Bernd and Hilla Becher have profoundly influenced
the international photography world over the past
several decades. Their unique genre, which falls
somewhere between topological documentation and
conceptual art, is in line with the aesthetics of such
early-twentieth-century masters of German photography as
Karl Blossfeldt, Germaine Krull, Albert Renger-Patzsch,
and August Sander.Industrial Landscapes introduces a new
aspect to the Bechers' photography, one that will
surprise connoisseurs of their work. Whereas their
previously published works concentrated on isolated
industrial objects, they now show huge industrial sites
amid their natural surroundings. They move away from the
objective, severe image to present slightly more
narrative, interpretive images of the industrial
environment as a whole. Although the photographs in
Industrial Landscapes were taken over the past forty
years, they are published here for the first time.The
industrial structures shown include a wide range of coal
mines, iron ore mines, steel mills, power stations with
cooling towers, lime kilns, grain elevators, and so on.
They represent industrial regions in Belgium, France,
Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and the United
States (Alabama, Michigan, Ohio, and
Pennsylvania).
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