Press Release

The presentation Bernd and Hilla Becher: Basic Formsat the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Center, May 6—September 14, 2008, explores the collaboration between Bernd and Hilla Becher, a husband and wife team, who photographed the industrial architecture of Western Europe for nearly fifty years.

Together, the Bechers created an archive of basic structural forms, recording the heritage of an industrial past. Using a large-format camera, they documented the disappearing industrial architecture of Western Europe with absolute precision. Favoring a typological exploration, the Bechers sequenced their photographs in monographic publications dedicated to specific structural types or arranged them in grids for exhibition.