Canary Iris Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 12 x 8" 30 x 20cm 390.00
Imagine the Eiffel Tower being disassembled and reassembled as so many “winding towers” – metal structures with enormous open wheels and wires to haul rocks from below the ground. Blast furnaces, water towers, coal plants, machine rooms abound – not one or two, but over 350 photos of these dinosaurs. We visited the show of Bernd and Hilla Becher’s photographs at MAST on Saturday: History of a Method.
One and Two Tulips Laurie Fox Pessemier Acrylic on Paper 17 x 12" 43 x 30cm 190 each
MAST is a contemporary museum in Bologna, Italy dedicated to the manufacture of Art, Experimentation and Technology. This show embodied all three. History of a Method described the mechanical manufacturing that dominated the Western World until after WWII. The Bechers, born in 1931, had the foresight to realize these structures were disappearing and did what they could to honor and preserve them. The name of the show represents the Method the Bechers employed for 40 years: photograph the front, the corner, the side, the back of each building. They chose to photograph in black and white, because the blue sky was different colors depending on direction. They liked to photograph in the sun because if gave depth to some of the brutalist concrete building they liked. It wasn’t beyond them to cut down a tree to get a better view. They rode around in a Volkswagen bus, with their son Max (who helped curate this show) for a lifetime.
History of a Method at MAST
It wasn’t entirely just commercial buildings. They photographed houses and towns where these workers labored. There were no people in any of the pictures (except the Becher’s house), and rarely a tree. It was a remarkable body of work, which spoke to Blair and I.
Beyond Wild Laurie Pessemier Acrylic/paper 17 x 25" 43 x 63cm 290.00
Blair and I have dedicated our lives to painting, but not to the extent of these people. I kind of abandoned plein air landscapes after a disparaging remark by a collector. What was I thinking? Imagine the remarks the Bechers must have gotten. You’re photographing WHAT? Riding around Germany, France and Belgium with your child in a hippie car? (they also went to Pennsylvania and Ohio) I am reassured and thoroughly inspired.
The Iris Return Eveny Spring Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas 20 x 11" 50 x 27cm 490.00
The Bechers used a large format camera they would carry up to the place they were photographing (another reason we aren’t painting outdoors as much – equipment is heavy). They had to work fast because access to some of these sites, which were at the brink of falling down, was limited. We left the exhibit after more than an hour, exhausted by the volume and complexity of the work.
Wild Lady Orchids Blair Pessemier Acrylic/canvas12 x 12" 30 x 30cm 290.00
We drove on to Chinese lunch, which always makes me think of how people choose to make a living. The current owner clearly loves cooking, but it is so apparent the children hate working there. But it beats mining coal.
Why flower paintings? Before these industrial landscapes, Hilla Becher’s earliest photography was of the natural world: leaves, flowers…
