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An image of Framework houses by Bernd Becher, Hilla Becher An image of Framework houses by Bernd Becher, Hilla Becher An image of Framework houses by Bernd Becher, Hilla Becher An image of Framework houses by Bernd Becher, Hilla Becher An image of Framework houses by Bernd Becher, Hilla Becher An image of Framework houses by Bernd Becher, Hilla Becher An image of Framework houses by Bernd Becher, Hilla Becher An image of Framework houses by Bernd Becher, Hilla Becher An image of Framework houses by Bernd Becher, Hilla Becher An image of Framework houses by Bernd Becher, Hilla Becher An image of Framework houses by Bernd Becher, Hilla Becher An image of Framework houses by Bernd Becher, Hilla Becher An image of Framework houses by Bernd Becher, Hilla Becher An image of Framework houses by Bernd Becher, Hilla Becher An image of Framework houses by Bernd Becher, Hilla Becher An image of Framework houses by Bernd Becher, Hilla Becher

Bernd Becher

(Germany 1931–2007)

Hilla Becher

(Germany 1934– )

Title
Framework houses
Year
1959-1971
printed 2000
Media category
Photograph
Materials used
15 gelatin silver photographs
Dimensions

15 photographs: each 40.0 x 30.5cm sight; 56.5 x 46.5 x 2.8cm frame

Signature & date
Not signed. Not dated.
Credit
John Kaldor Family Collection at the Art Gallery of New South Wales
Accession number
L2011.26.a-o
Copyright
© Bernd and Hilla Becher. Courtesy Sonnabend Gallery
Location
Not on display
Further information

Since 1959 Bernd and Hilla Becher have produced photographs of industrial and domestic architecture. Their ordered images (which they call ‘typologies’) of blast furnaces, cooling towers, silos and workers’ houses record the monuments of a rapidly diminishing industrial era. However, the Bechers were equally driven by aesthetic considerations, with photographs of like objects assembled into groups where precise lighting and tonal density give equivalent weight to each visual element.

The Bechers’ typological practice has been associated with the formal and serial repetition espoused by minimal and conceptual art of the 1960s. Despite these connections, however, their photography has sat largely outside trends in art practice, the artists maintaining a rigorously systematic approach to their chosen subject matter. The Bechers belong to a distinguished tradition of early 20th-century German photography exemplified by the work of August Sander, Albert Renger-Patzsch and Karl Blossfeldt, all of whom contributed in different ways to the definition of ‘objective’ photography.

Bibliography (3)

Wayne Tunnicliffe (New Zealand; Australia) (Editor), John Kaldor Family Collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2011, 220, 222-23 (illus.).

Susanne Lange (Author), Bernd and Hilla Becher: life and work, 2007, 131 (illus.). no.26, illustration of 13 works

Adam Free (Australia) (Author), Journey to now: John Kaldor art projects and collection, Adelaide, 2003, 60.

Exhibition history (1)

Journey to Now: John Kaldor Art Projects and Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia, 18 Apr 2003–06 Jul 2003.