Bernd and Hilla Becher - Photographs New York Wednesday, October 11, 2023 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, 1993

  • Literature

    MIT Press, Water Towers, pl. 167 (variant)

  • 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.

    View More Works

Photographs from a Prominent New York Collection

124

Water Tower, Maisoncelles, Seine-et-Marne, France

1972
Gelatin silver print.
23 1/2 x 20 in. (59.7 x 50.8 cm)
Signed, titled, dated, and numbered 3/5 in pencil on the verso.

Estimate
$12,000 - 18,000 

Sold for $13,970

Contact Specialist

Sarah Krueger
Head of Department, Photographs
skrueger@phillips.com

 

Vanessa Hallett
Worldwide Head of Photographs and Chairwoman, Americas
vhallett@phillips.com

Photographs

New York Auction 11 October 2023