2003 Infinity Award: Lifetime Achievement

Bernd and Hilla Becher met in 1957 while they working at a Düsseldorf advertising agency and studying art. They soon became artistic partners and were married in 1961. For over 40 years, the Bechers have produced photographs that are works of art as well as historical records. Committed to preserving the memory of industrial structures and objects that may become obsolete, the Bechers have continually photographed the same subjects over many years,  documenting changes in industrial aesthetics and culture. Signature images include grain silos, gravel crushers, blast furnace heads, and water towers. While their work was outside of Germany’s dominant photographic discourse in the 1950s and 1960s, it has since served as a model for many photographers seeking to produce objective serial images, ultimately leading to a Becher “school” of photography. 

The Bechers made their international debut in 1972 and had a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1975. Their work has been exhibited at the Dia Center for the Arts in New York, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, the International Center of Photography, Documenta 11, the Stedelijk Museum, and the Die Neue Sammlung, among others.