Hilla Becher facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Hilla Becher
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Hilla Becher, 2013
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| Born |
Hilla Wobeser
2 September 1934 Potsdam, Germany
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| Died | 10 October 2015 (aged 81) Düsseldorf, Germany
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| Education | Vocational School |
| Known for | Conceptual Photography |
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Notable work
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Framework Houses |
| Movement | Typographic |
| Spouse(s) | Bernd Becher |
Hilla Becher (née Wobeser; 2 September 1934 – 10 October 2015) was a German photographer. She was famous for her industrial photographs, which she called "typologies." She created these with her husband and longtime partner, Bernd Becher. Hilla's career lasted over 50 years. She took photos in many countries, including the United States, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
Hilla and Bernd Becher won important awards like the Erasmus Prize and the Hasselblad Award. They also started the Düsseldorf School of Photography in the mid-1970s. This school taught many famous photographers. Hilla Becher passed away in 2015 at age 81 in Düsseldorf.
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Early Life and Photography
Hilla Becher was born in Potsdam, East Germany. Her mother had studied photography and sometimes worked retouching photos. This meant Hilla grew up around cameras and pictures. She started taking photos at just 13 years old with a special plate-camera. She even photographed her high school teachers and sold them postcard-sized prints.
In 1951, Hilla became an intern for Walter Eichgrun, a professional photographer. At the same time, she studied photography at a special school in Berlin. After three years, she moved to West Germany in 1954 and worked as a freelance photographer. In 1957, she got a job in Düsseldorf as an advertising photographer. Around 1958, she joined the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf to study graphic design. She was the first student accepted there based only on her photographs. She also became the main instructor in the darkroom.
Working with Bernd Becher
In 1957, Hilla met Bernhard Becher, known as Bernd, at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. They both studied there. They started working together, photographing industrial buildings in the Siegerland region where Bernd grew up. Two years later, in 1961, they got married. The Bechers traveled in a Volkswagen, taking pictures of industrial sites. They visited Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and later, Britain and the United States.
Hilla Becher once said that her husband, Bernd, didn't like photography much at first. He was a sketch artist and thought photos were just a way to get more details for his drawings. Hilla said that even though they worked as a team, Bernd was often the leader because he was more of a perfectionist.
Bernd Becher passed away in 2007 at age 75. By then, their work was known and admired worldwide. They inspired many other photographers, like Stephen Shore. Their influence also came from their teaching roles at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Some of their famous students included Candida Höfer, Andreas Gursky, and Thomas Ruff. Hilla and Bernd had one son, Max Becher, who also became a photographer.
Their Unique Photography Style
The Bechers' main project was photographing industrial structures. These included water towers, blast furnaces, gas tanks, mine heads, and grain elevators. They started this project in the late 1950s. They wanted to show these buildings in a clear, direct way.
The Bechers often said their goal was to create "families of objects." This meant they would group similar buildings together in their photos. For example, they would photograph many different water towers. When you looked at these groups of photos, you could see how the buildings were alike and how they were different. They believed that seeing these images together told a story.
Hilla and Bernd Becher wanted viewers to focus on the buildings themselves. They photographed each structure without distractions around it. They explained that they wanted to offer a "grammar" to understand and compare different structures. They aimed to arrange these shapes through photography to make them easy to compare. To do this, they removed the objects from their usual surroundings.
Hilla helped start and organize the Photography department at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. She used a large 8x10 camera and developed her photo negatives by hand. Over 50 years, the Bechers developed a very recognizable style. Hilla and Bernd sometimes had different ideas about how to photograph their subjects. Hilla wanted to include the surroundings, while Bernd preferred to focus only on the building itself.
The Bechers' photographs are like studies of industrial buildings and landscapes. The way they composed their photos made viewers really look at the structure. They took their pictures on cloudy days, usually in the early morning. This helped remove shadows and show as many details as possible. When their photos were shown in galleries, they were often grouped in a grid pattern by subject.
Famous Works
- Framework Houses, 1959–1973
- Water Towers, 1963–1993
- Fforchaman Colliery, Rhondda Valley, South Wales, United Kingdom, 1966
- Winding Towers, 1966–1997
- Knutange, Lorraine, France, 1971
- Hanover Mine 1/2/5, Bochum-Hordel, Ruhr Region..., 1973
- Coal Mine, Bear Valley, Schuylkill County... 1974
- Consolidation Mine, Gelsenkirchen, Ruhr Region
- Coal Tipple, Goodspring, Pennsylvania, 1975
- Water Towers, 1988
Legacy and Impact
After World War II, Germany was changing. The Bechers' photography helped show this change. They captured the look of the "Machine Age," when industry was growing fast. Their photos showed how Germany was becoming more industrialized.
The Bechers' work was special because they photographed these big industrial buildings in a very direct way. They didn't try to make them look better or worse. They wanted to show them exactly as they were. This approach helped define Germany's industrial history without adding any political ideas. Their work is often seen as a continuous project, where each photo is part of a larger story.
Awards and Recognition
- 1966: Received a British Council grant to photograph mines in Nottinghamshire and south Wales.
- 2002: Awarded the Erasmus Prize from the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation in the Netherlands. This award recognized their important contributions to the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.
- 2014: Hilla Becher received the Großer Kulturpreis.
See also
- List of German women artists
