The quote by Hilla about toxic gas and exchanging ideas could have been by another amazing couple, Katia & Maurice Krafft, the French volcanologists that are the subjects of the recent (and beautiful) documentary Fire Of Love. It's lovely to think of art, or science, as such a powerful endeavour that having someone else sharing it almost seems to be enough to spend life together.
Thank you for letting me know about this documentary! I just watched the trailer and it looks terrific, may try to go see it in the theater this weekend.
This also reminds me of Marie & Pierre Curie, who worked side by side in terribly inadequate conditions to prove the existence of polonium and radium — the stories about their shabby workspace (formerly used for dissecting cadavers, but deemed unsuitable even for that purpose) are harrowing...
Thanks! I had never heard of the Bechers. In the 1970s & 80s I grew up in Houston, TX. My dad always had work in some sort of periphery business to the booming oil industry. As a kid, I found his job sites very drab and uninspiring. Even depressing. But thinking back, yes...all of the oil pumping structures were kind of fascinating within a certain view. What wonderful work of the Bechers, and their relationship in order to produce this work.
"...some god-forsaken place—like when we spent weeks traveling through the American Midwest..."
Hey, some of us love those wide-open spaces with nary a tree or bump in the landscape. In San Angelo, Texas, there are places where you can stand and turn 360 degrees and see the horizon continuously. At least nuttin' can sneak up on you there!
"... in rigorously precise black-and-white images that they later gathered into “typologies.” Grouped together, these stoic compositions became something else entirely—a witty, profound survey of human endeavor and its inherent beauty, goofiness, and/or pathos, depending on your mood."
A wonderful passage; amazing what emerges when you try and identify patterns!
Hey, thanks. Yes, they really hit on something with the industrial typologies — and I do think part of the secret is that mix of nostalgia + clarity their son mentions . . .
Love their unsentimental work while being so sentimental about doing things together.
That is so well put! I feel the same way.
They're adorable, right?
"Someone who will make the nights in shabby hotels more comfortable and also go for help if we succumb to toxic gases" 😂😂😂 ...SO ROMANTIC.
I for one was not familiar with the Bechers, so thank you! I love these (what seem like) portraits of these monolithic structures. Hard core.
Glad you could appreciate the romance!
“—like when we spent weeks traveling through the American Midwest.”
I grew up in Kansas and understand this SO well!
Yeah, that's serious commitment to a project!
I just saw the MET exhibit and loved learning a little bit more about their adorable relationship! It makes the images even more beautiful.
I really want to see it! Not sure if I'll make it to NYC before it closes in November 😭
The quote by Hilla about toxic gas and exchanging ideas could have been by another amazing couple, Katia & Maurice Krafft, the French volcanologists that are the subjects of the recent (and beautiful) documentary Fire Of Love. It's lovely to think of art, or science, as such a powerful endeavour that having someone else sharing it almost seems to be enough to spend life together.
Thank you for letting me know about this documentary! I just watched the trailer and it looks terrific, may try to go see it in the theater this weekend.
This also reminds me of Marie & Pierre Curie, who worked side by side in terribly inadequate conditions to prove the existence of polonium and radium — the stories about their shabby workspace (formerly used for dissecting cadavers, but deemed unsuitable even for that purpose) are harrowing...
Thanks! I had never heard of the Bechers. In the 1970s & 80s I grew up in Houston, TX. My dad always had work in some sort of periphery business to the booming oil industry. As a kid, I found his job sites very drab and uninspiring. Even depressing. But thinking back, yes...all of the oil pumping structures were kind of fascinating within a certain view. What wonderful work of the Bechers, and their relationship in order to produce this work.
Interesting! I guess that's a mark of good art — it makes you see the world differently afterward.
I love this:
"...some god-forsaken place—like when we spent weeks traveling through the American Midwest..."
Hey, some of us love those wide-open spaces with nary a tree or bump in the landscape. In San Angelo, Texas, there are places where you can stand and turn 360 degrees and see the horizon continuously. At least nuttin' can sneak up on you there!
"... in rigorously precise black-and-white images that they later gathered into “typologies.” Grouped together, these stoic compositions became something else entirely—a witty, profound survey of human endeavor and its inherent beauty, goofiness, and/or pathos, depending on your mood."
A wonderful passage; amazing what emerges when you try and identify patterns!
Hey, thanks. Yes, they really hit on something with the industrial typologies — and I do think part of the secret is that mix of nostalgia + clarity their son mentions . . .