Bernd & Hilla Becher is a key figure for understanding the history of photography around Typological Photography and Conceptual Art. This page follows the photographer's place in photography history through Typological Photography and Conceptual Art, related photographers, movements, and sources.
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Bernd and Hilla Becher turned industrial structures into one of the central subjects of postwar conceptual photography*1. By photographing water towers, furnaces, gas tanks, and winding towers under strict conditions of frontal view, overcast light, and consistent scale, they developed the typological grid as a visual method*2. Their work shifted attention from the individuality of a single building to the differences within a class of forms, which is why it was often understood as a kind of anonymous sculpture. As teachers in Dusseldorf, they shaped a generation that included Gursky, Struth, Ruff, and Hofer*3. The Bechers remain crucial both as artists and as preservers of industrial memory*4.
The starting point for typology and the Dusseldorf School.
A related photobook that follows the same photographer through a different edit or perspective.
A search link for related photobooks and other available editions.