How Bernd and Hilla Becher turned industrial ruins into anonymous sculpture
In short: Explore the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher, a husband-and-wife photography duo who documented the vanishing industrial architecture of the 20th century. This virtual tour examines how their rigorous, grid-based approach bridged the divide between documentary photography and fine art.
Bernd (1931–2007) and Hilla Becher (1934–2015) spent decades methodically photographing the industrial structures that powered the modern era, including blast furnaces, grain silos, and cooling towers. By using a large-format view camera to capture these subjects with standardized precision, they created what they termed 'typologies'—grids containing between four and thirty images that allowed for direct comparative analysis.
Their work, which they described as 'anonymous sculpture,' drew inspiration from early photography while aligning with the serial aesthetics of Minimalism and Conceptual art. This retrospective at The Metropolitan Museum of Art is the first to feature full access to the artists' personal archives and working materials, offering a comprehensive look at how they fundamentally shifted the trajectory of late 20th-century photography.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Bernd & Hilla Becher Virtual Opening | Met Exhibitions
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