First published in 1970, Anonyme Skulpturen is the landmark first monograph by Bernd and Hilla Becher, introducing the typological approach to industrial constructions that would become central to their practice. This copy, from Nancy Holt's personal library, is the first American edition. Featuring 194 black-and-white photographs of what the artists describe as “technical buildings,” accompanied by brief descriptive texts in English, French, and German, the volume documents water towers, power stations, pylons, drilling towers, mine heads, and refineries photographed in the industrial regions of Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany.
The artists note these buildings were “intended to store, transform, process, or transport liquids, materials, or gases. Their prototypes are: the pot, the oven, the chimney, the winch, the pump, the laboratory. These constructions develop without any regard to aesthetics, and their shapes derive from calculation.”
The book is in excellent condition. The dust jacket shows minor wear, including small closed tears along the edges.
Specifications
New York: Wittenborn and Co., 1970
Hardcover with dust jacket
Black-and-white
216 pages
English, French, and German
11 1/2 × 9 in. (29.2 × 22.9 cm), closed
First published in 1970, Anonyme Skulpturen is the landmark first monograph by Bernd and Hilla Becher, introducing the typological approach to industrial constructions that would become central to their practice. This copy, from Nancy Holt's personal library, is the first American edition. Featuring 194 black-and-white photographs of what the artists describe as “technical buildings,” accompanied by brief descriptive texts in English, French, and German, the volume documents water towers, power stations, pylons, drilling towers, mine heads, and refineries photographed in the industrial regions of Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany.
The artists note these buildings were “intended to store, transform, process, or transport liquids, materials, or gases. Their prototypes are: the pot, the oven, the chimney, the winch, the pump, the laboratory. These constructions develop without any regard to aesthetics, and their shapes derive from calculation.”
The book is in excellent condition. The dust jacket shows minor wear, including small closed tears along the edges.
Specifications
New York: Wittenborn and Co., 1970
Hardcover with dust jacket
Black-and-white
216 pages
English, French, and German
11 1/2 × 9 in. (29.2 × 22.9 cm), closed
