Juristische Bibliothek Munchen II
Candida Höfer German
Not on view
A play of light is literalized in Höfer’s photograph of Munich’s main law library. The spiraling forms of brightly illuminated wall sconces rush the gilded staircase and balustrades surrounding three stories of legal tomes, while the more modest goosenecks and pendant lights fade in response. Like Höfer’s other photographs of empty public spaces, this image partially betrays the influence of Bernd and Hilla Becher, with whom she studied at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf, Germany. Even more relevant, however, is the photographer’s early work with slide shows and projected images, spectacles of light and dark that become physically manifest in the library’s atmospheric, architectural ballet.
