Dusseldorf School of Photography

The Düsseldorf School of Photography was a group of students at the Düsseldorf Art Academy (Kunstakademie Düsseldorf) who from the mid-1970s studied under the influential photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher. The Bechers became famous for their austere black-and-white "typologies", systematic series of images of industrial structures (water towers, blast furnaces, gas holders) shot in neutral light and under identical conditions. Their analytical, objective method trained a whole generation of artists, including Andreas Gursky, Thomas Struth, Candida Höfer and Thomas Ruff. These authors transferred the principles of conceptual rigour to large-format colour printing, often on a monumental scale, depicting architecture, museums, interiors and the landscapes of contemporary globalised civilisation. The Düsseldorf School made photography a full participant in the international art market and museum collections, greatly influencing the understanding of photography as an independent major art form, including for contemporary authors in Eastern Europe and Ukraine.