Basic Forms of Industrial Buildings [Hardcover]

Bernd Becher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 25, 2005

Bernd and Hilla Becher are among those rare artists whose work is part of widely differing collections all over the world. In the visual arts, they have ranked since the 1960s alongside major figures in minimal and conceptual art such as Carl Andre, Donald Judd, Robert Smithson and Sol LeWitt. In the history of photography, their work is mentioned in the same breath as Eugene Atget, Walker Evans, Karl Blossfeldt and August Sander, with whom the Bechers share a passion for the documentary and narrative qualities of the medium. Culturally, their brilliant black and white photographs of industrial buildings are rooted in the history of architecture and engineering, where their work provided an early research tool and resource for industrial archaeologists seeking to broaden the scope of architectural conservation. With their photographs of water towers and winding towers, blast furnaces, silos and gas tanks, over sixty of which are reproduced in this book, Bernd and Hilla Becher set new standards in perceptual aesthetics, presenting heavy industry as an object of art. Rendered timeless by the camera and isolated from their original, often perplexingly complex surroundings, they appear as monumental symbols of their own history - with all the stylistic diversity of the great masterpieces of architecture.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Susanne Lange is an art historian and critic. Among her other books are August Sander, Degrees of Stillness: Photographs from the Manfred Heiting Collection and Rosalind Solomon: Chapalingas.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson (April 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500542996
• ISBN-13: 978-0500542996
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #609,347 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Great Photographic Chroniclers of the Rust Belt, March 27, 2006

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Marco Antonio Abarca (Colorado) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Basic Forms of Industrial Buildings (Hardcover)

Bernd and Hilla Becher have spent the past 45 years travelling the rust belts of Northern Europe and the United States taking photographs of decaying industrial buildings. "Basic Forms of Industrial Buildings" brings together 61 black and white photographs that chronicle the different forms of such common place buildings as water towers, coal bins, gravel plants and blast furnaces. Their approach is to find an interesting building and photograph it straight on without distractions such as people or even clouds. While these images are essentially cold and hyper-analytic they nevertheless open the viewers eyes to the sculptural possibilities of even the ugliest industrial buildings. I found the Becher's photographs to be wonderful contrasts to that other great chronicler of urban American decay, Jose Camilo Vergara. An interesting and thought provoking book.