1980–1990s: The Dusseldorf School

Bernd and Hilla Becher turned industrial structures into one of the central subjects of postwar conceptual photography.

Sebastiao Salgado moved from economics to photography because he felt that numbers and reports could not convey human suffering with the force that images might.

Jeff Wall turned photography toward large-scale staged images that behave like encounters with cinema, painting, and urban modernity all at once.

Martin Parr changed documentary photography by bringing saturated color, electronic flash, and intrusive closeness into the depiction of ordinary British life.

Nan Goldin made intimacy itself into photographic method.

Born in Leipzig in 1955, Andreas Gursky grew up in a family of photographers, studied first with Otto Steinert at the Folkwang School, and then with Bernd Becher at the Dusseldorf Academy.

Austrian-born photographer and artist, born in 1960 in Salzburg and long based in Brussels.

Swedish artist born in 1962, working across film, photography, sculpture, installation, and text.

Swedish artist and photographer born in 1967 in Gothenburg.

German photographer born in 1970 in Mainz.

French photographer born in 1968.

British artist born in 1971, based in London, working across print, digital media, collage, video, and text-based image practices.

Swiss/German photographer who has lived and worked across Zürich, Paris, London, New York, Los Angeles, and Austin.

Belgian photographer born in 1958 in Eeklo, based in Ghent.

Finnish photographer and video artist born in 1972 in Helsinki.

German photographer born in 1973 in Stuttgart, later based between Los Angeles and Cologne.

Dutch photographer and artist born in 1964 in Delft, based in Rotterdam.

Artist and photographer with Mexican background, trained in Zurich and later working in Geneva and internationally.

Hungarian-born photographer and artist, born in 1962, living and working in the Netherlands.

German photographer born in 1962.

Romanian artist, architect, and photographer born in 1957 in Timișoara.

French photographer born in 1946, working closely with birds and their habitats over several decades.

French artist born in Paris in 1968, working with photography, video, and performance.

Japanese photographer born in 1957, originally trained in sculpture and later active as a photographer and educator.

Czech-born photographer, born in 1958, who left Czechoslovakia in 1982 and later settled in Essen, Germany.

Danish artist born in 1962, working with photography, film, sound, and installation.

British photographer born in 1959.

American photographer born in 1969 in Warsaw, New York.

Dutch artist and photographer born in 1970, based in Amsterdam.

Japanese photographer born in 1965.

Italian artist born in 1969 in Como, working primarily with photography and occasionally film.

French and British artist born in 1969, working across film, photography, installation, and artist books.

Dutch photographer born in 1967 in Leeuwarden.

German photographer associated with staged photography since the early 1990s.

German photographer born in 1963, known internationally for extremely long exposure photographs.

Japanese photographer born in 1958 in Rikuzentakata, Iwate.

Japanese photographer, writer on photography, and editor born in 1936.

Italian photographer and artist born in 1954 in Carpi.

British photographer born in 1956, later based in the United States.

Finnish photographer born in 1965, associated with the Helsinki School.

German artist born in 1968, working with photography, found images, artist books, and archival systems.

American photographer born in 1951 in Hartford, Connecticut.

German photographer born in 1972 in Dresden.

Japanese photographer born in 1972 in Shiga Prefecture.

Brazilian artist born in 1962, working with photography, found images, archives, books, and installation.

German-born, London-based photographer born in 1967.

Finnish photographer born in 1974.

American artist born in 1947, working in photography, sculpture, painting, and appropriation-based conceptual practice.

Iranian-born artist and photographer born in 1974 in Tehran, later based in Zurich.

Nigerian-born British photographer born in 1963; his own CV lists him as living in Hove and Kabul and identifies him as a landscape photographer concerned with expanding the meaning of the “battlefield.

French artist born in 1953, working across photography, text, installation, and performative investigation.

British artist born in 1965, working across film, photography, drawing, and writing.

Japanese photographer born in 1962 in Tokyo.

Japanese photographer born in 1972 in Shiga and based in Tokyo.

German photographer born in 1958, associated with the Düsseldorf school and a former student of Bernd and Hilla Becher.

Norwegian photographer born in 1970.

Chinese artist born in 1966, originally trained as a painter and later becoming widely known for staged large-scale photography.

Spanish photographer born in Barcelona in 1960, with studies in social anthropology and documentary photography.

Chinese artist born in 1971, working across film, video, photography, installation, and painting.

Japanese artist born in 1951 in Osaka, working across photography, self-portraiture, performance, and appropriation-based installation.

Polish artist born in 1959, working across photography, film, installation, and objects.

South African photographer and painter born in 1960 in Durban.