Bernd and Hilla Becher

German photographers Bernd (1931 – 2007) and Hilla Becher (born Hilla Wobeser, in 1934) began their artistic collaboration in the 1950s. They are considered the precursors of a school of architectural photography that formed around the time the couple started teaching at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art (Kunstakademie Düsseldorf). World famous artists such as Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff and Candida Höfer are part of this artistic movement (known as the Düsseldorf school of photography).
The Bechers first achieved renown for a black-and-white photo series that focused on industrial buildings, and which followed a strict and recurrent protocol. Rather than attempting to invent or renew a given artistic process, their point of departure was their passionate interest in the disappearing vestiges of industrial culture.