Bernd and Hilla Becher - Photographs from the Martin Z. Margulies Foundation Part II New York Wednesday, October 9, 2024 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Sonnabend Gallery, New York, 2001

  • Exhibited

    The Last Picture Show: Artists Using Photography 1960-1982, Miami Art Central, March 4 – June 17, 2005

  • 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

40

Wasserturm, Leipzig, D (water tower)

1998
Gelatin silver print.
24 x 19 3/8 in. (61 x 49.2 cm)
Signed, titled, dated, and numbered 3/5 in pencil on the verso.

Estimate
$10,000 - 15,000 

Sold for $15,240

Contact Specialist

Caroline Deck
Senior Specialist, Photographs
cdeck@phillips.com

 

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

Photographs from the Martin Z. Margulies Foundation Part II

New York Auction 9 October 2024