The German photographers are known for their straightforward black-and-white images of types of industrial buildings. For nearly five decades, the couple systematically photographed individual industrial structures—water towers, blast furnaces, grain elevators, framework (half-timber) houses—most of which dated to the 19th century and have since been demolished.
For over 40 years, Bernd and Hilla Becher photographed the architecture of industrialisation: water towers, coal bunkers, blast furnaces, gas tanks and factory facades. They did so in an obsessively formalist way that defined a style, and made them one of the most dominant influences in contemporary European photography and art.
The pair met while working for an advertising agency in Düsseldorf in 1957. They had both studied painting, but soon discovered a shared fascination with the vernacular industrial architecture of the Ruhr region: the giant, monolithic sculptural forms that dominated the surrounding landscapes. From the start, they were rigorous, photographing in the grey early morning light, often from a distance, to show the scale of the towers and tanks against nearby buildings or objects. In one photograph of a cooling tower, a tiny street sign is visible in the foreground; in another, a row of what looks like miniature Christmas trees stand in the foreground.
Their approach soon became even more rigorous, with each structure being photographed from a similar angle on a large-format plate camera. The grids were arranged to highlight the formal similarities of each structure, which, as their images of water towers in Detroit show, was constant around the world – but also their looming, ominous presence.
For over 40 years, Bernd and Hilla Becher photographed the architecture of industrialisation: water towers, coal bunkers, blast furnaces, gas tanks and factory facades. They did so in an obsessively formalist way that defined a style, and made them one of the most dominant influences in contemporary European photography and art.
The pair met while working for an advertising agency in Düsseldorf in 1957. They had both studied painting, but soon discovered a shared fascination with the vernacular industrial architecture of the Ruhr region: the giant, monolithic sculptural forms that dominated the surrounding landscapes. From the start, they were rigorous, photographing in the grey early morning light, often from a distance, to show the scale of the towers and tanks against nearby buildings or objects. In one photograph of a cooling tower, a tiny street sign is visible in the foreground; in another, a row of what looks like miniature Christmas trees stand in the foreground.
Their approach soon became even more rigorous, with each structure being photographed from a similar angle on a large-format plate camera. The grids were arranged to highlight the formal similarities of each structure, which, as their images of water towers in Detroit show, was constant around the world – but also their looming, ominous presence.