Becher, Bernd & Becher, Hilla
München
Schirmer/Mosel
2002
Limited edition (with print)
s. p.
cb. in dustjacket, slipcased
180 duotone plates
Buch
Out-of-print (sold out prior to publication). Very scarce. First edition (German), first printing. Limited slipcased edition of 100 hand-numbered copies (pasted-on plate on front free endpaper notes edition number, this being # 5/100), with an original b/w gelatin silver print (7 1/8 x 9 3/4), 'Monceau Fontaine No. 18, Charleroi, Belgien, 1975' (print 2002), image size 9 x 6/1/2 inches (numbered and signed in pencil on verso by the Bernd Becher and Hilla Becher, print edition 100) in a separate cloth portfolio with beveled window overmatt for presentation. Both the book and matted photograph (in cloth portfolio) fit inside the larger cloth slipcase. - "Bernd and Hilla Becher have profoundly influenced the international photography world over the past several decades. Their unique genre, which falls somewhere between topological documentation and conceptual art, is in line with the aesthetics of such early-twentieth-century masters of German photography as Karl Blossfeldt, Germaine Krull, Albert Renger-Patzsch, and August Sander. Industrial Landscapes introduces a new aspect to the Bechers' photography, one that will surprise connoisseurs of their work. Whereas their previously published works concentrated on isolated industrial objects, they now show huge industrial sites amid their natural surroundings. They move away from the objective, severe image to present slightly more narrative, interpretive images of the industrial environment as a whole. Although the photographs in Industrial Landscapes were taken over the past forty years, they are published here for the first time. The industrial structures shown include a wide range of coal mines, iron ore mines, steel mills, power stations with cooling towers, lime kilns, grain elevators, and so on. They represent industrial regions in Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and the United States (Alabama, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania). Bernd and Hilla have been working together as photographers since 1959. They have received numerous awards, including the Golden Lion at the 1990 Venice Biennale, the 2002 Erasmus Award [and the 2004 Hasselblad Award]." (Publisher). Interview (in German) with Bernd and Hilla Becher by Susanne Lange.