Getty Museum

Cooling Tower, Waltrop Mine, Waltrop, Ruhr, Germany

Date

1967

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Culture

German

Department

Photographs

Institution

Getty Museum

This cooling tower, its worn, corrugated sides crisscrossed with steel supports, is an unwitting work of sculpture. Its industrial purpose is communicated by the title, not the structure's appearance. Centralized and isolated, Bernd and Hilla Becher framed the tower like a gigantic milk bottle placed squarely in a miniaturized landscape, dwarfing the building on its right. The blank, pale gray sky surrounds the tower, emphasizing its clean lines. In order to achieve an overall uniform contrast in the print, the Bechers exposed their negatives on overcast days for even lighting.

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