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Palazzo Ducale Mantova III 2011
C-print
70 7/8 x 66 1/2 inches (180 x 169 cm)
edition of 6 with 3 APs
CH-7936

Teatro Comunale di Carpi I 2011
C-print
70 7/8 x 93 5/16 inches (180 x 237 cm)
edition of 6 with 3 APs
CH-7952

Born in Eberswalde, Germany in 1944, Candida Höfer attended the Kunstacademie Düsseldorf from 1973 to 1982. Whilst there she studied film with the Danish filmmaker Ole John and photography under the influential photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher, who also taught noted Düsseldorf School photographers Andreas Gursky, Thomas Struth, Axel Hütte and Thomas Ruff.

Known for her meticulously composed, large-scale color images of architectural interiors, Höfer's oeuvre explores the structure, presentation, and influence of space. Interested in the psychological impact of design and the contrast between a room's intended and actual use, Höfer has focused her lens on cultural and institutional buildings such as libraries, hotels, museums, concert halls, and palaces. Whilst devoid of people, the images allow us to consider the role of their missing inhabitants. The large-scale nature of the work invites the viewer to linger over the architectural details and contemplate the subtle shifts in light that make up the character of the space.

On her decision to exclude people from her photographs, Höfer has said, "...it became apparent to me that what people do in these spaces - and what these spaces do to them - is clearer when no one is present, just as an absent guest is often the subject of a conversation."

Höfer's internationally recognized work has been shown in solo exhibitions at the Kunsthalle in Basel and in Berne; the Museum Folkwang in Essen; the Louvre in Paris; the North Carolina Museum of Art; the Museo Amparo, Mexico; the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia; the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; and the Kunstmuseum Luzerne, Switzerland. Her work has also appeared in group exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Power Plant, Toronto; Kusthaus Bregenz; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao; and Documenta XI, Kassel. Höfer represented Germany at the 2003 Venice Biennale. In 2018, the Sony World Photography Awards recognized Candida Höfer for her outstanding contribution to photography. Her photographs are in major public and private collections worldwide.

Candida Höfer lives and works in Cologne, Germany.

Artist Talk-Candida Höfer: Turks in Germany 1979. Harvard Art Museums. October 1, 2019.

Through the Lens of Candida Hofer, Aug. 8, 2010

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Palazzo Ducale Mantova III 2011 C-print 70 7/8 x 66 1/2 inches (180 x 169 cm) edition of 6 with 3 APs CH-7936 Teatro Comunale di Carpi I 2011 C-print 70 7/8 x 93 5/16 inches (180 x 237 cm) edition of 6 with 3 APs CH-7952 Born in Eberswalde, Germany in 1944, Candida Höfer attended the Kunstacademie Düsseldorf from 1973 to 1982.

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Lucien Hervé Exhibitions: Lucien Hervé, 6 Sep - 10 Oct 2014; Made in Hungary, Group Show, 9 Jul - 24 Sep 2011; Lucien Hervé, 3 Sep - 11 Oct 2008

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Following the appearance of the earliest Daguerreotypes in the late 1830s and above all after the subsequent discovery of photographic printing on paper, the relationship between photography and painting became an extremely close one. The camera's artificial eye in the work of photographers such as Le Gray, Cuvelier, Nadar and Disderi, to mention just a few, stimulated Manet, Degas and the young Impressionists to develop a new way of looking at the world. Impressionism used the medium not just as an iconographic source but was also inspired by it technically in its scientific observation of light, its representation of an asymmetrical, truncated pictorial space and its exploration of spontaneity and visual ambiguity. In addition, the new Impressionist type of brushstroke led some photographers to become interested in the materiality of their images and to look for ways of making their photographs less precise and more pictorial in effect.

The key position that photography now occupies in the context of contemporary art has encouraged a renewed interest in art-historical studies with regard to the impact of its invention on the visual arts. The exhibition The Impressionists and Photography pursues this line of research. It offers a critical reflection on affinities and mutual influences between photography and painting while also looking at the lively debate that its emergence generated among critics and artists in France in the second half of the 19 th century.

Curated by Paloma Alarcó, the exhibition is divided into nine thematic sections: The Forest, Figures in the Landscape, Water, The Countryside, Monuments, The City, Portraits, The Body and Archives, which together reveal the artistic concerns shared by painters and photographers.

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Exposición - The Impressionists and Photography

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Following the appearance of the earliest Daguerreotypes in the late 1830s and above all after the subsequent discovery of photographic printing on paper, the relationship between photography and painting became an extremely close one.

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Hélène Binet (b. 1959) is a Swiss and French internationally acclaimed photographer based in London.

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View Bernard Voita's artworks on artnet. Find an in-depth biography, exhibitions, original artworks for sale, the latest news, and sold auction prices. Learn about the artist and see available works for sale.

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Judith Turner

Acclaimed photographer of architecture Judith Turner discusses Seeing Ambiguity, her new book published in April 2012 by Edition Axel Menges.
Designers & Books: You began taking photographs of buildings in 1972 and this is the eighth book of your photographs to be published. Yet you were trained as a graphic designer. How did it happen that you made the transition to architectural photography-and do you feel that your graphic design training has influenced your approach to photography?
Judith Turner: Early in my career as a graphic designer I worked at Doubleday designing book jackets. Often I worked with photographs and developed a curiosity about photography. On weekends I began photographing at the periphery of construction sites where I was intrigued by the form, texture, and geometry I saw in construction materials. In the mid-1970s I met Peter Eisenman. When he saw my photos he said, "You should photograph architecture." It was the next obvious step; however, had Peter not suggested it, I'll never know whether I would have done it.

Seeing Ambiguity, 2012 (Edition Axel Menges)

I do not consider myself an architectural photographer; I am not documenting buildings. Rather, I am a photographer who uses architecture as subject matter.
D&B: You're fond of quoting Thoreau's maxim, "The question is not what you look at but what you see." What do you actually mean when you say that? What, for you, is the defining characteristic that distinguishes looking from seeing?
In art school, my color and design teacher had studied with Josef Albers at Yale. He taught us a great deal of Albers's color and design course. I loved it and was-and still am-greatly influenced by it in my photography.

JT: For me, "looking" implies documenting and recording whole facades and wide views of buildings in a straightforward and literal manner. "Seeing" relates to the ambiguity in our perceptions of things. The ambiguity in my work comes from the way I see architecture. In my photos, often foreground becomes background and background takes the position of foreground; positive and negative rotate. Curved forms appear to flatten out. Scale is distorted and perspective exaggerated. Gravity itself is defied in some images.

I am fascinated by light, specifically what light does to architecture. Architecture is transformed by light. Different materials absorb, reflect, or transmit light in different ways, affecting our reading of form. I am attracted to shadows, pursue them, and attempt to give them material substance equal in weight to planes and solids in architecture.
D&B: The preface to your book (by Robert Elwall) talks about the idea that "the essence of architecture can be conveyed through a fragment or detail from which the viewer may glean an idea of the whole." Can you explain how that idea relates to your work?
Seeing, for me, involves concentrated investigation, discovery, and creativity.
D&B: Your photographs are described in the book's introduction (by Joseph Rosa) as revealing "visual relationships not readily apparent." Is that something that you consciously have in mind for your work? Or is it something that just happens as you explore a building?
JT: It is not possible to see, understand, or appreciate architecture in its full complexity all at once. As one walks through or around a building, one realizes that architecture is an unfolding experience. I produce series of fragments of buildings. When these fragments are viewed they can also be seen as an unfolding experience, conveying some of the ideas and intentions of a building as a whole.
D&B: The photographs in Seeing Ambiguity span 35 years and highlight the work of 17 architects. Is there a common thread in these 17 architects that attracts you, and if so, what is it?
JT: Visual relationships, in photography, are created by the way one sees and then composes and frames subject matter. The relationships I produce may not be apparent to other people, but they are to me. They are not forced or preconceived in any way. I look at each building individually as I attempt to reveal some of the structure, essence, and poetry intended by each architect. In addition, as I am a photographer who uses architecture as subject matter, I am at the same time creating my own dream worlds of architecture.
D&B: As you are preparing to shoot a building, what is your preparation process? And how long does the actual shoot take-start to finish?
JT: The abstract form of modernism is the common thread that attracts me to this group of architects.

JT: When I began to photograph buildings I liked to walk through them with architects pointing out their favorite places. After a short period I realized I no longer needed their input.
D&B: At the start of your career, you obviously used a film camera. What camera do you use now-and what's behind that particular choice?
Before I begin photographing I first walk around buildings noting special areas. I, also, determine east and west to learn how sunlight will travel through spaces. Generally I begin to photograph where there is strong sunlight, following it, going back and forth to particular places. When I begin to repeat myself, then I know I am finished. Depending on the size of a building, it generally takes me from two to five days to complete a photographic study.
D&B: What sort of feedback do you get from the architects when they see your work? Is there any one reaction from an architect that you particularly prize?
JT: I use a Pentax 645, medium-format, film camera. I like my camera and the way I work with it and will continue to use it until I can no longer purchase film. Then I will work digitally.

JT: I have received wonderful compliments from architects. The most touching reaction is when they tell me my photographs expose elements of their work that they never imagined existed.

What are your thoughts about the design of the book? Did you have input there? What about the dimensions? Whose idea was the square 12" x 12" format? Is a square format dictated by your image specifications?
D&B: Other than your own, what books on architectural photography do you find to be particularly inspiring?
JT: I chose the architects, supplied the photographs, and suggested juxtapositions for layouts. My publisher, Axel Menges, designed the book and chose the 12" x 12" format. When using both vertical and horizontal images, a square format is helpful.

JT: Through the years I have amassed a collection of art books and among my favorites are those on the Russian Constructivist movement. In them I saw only a few samples of Alexander Rodchenko's photographic works. It wasn't until the mid-1980s that I found a book containing only his photographs. It was a revelation for me! As I looked through the photos I felt as if I had been his pupil.
D&B: Are you working on a new book?
The artist Paul Cézanne wrote, "In my thought one doesn't replace the past, one only adds a new link to it." I feel that I am a link from Rodchenko.

JT: Yes, I am working on a series of color images of Times Square, where I have been photographing since 1998. I believe they are unlike any other photos ever taken of Times Square.

All images taken from Seeing Ambiguity, courtesy of Edition Axel Menges; photographs © Judith Turner
View Judith Turner's Profile
Note: An exhibition of photographs by Judith Turner, featuring work included in this book and entitled Judith Turner: The Flatness of Ambiguity, is on view at the University of Michigan Museum of Art, June 9-September 2, 2012.

See more Author Q&As on Designers & Books

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Author Q&A with Judith Turner: Seeing Ambiguity

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Judith Turner Acclaimed photographer of architecture Judith Turner discusses Seeing Ambiguity , her new book published in April 2012 by Edition Axel Menges. Designers & Books : You began taking photographs of buildings in 1972 and this is the eighth book of your photographs to be published.

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Hablemos de fotografía: Escribir con luz.

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Beriestain, Simón

Bustamante, Ignacia

Cabrera, Tomás

Del Sante, Josefa

Díaz, Gabriela

Edwards, José Tomás

Fernández, Sofía

Letelier, Luis

Müller, Guillermo

Núñez, Paulina

Ocares, María Emilia

Pavez, Gastón

Retamal, Vicente

Rivera, Laura

Salas, Sebastián

Sanchez, Juliana

Vial, Benjamín

Zepeda, Camila

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Philippe Blanc: pblanc@uc.cl

Sofía Martínez: sofia.martinez@uc.cl