Bernd and Hilla Becher

Bernd & Hilla Becher at Sprüth Magers

Bernd & Hilla Becher at Sprüth Magers

In a photographic project spanning five decades, Bernd and Hilla Becher documented the soon-to-be-forgotten architectural forms of industry – Mine Heads, Blast Furnaces, Water Towers, Coal Bunkers, Cooling Towers, Industrial Facades, Gas Tanks, Grain Elevators, to name but a few. Systematically photographing each structure, the artists examined their shared qualities and categorized the images into grid typologies or displayed them…
Bernd & Hilla Becher: Framework Houses in Siegen’s Industrial Region

Bernd & Hilla Becher: Framework Houses in Siegen’s Industrial Region

Bernd and Hilla Becher (1931–2007, 1934–2015) began taking photographs of framework houses in Siegen’s industrial region early on in their artistic career. Produced between 1958 and 1974, this body of work proved the value of the consistent depiction of a type of object in so-called typologies. Analysis and synthesis were not to be accomplished solely in a precise individual image…
Biography: Documentary/Architecture photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher

Biography: Documentary/Architecture photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher

Bernd and Hilla Becher were German artists working as a collaborative duo. They are best known for their extensive series of photographic images, or typologies, of industrial buildings and structures. To create these works, the artists traveled to large mines and steel mills, and systematically photographed the major structures, such as the winding towers that haul coal and iron ore…