About the Artwork
German couple Bernd and Hilla Becher, who worked collaboratively beginning in 1959, were fascinated by industrial forms, traveling to sites throughout Europe and North America to photograph them. They sought similar structures in different cities, obtained permission to photograph them, and then waited for overcast skies so their subjects appeared against a neutral backdrop that stripped away the surroundings to reveal their austere forms. The photographers took each image from the same vantage point, ensuring the uniformity of their imagery, and then arranged the photographs of similar subjects in grids. The spheres pictured here are massive storage containers that hold various types of gases.
Gasbehalter Kugel (Spherical Gas Tanks)
2013
Bernd (Bernhard) Becher (Artist) German,1931-2007 Hilla Becher (Artist) German, 1934-2015
Gelatin silver prints
Block: 68 1/8 × 56 3/4 inches (173 × 144.1 cm)
Photographs
Prints, Drawings & Photographs
Museum Purchase, W. Hawkins Ferry Fund
2013.70
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Provenance
2013-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)For more information on provenance, please visit:
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Bernd (Bernhard) Becher; Hilla Becher, Gasbehalter Kugel (Spherical Gas Tanks), 2013, gelatin silver prints. Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum Purchase, W. Hawkins Ferry Fund, 2013.70.
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