W.M. Hunt

 #somereallygoodones, #thebech ers, #minetipples, #typology

Bernd and Hilla Becher (1931-2007, 1934-2015) became well known for their industrial typologies and taxonomies, photographs of water towers, initially, then blast furnaces, factory facades, and coal bunkers.  The series were shot methodically, formally.  There is such rigor in their practice that it could never be regarded as detached, even cool.  If anything the artists were visionary, obsessed with clarity, zealous.  

The coal mine tipples were shot in Pennsylvania in the mid-1970s, and they differ from the other series because the constructions are rougher.  These images still have the precision and restraint the Bechers are known for, but the subject matter presents itself differently.  These structures were hand made, even jury-rigged.  

The cropping and lighting are consistent almost uniform., but even if still active the wooden tipple frames look like skeletons, remnants of lives that have passed.  

It is difficult to understand how these structures function, “tippling” coal, that is bringing it to the surface in these small mines and unloading it, basically spilling it at the surface.  The structures were, in fact, illegal.  There portals to the underground, and for me, they have a distant spirituality, particularly in groups or grids when their impact intensifies.  The loose wires are eccentric details creating a network of connection between the structures in the grid; they soften the straight lines of the wood.  

Unusual for the Bechers, they have chosen to shoot around the mines, as opposed to frontally.  We get a little sense of dimension and can see the setting although they do appear like bones without the viscera in an arid landscape, like animals remains in the desert.  

These ask for some real looking. 

©2021

#somereallygoodones, #theunseeneye, #wmhunt, #collectiondancingbear, #collectionblindpirate, #greatphotographs, #howilookatphotographs, #photographsfromtheunconsicous, #collectingislikerunningaroundinathunderstorm hopingyoullbehitbylightning, #aphotographsogooditmakesyoufartlightning, #photographychangedmylifeitgavemeone, #thebechers, #coalminetipples