Bernd and Hilla Becher
1931–2007 / 1934–2015 · Germany
Comparing industrial structures, one image after another.
The story
Bernd and Hilla Becher collaborated for several decades on a photographic inventory of industrial structures: water towers, blast furnaces, silos and storage tanks. They favoured black and white and a consistent visual protocol. The photographs are often grouped in grids that make variations comparable. This method turns a documentary body of work into an artistic proposition and left a lasting mark on photographic teaching in Düsseldorf.
Understanding the work
Look first at the entire grid, then at each structure. Repetition reveals differences that might go unnoticed in an isolated image.
Key works and series
Water Towers; Framework Houses; typologies of blast furnaces and storage tanks.
Sources & further exploration
Works in collections.
10 recordsPhotographs to explore on museum and library websites, with titles, dates and processes. Each link opens the collection record and its image where one is available.
- MoMA · 1966
Fforchaman Colliery, Rhondda Valley, South Wales, United Kingdom
Gelatin silver print
Bernd Becher · Hilla Becher
- MoMA · 1974
Consolidation Mine, Gelsenkirchen, Ruhr Region, Germany
Gelatin silver print
Bernd Becher · Hilla Becher
- MoMA · 1999
Duisburg-Bruckhausen, Ruhr Region, Germany
Gelatin silver print
Bernd Becher · Hilla Becher
