German
Basic data
The well-known German artist couple Bernd and Hilla Becher founded the Dusseldorf School of Photography and are today among the most important photographers in post-war history.
- Born: 20 August 1931; 2 September 1934
- Place of birth: Siegen, North Rhine-Westphalia; Potsdam, Brandenburg
- Died on: 22 June 2007; 10 October 2015
- Nationality: German
- Studied at: State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
- Teachers: Karl Rössing
- Similar artists: Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Thomas Ruff, Thomas Demand
- Era: modern art
Characteristic of their work is the concept of systematically compiling individual photographs of the same industrial building types in the form of tableaus, which not only allow a comparative view, but also fuse aesthetic empiricism with scientific systematics.
Artworks by Bernd and Hilla Becher
You would like to buy artworks and original limited photo editions of the artist couple Bernd and Hilla Becher? At the moment we can offer you a photo edition for sale in our online gallery. If you are interested in further works, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Currently we can offer you the characteristic photo edition Gasbehälter by Bernd and Hilla Becher for sale. The original Ditone print is in excellent condition and was published in a limited edition of 40 copies in 2009. On view are three times five black-and-white photographs of various gasometers, which the Düsseldorf artist couple arranged in tableaus on the image carrier in a matter-of-factly neutral manner, following their unique pictorial concept.
Today, it is impossible to imagine renowned international museums and collections without Bernd and Hilla Becher's artworks and editions. As founders of the Düsseldorf Photo School, their photographs of industrial buildings and half-timbered houses are among the icons of German art history.
Biography
Bernhard "Bernd" Becher was born in Siegen in 1931 and Hilla Becher, née Wobeser, in Potsdam in 1934. Both met at the end of the 1950s at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. After initially working as independent photographers, they decided to take photographs together. In 1961, the couple married.
As an artist duo, they developed new innovative approaches to photography and are considered the founders of the so-called "Becher"- or "Düsseldorfer Photoschule." In terms of motifs, their works featured black-and-white shots of industrial buildings such as factory halls or winding towers, which can be understood as historical documentation of a declining building culture. Characteristic is also the serial context in which they combined the images into typologies in order to show forms, deviations and similarities. Even though their works were in this respect located in the context of Minimal Art and Conceptual Art, the Bechers understood their works as a continuation of New Objectivity.
Their joint work was shown in exhibitions at numerous renowned galleries and museums worldwide. After the death of Bernd Becher in Rostock in 2007, Hilla Becher continued the work alone. In 2015, the artist passed away in Düsseldorf.
Exhibitions
Current exhibitions
- 19.03.2023 - 20.08.2023 Landscapes - Florenz & Istanbul - Museum Schloss Moyland, Bedburg-Hau.
- 10.03.2023 - 18.06.2023 Deep Horizons with Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art - The David Roberts Art Foundation, London.
- 17.12.2022 - 02.04.2023 Bernd & Hilla Becher - San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco.
Past exhibitions
- 17.12.2022 - 02.04.2023 Bernd & Hilla Becher - San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco.
- 26.06.2021 - 26.09.2021 MODERNE ZEITEN. INDUSTRIE IM BLICK VON MALEREI UND FOTOGRAFIE - Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg.
- 19.06.2021 - 03.10.2021 MIRRORS AND WINDOWS - Sammlung PHILARA, Düsseldorf.
- 12.03.2021 - 08.08.2021 Von Becker bis Blume - SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne.
- 12.01.2021 - 27.02.2021 Multiples, Inc., 1965-1992 – Marian Goodman Gallery, New York, USA.
- 01.10.2020 - 31.10.2020 European Month of Photography 2020 - EMOP European Month of Photography Berlin.
- 20.03.2020 - 14.06.2020 SUBJEKT und OBJEKT. FOTO RHEIN RUHR - Kunsthalle Düsseldorf.
- 13.03.2020 - 08.05.2020 düsseldorf photo+ 2020 - Düsseldorf.
- 25.05.2019 - 01.03.2020 gestalten - ein Jahrhundert abstrakte Kunst im Westen - Kunsthaus NRW Kornelimünster, Aachen.
- 14.10.2019 - 06.01.2019 Picture Industry: A Provisional History of the Technical Image, 1844–2018 - LUMA Foundation, Arles.
- 04.05.2018 - 16.09.2018 Bernd und Hilla Becher. Bergwerke - Josef Albers Museum, Bottrop.
- 13.05.2018 - 25.06.2017 Passages in Modern Art: 1946 – 1996 - Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas.
- 22.01.2018 - 13.08.2017 Primary Structures - Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt/Main.
- 13.06.2016 - 03.07.2016 Der typologische Blick. Ausstellung für Hilla Becher - Die Photographische Sammlung / SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne.
- 05.02.2016 - 26.03.2016 New York Topographics: Bernd and Hilla Becher, Nicholas Nixon, Thomas Struth - Senior & Shopmaker Gallery, New York.
- 27.10.2015 - 14.02.2016 Camera of Wonders - Centro de la Imagen, Mexico City.
- 25.09.2014 - 11.01.2015 Constructing Worlds: Photography and Architecture in the Modern Age - Barbican Centre, London.
- 22.07.2014 - 18.10.2014 Bernd & Hilla Becher. Photographs, Portfolios, Books - Schirmer / Mosel, Munich.
- 25.10.2013 - 27.04.2014 Foto Europa. 1850 to the Present - Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit.
- 29.09.2013 - 01.12.2014 4th Athens Biennale - Athens Biennale, Athens.
Awards
- 2014: Grand Cultural Award of the Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Rheinland.
- 2004: Award Winner Kultursalon Dusseldorf.
- 2004: Hasselblad Award, Göteborg.
- 2002: Erasmusprize, Praemium Erasmianum, Amsterdam.
- 2001: State Prize of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
- 1994: Goslarer Kaiserring.
- 1990: Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale.
- 1985: Cultural Award of the German Society for Photography.
- 1980: Konrad-von-Soest-Prize.
Films
- Die Fotografen Bernd und Hilla Becher. Documentation by Marianne Kapfer, 90min, Germany 2009.
- Man muss sich beeilen, alles verschwindet – Leben und Werk von Bernd und Hilla Becher, Documentation by Marianne Kapfer, 60min, Germany, France, England 2006.
- Hilla und Bernd Becher / Thomas Struth, Documentation by Jean-Pierre Krief, 30min, France 2002.
Literature
-
Bernd & Hilla Becher. Grundformen, Thierry de Duve, Munich 2020.
- Typologien industrieller Bauten. Bernd & Hilla Becher, picture book, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Munich 2017.
- Bernd & Hilla Becher im Gespräch: zwei Interviews, Lothar Schirmer (Publ.), Munich 2016.
- Basic forms = Grundformen. Bernd & Hilla Becher, picture book, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Munich 2014.
- Bernd und Hilla Becher - Fachwerkhäuser, Martina Dobbe, Berlin 2013.
- Steinwerke und Kalköfen. Bernd & Hilla Becher, picture book, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Munich 2012.
- Bergwerke und Hütten. Bernd & Hilla Becher, picture book, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Munich 2010.
- Ruhrblicke. Bernd & Hilla Becher, exhibition catalog, Thomas Weski & Heike Kramer (Publ.), Cologne 2010.
- Zeche Hannover. Bernd & Hilla Becher, exhibition catalog, SK Stiftung Kultur. Photographische Sammlung (Publ.), Munich 2010.
- Getreidesilos. Bernd & Hilla Becher, picture book, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Munich 2006.
- Kühltürme. Bernd & Hilla Becher, picture book, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Munich 2005.
- Was wir tun, ist letztlich Geschichten erzählen...Bernd und Hilla Becher. Eine Einführung in Leben und Werk, Susanne Lange, Munich 2005.
Collections
Australia
- Melbourne - National Gallery of Victoria
Germany
- Aachen - Ludwig Forum
- Baden-Baden - Museum Frieder Burda
- Berlin - Hamburger Bahnhof
- Bonn - Kunstmuseum Bonn
- Essen - Museum Folkwang
- Hamburg - Hamburger Kunsthalle
- Hanover - Sprengel Museum
France
- Bordeaux - Contemporary Art Museum (CAPC)
Japan
Austria
- Vienna - Museum Moderner Kunst MUMOK
Switzerland
- Basel - Kunstmuseum Basel
- Zurich - Kunsthaus Zürich
Spain
- Barcelona - Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA)
- Valencia - Institut Valencià d’Art Modern (IVAM)
USA
- Chicago - Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA)
- Los Angeles - Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
- Los Angeles - The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA)
- Milwaukee - Milwaukee Art Museum
Weblinks
- Bernd and Hilla Becher Kunstaspekte Exhibition and collection overview.
