Acquired directly from the artist, circa 1968
Sotheby's, London, Contemporary Art, Evening, 23 June 2004, lot 18
B. and H. Becher, Anonyme Skulpturen: Eine Typologie Technischer Bauten, Art Press, 1970, pp. 23, 44, 58
T. de Duve, Bernd & Hilla Becher: Basic Forms, teNeues, 1999, cover and pl. 8
Bernd & Hilla Becher: Typologien Industrieller Bauten, Schirmer/Mosel, 2003, pls. 20, 23
Bernd & Hilla Becher: Basic Forms of Industrial Buildings, Thames & Hudson, 2005, p. 33
S. Lange, Bernd and Hilla Becher: Life and Work, MIT, 2007, p. 163, pl. 4
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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