Four by Four
Hilla & Bernd Becher, "Watertowers, 1967-80."
The German photographers Hilla and Bernd Becher are justifiably famous for serial portraits of aging industrial structures. Like these watertowers, the work can easily be interpreted as commentary on a decrepit system: we see the literal ruins of capitalism’s faith in industrialization and vice versa. The photographs, repetitive and devoid of people, seem to be hymns to a mechanized modern workforce.
But the towers are also beautiful objects in and of themselves, and the Bechers were skillful in showing that. Here the simple composition of columns, towers, cones, and rectangular grid emphasize the classical shapes on display in drawing manuals. One can imagine the pleasure in arranging this grid: four rows and four columns of balanced forms. Perhaps darker, heavier shapes would go toward the perimeter and eye-catching complexity belongs in the middle? I’m not sure what their criteria were, just that the result works. This feels, too, like the natural result of an artistic collaboration, which the married Bechers sustained for decades. There seems to be a sort of discreet optimism here– for equality, for fairness, for humanity. The image demonstrates a cautious faith in art’s ability to salvage the past.
In: photography, still life · Tagged with: Hilla and Bernd Becher, watertowers