CBS Sunday Morning (March 26, 2023) – To photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher, the rapidly vanishing industrial architecture of Western Europe and North America were works of art. The German couple’s documentary images of transmission towers, gas tanks, blast furnaces and smokestacks – structures that signified the end of an industrial era – are being celebrated in a comprehensive retrospective now at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Lee Cowan offers us a tour.

Bernd & Hilla Becher

December 17, 2022–April 2, 2023

The renowned German artists Bernd and Hilla Becher (1931–2007; 1934–2015) changed the course of late twentieth-century photography. Working as a rare artist couple, they focused on a single subject: the disappearing industrial architecture of Western Europe and North America that fueled the modern era.

Their seemingly objective style recalled nineteenth- and early twentieth-century precedents but also resonated with the serial approach of contemporary Minimalism and Conceptual art. Equally significant, it challenged the perceived gap between documentary and fine art photography.

Exhibition Preview

Bernd and Hilla Becher, Framework House, Auf der Hütte 45, Gosenbach, Siegen, Germany, 1961; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, purchase, Vital Projects Fund Inc. gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, Denise and Andrew Saul Fund, Louis V. Bell, Harris Brisbane Dick, Fletcher, and Rogers Funds and Joseph Pulitzer bequest, and Jade Lau gift, 2018 (2018.463); © Estate Bernd & Hilla Becher, represented by Max Becher

Bernd and Hilla Becher, Fördertürme, Belgien, Frankreich (Winding Towers, Belgium, France), 1967-1988; The Doris and Donald Fisher Collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; © Estate of Bernd and Hilla Becher; photo: Don Ross

Bernd and Hilla Becher, Water Towers (Germany, France, Belgium, United States, and Great Britain), 1963–80; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Warner Communications Inc. Purchase Fund, 1980 (1980.1074a–p); © Estate Bernd & Hilla Becher, represented by Max Becher

Bernd and Hilla Becher, Zeche Hannover, Bochum-Hordel, Ruhr Region, Germany, 1973; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, purchase, Vital Projects Fund Inc. gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2011 (2011.67); © Estate Bernd & Hilla Becher, represented by Max Becher

Kilian Schönberger – I’m a professional photographer & geographer from Germany; born in 1985. My aspiration was always to cut my path as a photographer with an own creative perspective – despite beeing colourblind. I recognized that I could turn this so-called disadvantage into a strength, too and developed my own unique photographic view: E.g. while getting a picture of a chaotic forest scene, I can’t clearly distinguish the different green and brown tones. Brushing aside this “handicap” I don’t care about those tones and just concentrate on the patterns of the wood to achieve an impressive image structure. Currently I have two residences: One in Cologne and one near Ratisbona in Bavaria. My photographic work concerns the whole range of topics from natural landscapes to cityscapes. Remote rural areas are photographically as interesting as the lifestyle and architecture of urban melting pots. Both worlds fascinate me and so I try to capture my individual view of these changing and challenging environments. For landscape photography I prefer temperate and high latitudes and alpine landscapes. I like the harsh beauty of those areas and the peculiar melancholy that surrounds them. Regions which I am interested in are Norway, Iceland, the Alps, Scotland, the Pacific Northwest, Saxon Switzerland, Kamchatka, Patagonia, New Zealand, the Altai Mountains, Canada and Siberia. After a dozen years in the Rhineland (Bonn & Cologne) I’ve moved to the Bavarian Alps close to Lake Chiemsee in 2021. So large parts of the Alps like the Dolomites, but also my home region in Eastern Bavaria is easier to reach for me now.