Bernd Becher, Hilla Becher
German, 1931 - 2007, German, 1934-2015
HOCHOFEN (BLAST FURNACES) IMAGE V, FROM THE SERIES "TYPOLOGIES", 2007
Digital pigment print on photo paper
The Bechers are known for their "Typologies" —grids of black-and-white photographs showing varying examples of a single type of structure. The couple traveled to mines and steel mills across the United States and Western Europe, photographing buildings using a large-format camera. Shown here is a selection of blast furnaces-buildings used for smelting and refining metal ore. Seen together, subtle variations between the furnaces become noticeable. The artists referred to the subjects of their typologies as "anonymous sculpture," explaining: "They are generally buildings where anonymity is accepted to be the style.
Their peculiarities originate not in spite of, but because of, the lack of design." These images serve as documents of a vanishing era of large-scale industrial production.
