Bernd Becher 1931- 2007
Bernd Becher, who spent his life meticulously documenting post-industrial landscapes in in Germany and other areas in Europe and the United States with wife Hilla, has died on 22 June 2007 in Rostock, Germany.
They were fascinated by the similar shapes in which certain buildings were designed. In addition, they were intrigued by the fact that so many of these industrial buildings seemed to have been built with a great deal of attention toward design. Together, the Bechers went out with a large format camera and photographed these buildings from a number of different angles, but always with a straightforward "objective" point of view. The images of structures with similar functions were then displayed side by side to invite viewers to compare their forms and designs. These structures included barns, water towers, storage silos, and warehouses.
Books
Anonymous Sculptures: A Typology of Technical Construction, 1970.
Water Towers, 1988.
Blast Furnaces, 1990.
Gas Tanks, 1993.
Industrial Facades, 1995.
Mineheads, 1997.
Framework Houses, 2001.
Industrial Landscapes, 2002.
Basic Forms of Industrial Buildings, 2004. ISBN 3-8296-0150-6.
Typologies, 2004. ISBN 0-262-02565-5.
Cooling Towers, 2006.
Grain Elevators, 2006.
Biography
Susanne, Lange (2006). Bernd and Hilla Becher: Life and Work. The MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-12286-3.