pure accidental.

(Concerning their photos anyone here drew his own conclusions too, likely without knowing their intention or full body of work...)


See Hilla Becher's remark too about her husband not actually interested in photography.

 

[AgX]

photographers include, among others, Elger Esser, Andreas Gursky, Candida Hofer, Thomas Ruff and Thomas Struth.

Additionally, no one has mentioned Albert Renger-Patzsch, an excellent German photographer who seems to be a precursor of the Bechers. His focus was "objectivity."

At post #6 of this thread I linked to a list of their students and respective sample photos. Some got world famous, some only got national fame.

As a predecessor I also see August Sander.

 

[Arthurwg]

Not interested in photography? One of my favorite photographer, Lewis Baltz, was also "not interested in photography," but saw it as a means to an end.

 

[AgX]

Well, I quoted her literally.

 

[sasah zib]

...

Hilla Becher - Sure, we were freaks ... https://sz-magazin.sueddeutsche.de/kunst/klar-waren-wir-freaks-75418

Well worth a read. Thank you. Have printed it for the file.

---
The Bechers also photographed in Pennsylvania. That work and their prints in New Topographics, had strong impact among most of those active photographers within my sphere.

Add: A movie about them, with appearance from their son is at: http://bernd-hilla.becher-film.com
By watching the trailer, you will understand the relationship between them, their working method and approach.
[https://spruethmagers.com/artists/bernd-hilla-becher/ are the managers of their estate]

NT:
[ Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Joe Deal, Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon, John Schott, Stephen Shore, and Henry Wessel.] 10 photographers. a summer show at George Eastman.
The new topographics were to have a decisive influence on later photographers including those artists who became known as the Düsseldorf School of Photography.

 

[Arthurwg]

Renger-Patzsch also said, in his later years, that he had lost interest in photography but had increased his interest in the objects that he photographed.

 

[jtk]

macfred ... thanks for that sz magazine link and big thanks for reminding us about googletranslate, which is probably available to all of us. Hilla seems to have answered all of the questions that have been raised here (and more). A very attractive person.

"That sounds like the mentality of an archivist or historian. Did you see yourself as an artist at all?
What is an artist? Anyone who calls themselves an artist is by no means an artist, others determine that. It is completely useless to say: I am an artist!

Why have you never photographed people, never photographed faces?
Because people were not our topic. People are a different matter.


But an attractive one.
Maybe for others, not for us. When someone photographs cathedrals, nobody asks: where is the pastor? where is the church That would not be adequate. When a human is in a picture, he dominates it. And if it doesn't belong to the topic, then it gets in the way.

Why conveyor systems and blast furnaces?
Because they are honest. They are functional and show what they are doing, we liked that. A man is always what he wants to be, never what he is. Even an animal mostly plays a role in front of the camera.

But to only photograph industrial architecture, you have to make a conscious decision first.
That got so high. In the beginning, Bernd wanted to preserve and bring back his childhood with these pictures. He had grown up in the Siegerland between ore mines and blast furnaces.

But you had a completely different background. You come from Potsdam.
That's right, as a child I took photos in the castles and gardens. But at some point I found it boring. You always have these images in your head. And then I came to the Ruhr area for the first time and was completely perplexed. I had never seen anything like it, it was new and strange, it was an adventure for me. "

note... my post was just a casual selection, not a summary, of the excellent interview...

 

[jtk]

IMO there is zero relationship between the work of AA, known widely for his decorative prints, and the work of Hill/Bernd, generally recognized as conceptual.

From what I've read about the AA couple, it seems to have been happy but I doubt that Mrs.AA contributed significantly to AA's work.

It's likely that both wives were good cooks but I don't recall reading anything directly about Mrs.AA.

Edward Weston, in this context, seems more focused on eros than on concepts or interior decor.