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Bernd & Hilla Becher were German conceptual artists and photographers working as a duo.
In 1957 they started photographing disappearing industrial architecture and became fascinated by the design details of the likes of cooling towers, gas tanks and coal bunkers. They only photographed on overcast days to avoid shadows, always in the early in the morning, only during spring and fall and always using a consistent, straightforward point of view.
They exhibited their prints grouped by subject, in a grid, leading the viewer’s eye to focus on the basic structural pattern of the objects, with no distraction from their unique (yet similar) design.
They founded what has come to be known as the ‘Becher school’ influencing generations of documentary photographers and artists in their wake.
