Pitheads–Perspective Views
<p>For over 50 years, Bernd and Hilla Becher collaboratively photographed industrial structures throughout Europe and the United States. The artists came to consider the buildings “anonymous sculptures,” and they grouped them according to type or function—in this case, pithead towers above mine shafts. The images are presented in a grid, to emphasize both formal differences and overall sameness. Although the Bechers were greatly influenced by the reductive, serial formats common in Minimalist and Conceptual Art of the 1960s, Hilla once explained, “Our idea of showing the material has much more to do with the 19th century, with the encyclopedic approach used in botany or zoology, where . . . species are compared with one another on the individual pages of the lexicon.”</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 1981
- Dimensions
- 50.8 × 40.6 cm (20 × 16 in.); Installed: 152.4 × 203.2 cm (60 × 80 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Bernd and Hilla Becher
Artist
Photography
Bernd (1931-2007) and Hilla (1934-2015) Becher were a visionary German artist couple, known for their distinctive collaboration that reshaped contemporary photography. They systematically captured images of the changing industrial landscape across Europe and America, focusing on structures being phased out of use, from water towers to coal bunkers. Their objective and conceptual approach highlighted the functional beauty and architectural nuances of these edifices, classifying them by type and location. This 'typological' method and presentation is signature to the Bechers, merging art, architecture, and cultural archaeology. They continued their rigorous, analytical work at the Düsseldorf School of Photography, where they influenced a generation of artists such as Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff, Candida Höfer, and Thomas Struth.
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More by Bernd and Hilla Becher
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- Bernd and Hilla Becher
- Year
- 1981
- Dimensions
- 50.8 × 40.6 cm (20 × 16 in.); Installed: 152.4 × 203.2 cm (60 × 80 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-1981-144488
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified