A New Objectivity - The Düsseldorf School of Photography Exhibition at Sothersby's in London

"The Particular Strength of photography lies in an absolute realistic recording of the world. This sets it apart from all other image media...the more precisely it depicts objects the stronger its magical effect on the observer" - Bernd & Hilla Becher

"The singular vision of Bernd and Hilla Becher has imparted one of the most significant photographic inquiries and influential artistic legacies to emerge from the post war period. The crystalline poesies of the Bechers' lifelong taxonomy of industrial buildings has outlined an approach to photographic objectivity that itself has come to transcend the medium. Under their watch, the first official class of Photography at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf swiftly aquired legendary status: indeed, the list of the Bechers' first generation of students is as extraordinary as the class' ascent to pre-eminence. Between 1976 and 1986 Thomas Struth, Thomas Ruff, Candida Hofer, Axel Hütte And Andreas Gursky studied together within the tightly-knit milieu of their select teaching group. Driven by the Bechers' infectious dedication to their work and steadfast belief in the autonomy of their medium, the remarkable success of this primary cohort of alumni signalled a turning point in the history of photography." (Extract taken from "A New Objectivity" Catalogue which I could not find an authors name within)

Bernd and Hilla Becher, 1931-2007, Wassertürme (Water Towers), gelatin silver print, framed 62.8cm by 84.5cm.

This exhibition was at Sotherby's S2 gallery in London, 28th November 2013 - 17th January 2014. "The Düsseldorf School of Photography: The Legacy of Bernd and Hilla Becher" was a selling exhibition which quite literally showcased photographers who honed their practice as students at the Düsseldorf School of Photography established by Bernd and Hilla Becher. The practice of Bernd & Hilla Becher was highly influential in development of photographic objectivity. Their most well known piece, Wassertürme (Water Towers), is a perfect example of their objective approach to photography and following this is no surprise they have been referred to as the "great encyclopaedic artists of their generation" by art historian Armin Zweite.

Andreas Gursky, 1955, Cocoon I, C-print, framed 212 by 507cm.

In this post I will only be discussing an image by Andreas Gursky although the exhibition displayed works also by Thomas Struth, Thomas Ruth, Candida Hofer and Axel Hütte (I do plan to make posts researching them in the near future however), a group of photographers who all studied together at the Düsseldorf School of Photography between 1976 and 1986. It is impossible to ignore just how successful Gursky is, most notably that he currently holds the record for the most expensive photograph ever sold at 4.3 Million Dollars. His work is very much concerned with the nature of humans and how we behave in the world, perhaps more specifically how we behave in relation to others in our surroundings. This print, as with most of Gursky's work, is an extremely large print, its dimensions being 212 by 507cm, which enables the viewer to see each subject within the image with detail and clarity. Personally I found myself mentally cropping the image into sections, attempting to analyse the crowd in more detail so that I could perhaps gain a greater idea of the overall scene. When viewing the image as a whole, I thought it was possible that the image was exploring the relationship between the crowd of a rave/club and the institutional values of the actual venue. The form of the people in the crowd is visually similar to that of the venues chrome reflective surface in the background, to me this suggests a sense of simultaneous existence between the venue and its guests.