Bernd and Hilla Becher - 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale New York Thursday, November 17, 2016 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Sonnabend Gallery, New York
    Thea Westreich
    Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York
    Acquired from the above by the present owner in March 2001

  • Catalogue Essay

    “One just has to select the right objects and fit them into the picture precisely, then they tell their own story all by themselves.” Bernd and Hilla Becher

  • Artist Biography

    Bernd and Hilla Becher

    German • Bernd 1931-2007 - Hilla 1934-2015

    Husband and wife Bernd and Hilla Becher began photographing buildings and relics of the Industrial Revolution, such as coal mines and cooling towers, in 1959. Like objective scientists removing a specimen from the field, the Bechers framed their subject in a manner that isolated it from its environment. Often, these stark, beautifully detailed prints were then displayed in grid-like structures, forming stunning 'Typologies'.

    By the time Bernd Becher became a professor at the Düsseldorf Art Academy in 1976 (policy would not allow Hilla to be a simultaneous appointment), the Bechers' photographs, with their seemingly neutral point of view and serial display, were already being applauded by the international art world as important works of Minimal and Conceptual Art.

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132

Water Towers H

i) signed, titled and dated "WATER TOWERS H 1988 Bernhard Becher Hilla Becher" and inscribed with a diagram on the reverse
i) - ix) each numbered consecutively on the reverse

vintage gelatin silver prints, in 9 parts
i) - viii) 16 x 12 in. (40.6 x 30.5 cm.)
ix) 16 x 11 1/4 in. (40.6 x 28.6 cm.)

Executed in 1988.

This work is recorded with the inventory number BHB-00090 (9) by Sonnabend Gallery, New York.

Estimate
$80,000 - 120,000 

Sold for $156,250

Contact Specialist
John McCord
Head of Day Sale
New York
+1 212 940 1261

20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale

New York Auction 17 November 2016