Mason's Workshop

1952
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
Completed when Bernd Becher was about twenty-one years old, this accomplished lithograph is believed to be the earliest surviving composition by the artist. The individual elements are simply but effectively delineated and include a worker’s clothing, a drop cloth, crude scaffolding, and a large steel float for plastering walls and floors. The interior view evokes the scene at the beginning or end of a typical workday without depicting the laborer or the labor itself.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Mason's Workshop
  • Artist: Bernd Becher (German, 1931–2007)
  • Date: 1952
  • Medium: Lithograph
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 16 7/16 × 23 9/16 in. (41.8 × 59.9 cm)
    Frame: 24 5/8 × 30 1/2 in. (62.5 × 77.5 cm)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Estate Bernd & Hilla Becher, represented by Max Becher, courtesy Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur—Bernd & Hilla Becher Archive, Cologne.
  • Rights and Reproduction: © Estate Bernd & Hilla Becher, represented by Max Becher, courtesy Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur—Bernd & Hilla Becher Archive, Cologne.
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs