Hilla and Bernd Becher :

[sasah zib]

A major show opens today: https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2022/becher

July 15 – November 6, 2022​

Bernd and Hilla Becher (1931–2007; 1934–2015) changed the course of late twentieth-century photography. Working as a rare artist couple, they focused on a single subject: the disappearing industrial architecture of Western Europe and North America that fueled the modern era

They described these formal arrangements as “typologies” and the buildings themselves as “anonymous sculpture.”

Their first photobook Anonymous Sculptures was published in 1970 and is their most well-known body of work. The title is a nod to Marcel Duchamp’s readymades and indicates that the Becher’s referred to industrial buildings as found objects.
The book consisted of an encyclopaedic inventory of industrial structures including kilns, blast furnaces and gas-holders categorised into sections (the pot, the oven, the chimney, the winch, the pump, and the laboratory.)

Catalog of show: https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9781588397553/bernd-and-hilla-becher/

To travel, next stop is SFMOMA https://www.sfmoma.org/about/

 

[Paul Ozzello]

Thanks for sharing - I had no idea there was an exhibit at the Met

 

[Dali]

Love their work.

 

[BradS]

Thanks for the heads up!
I'm going to make an effort to see this when it comes out here to the left coast.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Interesting. It is good that people capture the past before it is gone. Once it is gone, there is no way to bring it back again. I had never heard of this couple. Thank you.

 

[AgX]

Well, it was not the documenting as such (there was much more to document), not even the single photographs, but (to me) rather the series they made.

Anyway, they are the foundation of the so-called Düsseldorf School, style- or approachwise.

Düsseldorfer Photoschule – Wikipedia

de-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog

Here you find a listing of their students and may scroll samples of later work of these:

archithese - Der Typologische Blick

Hilla Becher hat Kunst und Fotographie geprägt. Die Ausstellung «Der typologische Blick» der Fotografischen Sammlung Köln ist eine umfassende Hommage.

archithese.ch

 

[jtk]

I spent hours with about 50 of their medium-sized prints at Dia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dia_Beacon

Take your time with them. As a project (not a mere series) the whole is a monumental, quiet work of art.

Dia (the gallery itself, on the Hudson) is itself monumental.

 

[jtk]

Published July 19

"...insights into the development of the artists' exacting process; their work's precedents and conceptual underpinnings; and their legacy. Award-winning cultural historian Lucy Sante places the Bechers' photographs within the context of deindustrialization and its impact on the physical and cultural landscape. "

Bernd & Hilla Becher: Jeff L. Rosenheim: Hardcover: 9781588397553: Powell's Books

 

[Roger Thoms]

I saw their work at Pier 24 Gallery in San Francisco in 2017, excited to hear that this exhibition will be coming to SFMOMA.

Roger

 

[Arthurwg]

Saw the show at the Met yesterday. I'm a big fan and love the work. But I must say I was surprised at the print quality. Most shots were medium or somewhat lower contrast and few if any seemed really. sharp. Taken as a whole it's a spectacular body of work, but few would say these are great pints. It's been suggested that this is part of their aesthetic, made that way so as not to focus on their "artistic" qualities but rather on the subjects themselves. Two additional things stood out. The early work of both artists was stunning, especially the industrial drawings and collages by Bernd. Also, I had no idea of the connection between the Beckers and American artists Carl Andre and Sol LeWitt.

 

[AgX]

Their works on "industry" were taken with a technical camera. But as far as I know they were not into technics.
And one did not learn photo technics at the Düsseldorf academy, nor does one today.

 

[Arthurwg]

A video, shot by their son on a road trip in the states, shows them using an 8x10 monorail camera.

 

[AgX]

Yes, they used a view camera. That was what I meant with "technical camera" (I sometimes mix up languages).

 

[jtk]

Saw the show at the Met yesterday. I'm a big fan and love the work. But I must say I was surprised at the print quality. Most shots were medium or somewhat lower contrast and few if any seemed really. sharp. Taken as a whole it's a spectacular body of work, but few would say these are great pints. It's been suggested that this is part of their aesthetic, made that way so as not to focus on their "artistic" qualities but rather on the subjects themselves. Two additional things stood out. The early work of both artists was stunning, especially the industrial drawings and collages by Bernd. Also, I had no idea of the connection between the Beckers and American artists Carl Andre and Sol LeWitt.

It'd be better to think of the couple as architectural historians or conceptual artists rather than as technicians. The many prints I've seen might be "better" and more decorative if printed to a higher contrast, but of course structural details etc were crucial and the body of work as a whole was intentionally consistent. I've no doubt that if they wanted the prints to be more snappy-looking, their prints would look that way.

 

[Arthurwg]

Yes JTK, I agree. I do think of them as conceptual artists, and it's true that the body of work is amazingly consistent from one print to the next. I would love to have a print. I would also like to have the book/catalog, which is complete and excellent.

 

[jtk]

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?

 

[qqphot]

I'm happy to see this is coming to SF MOMA. Their work was a big influence when I was a teen. Which I realize is probably weird.

 

[jtk]

I'm happy to see this is coming to SF MOMA. Their work was a big influence when I was a teen. Which I realize is probably weird.

Perhaps a teen would be able to appreciate this work more easily than his/her parents. Teens are often good at seeing important things clearly.

 

[AgX]

I find it interesting how different the Becher couple is seen here and there.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I find it interesting how different the Becher couple is seen here and there.

Always thought of them as overrated photographers of water towers. Their art misses me completely.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Always thought of them as overrated photographers of water towers. Their art misses me completely.

+1 √√√√√√√√ They are merely documentors.

 

[AgX]

Always thought of them as overrated photographers of water towers. Their art misses me completely.

That is one point. But here they are seen as having pushed a photographic approach that influenced other photographers even beyond their students.
Whereas in this thread they are seen just for their very own works.

 

[reddesert]

What is "mere" documentation? It takes an intellectual vision, and I say in this case artistic vision, to see that something is worth documenting.

People sometimes, including this thread, see the Bechers' work as not dramatic enough - not high contrast, buildings/towers shot face-on rather than with a dramatic or exaggerated perspective, and so on. I think that deadpan approach is an intentional, key part of their project. Aesthetics are a matter of taste, I'm not saying you have to like it, but their presentation is a choice, not an inability to make dramatic black-to-white photographs; the same way pointing the camera at a water tower instead of Half Dome is a choice.

 

[CMoore]

I have never heard of them, or THOUSANDS of other photographers.
I do like what i saw in the video, but i LOVE "Industrial Photography".
Charles Sheeler at Ford is one of my favorites.

 

[AgX]

What is "mere" documentation? It takes an intellectual vision, and I say in this case artistic vision, to see that something is worth documenting.

They started photographing old industrial sites in a period in West-Germany when in general interest in industrial heritage began to evolve and for the first time attempts were made to apply the legal status of architectural/cultural monument, and respective protection, also to industrial buildings/sites.

One now may consider each of the objects they photographed, and look into respective years, but my point is that they were not the only ones considering such worth documenting or even preserving. This may not be realized with a look from abroad.