Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Photography Centre, Room 101, The Sir Elton John and David Furnish Gallery

Cooling Tower, Zeche Waltrop, Ruhr, West Germany

Photograph
1974 (photographed), 20th century (made), 1975 (published)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Bernhard and Hilla Becher's photographs appear as factual, precise and apparently passive representations of utilitarian structures. The neutral, even bland, quality of their images - always taken on grey days to avoid harsh shadows - suits the industrial subject matter. They have maintained a consistency of style allowing the systematic comparison of building types in photographs often displayed together in grids. When compared with each another, the outlines of the buildings begin to take on a sculptural quality. Despite being treated equally, each structure has strong individual characteristics, revealed by the Becher's approach.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleCooling Tower, Zeche Waltrop, Ruhr, West Germany (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Gelatin-silver print
Brief description
'Cooling Tower, Zeche Waltrop, Ruhr, West Germany'; photograph (gelatin-silver print) by Bernd and Hilda Becher, 1975, West Germany
Physical description
Black and white photograph of a cooling tower.
Dimensions
  • Image height: 39.8cm
  • Image width: 30.1cm
  • Sheet height: 49.9cm
  • Sheet width: 40.3cm
Gallery label
  • Bernhard and Hilla Becher's photographs appear as factual, precise and apparently passive representations of utilitarian structures. The neutral, even bland, quality of their images - always taken on grey days to avoid harsh shadows - suits the industrial subject matter. They have maintained a consistency of style allowing the systematic comparison of building types in photographs often displayed together in grids. When compared with each another, the outlines of the buildings begin to take on a sculptural quality. Despite being treated equally, each structure has strong individual characteristics, revealed by the Becher's approach.(22/09/2004)
  • Bernd and Hilla Becher collaborated for over 40 years, first working together in 1959. Their systematic photography of industrial architecture brought them recognition as conceptual artists as well as photographers. With a deliberately impersonal style, they catalogued and compared the functional yet sculptural forms of steel mills and mines. The Bechers devised a system of ‘typologies’, arranging particular types of buildings in grids. They used a 10 x 8 inch large format camera to obtain detail and worked on overcast days to avoid shadows. The technical precision and serial approach of the Bechers has influenced some of the most well known fine art photographers today, including Thomas Struth, Thomas Ruff and Andreas Gursky, who were taught by them at the Düsseldorf Academy.(21/11/2012)
Object history
This is the first of a portfolio of 14 prints: “Industrial Buildings” published by Schirmer/Mosel, Munich, 1975, in association with Ilea Sonnabend. Edition of 50, the photographs were printed by the artists and mounted on white card.
Subject depicted
Places depicted
Associations
Summary
Bernhard and Hilla Becher's photographs appear as factual, precise and apparently passive representations of utilitarian structures. The neutral, even bland, quality of their images - always taken on grey days to avoid harsh shadows - suits the industrial subject matter. They have maintained a consistency of style allowing the systematic comparison of building types in photographs often displayed together in grids. When compared with each another, the outlines of the buildings begin to take on a sculptural quality. Despite being treated equally, each structure has strong individual characteristics, revealed by the Becher's approach.
Bibliographic reference
Taken from Departmental Circulation Register 1975
Collection
Accession number
CIRC.650-1975

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Record createdJune 6, 2005
Record URL
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