Industrious photographers

We are not talking some kind of supercool art deco photography, where the pipes and flues and steel I-beams are transformed into geometric abstractions of great energy and diagonal verve, but straight-on, middle-of-the-frame, precisely half-toned shots of gas tanks, winding towers, etc., often arranged in groups of nine or a dozen, each shot taken at a different factory in a different region around the world.

They are photographs an engineer might take, or possibly a munitions director, since they focus on steel plants and their attendant industries. But the Bechers' "Typologies" have become icons of contemporary art, helped along from the couple's perch at the Dusseldorf State Art Academy, where the husband-and-wife team worked and Bernd taught for nearly 50 years. Over that time they trained many of the best-known, often large-format contemporary German photographers, like Thomas Struth (famous for his mural-sized shots of tourists in art museums) and Andreas Gursky (celebrated for his gleaming, billboard-sized color photos of prismatically stocked supermarkets and over-the-top modern architecture).


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