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Collective Portrait: Objects with Different Functions, Grube Anna, Alsdorf / Aachen
Bernd and Hilla Becher German
Not on view
By the end of the 1960s, the Bechers had already built a fascinating archive of industrial forms that they would continue to enlarge for another forty years. As the collection grew, the conceptual possibilities of combining related pictures in varied typologies expanded exponentially. This eighteen-part work, one of a small series of "collective portraits," includes views of different types of technical buildings at the Anna mine in Alsdorf. Located just over an hour by car from Düsseldorf, the site offered the Bechers the rare opportunity to record each building generally in isolation. Arranged in grid form, the suite of photographs presents an impressive graphic tableau.
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