TooMuchGreen

We finally made it to MOMA and what a total treat it turned out to be. I had no idea they were hosting a major exhibition by two of my favourite (and personally influential) photographers – Bernd and Hilda Becher, I was almost speechless with excitement when I discovered the gallery and it was for me undoubtedly worth the $20 entry fee just for that exhibition alone, I wouldn’t have dicked about trying to get in for nothing on the free admission Friday sessions had I known (the queue put me off – it was down the street and round the block…!)

For those unfamiliar with the Bechers iconic and pioneering method here’s a brief overview of their work and this related exhibition by Peter Galassi, MOMA’s Chief Curator of Photography -

“The German artists Bernd and Hilla Becher, who began working together in 1959 and married in 1961, are best known for their “typologies”—grids of black-and-white photographs of variant examples of a single type of industrial structure. To create these works, the artists traveled to large mines and steel mills, and systematically photographed the major structures, such as the winding towers that haul coal and iron ore to the surface and the blast furnaces that transform the ore into metal. The rigorous frontality of the individual images gives them the simplicity of diagrams, while their density of detail offers encyclopedic richness. At each site the Bechers also created overall landscape views of the entire plant, which set the structures in their context and show how they relate to each other. The typologies emulate the clarity of an engineer’s drawing, while the landscapes evoke the experience of a particular place. The exhibition presents these two formats together; because they lie at the polar extremes of photographic description, each underscores the creative potential of the other.”

I was so bowled over I immediately ordered the book as soon as I came back to the apartment.

Bernd Becher taught at the Düsseldorf Art Academy and influenced students that later made a name for themselves in the photography industry. Former students of Bernd’s included Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff, and Candida Höfer. Andreas Gursky is another of my personal icons and interestingly holds the record for the highest price paid at auction for a single photographic image. His print 99 Cent II, Diptych, sold for GBP 1.7 million (USD $3.3 million), quite something…!

The exhibition runs until August 25th (six days left..!), I’d most definitely recommend checking it out if you have time.