The Dusseldorf School of Photography / Stefan Gronert

Details of history, development and distinguished alumni of the institution.

The German photographic movement commonly known as the Düsseldorf School of Photography has become synonymous with artistic excellence and innovation. It began in the mid-1970s at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, under the instruction of the photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher, known for their comparative grids of mundane industrial buildings captured with an objective and clinical eye. This school has not only birthed some of today's most important and successful photographers, but has also had a fundamental and lasting influence on the history of the medium. The Düsseldorf School of Photography presents over 160 images in a spectacular overview of the breadth of the Düsseldorf School from the early 1970s to today. This impeccable survey is filled with superb reproductions of the best-known photographs by three generations of key Düsseldorf artists: Bernd and Hilla Becher, Laurenz Berges, Elger Esser, Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Axel Hütte, Simone Nieweg, Thomas Ruff, Jörg Sasse, Thomas Struth and Petra Wunderlich. With a scholarly text, extensive artist bios and a plate section dedicated to each of these artists, The Düsseldorf School of Photography offers the first comprehensive assessment of this important photographic movement―one that dominates the salesrooms and museums of our times.

English