20 August 1931 – 22 June 2007 and 2 September 1934 – 10 October 2015, were German photographers and conceptual artists who worked as a collaborative duo. Through their black-and-white photographs of industrial structures—such as water towers, blast furnaces, gas tanks, and mine heads—they gained international recognition and became central figures in the development of the Düsseldorf School of Photography.

They met in the late 1950s while working in Düsseldorf and married in 1961. Beginning in 1959 they systematically photographed industrial architecture, initially documenting buildings in Germany and later expanding their work across Europe and the United States. Their photographs were made in a consistent, objective style, often using large-format cameras, centralized perspectives, and overcast light to emphasize structural detail.

A defining aspect of their practice was the creation of photographic “typologies”: groups of images of the same type of structure presented in grids, highlighting similarities and differences in design. Many of the buildings they documented were threatened with demolition, making their work both an artistic project and a visual archive of disappearing industrial architecture.

From 1976 Bernd Becher held a professorship in photography at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where the couple played a key role in educating a generation of artists who became known as the Düsseldorf School. Their work contributed to the recognition of photography as a major artistic medium within conceptual and minimalist art contexts.

Reference
Biography text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), German edition. Retrieved March 16, 2026.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernd_und_Hilla_Becher