During the 1970s, Candida Höfer was a student of the photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher at the Fine Arts Academy of Düsseldorf and that is where she soon started developing such a specific esthetic which consists in shooting buildings from the point of view of their interiors and where the human abscence is surprising.

Thereupon, it is interesting to underline that this Dusseldorf school historically succeeds the humanistic period in photography where, as its name suggests it, photographers have paid much attention to the human figure which had suffered so much from the war.

Throughout her images of theatres, libraries or empty churches, Candida Höfer sublimes these places through the effort made in objectiveness and detachment, both being strong characteristics of the Düsseldorf School (Andrea Gursky, Thomas Struth, Thomas Ruff).

From the Becher couple, Candida keeps this profound interest for buildings’ interior architecture – in opposition to the Bechers which solely took photographs of the exterior facades – giving the viewer this grandiose impression, outcome of the concern given to the lighting, the framing, the symmetries as well as to the harmony that are all inevitably emerge form this architectural masterpieces.

Candida Höfer’s work appears in numerous collections such as Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris (France), Centre Pompidou, Paris (France), Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Francfort (Allemagne),  The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (USA), California,  Kunsthalle Basel, Bâle (Switzerland), Kunsthalle Hamburg, Hamburg (Allemagne), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid (Espagne), Museum of Modern Art, New York (USA), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (USA).

“Paris Revisited”
Candida Höfer
VNH Gallery
Paris
Through 21 December
vnhgallery.com

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