ART AFICIONADO

Wednesday, September 3, 2025

Tuesday, September 2, 2025

Hilla Becher

Photography Appreciation

Hilla Wobeser was born on September 2, 1934, in Potsdam, Germany, into a family of photographers; her mother and uncle introduced her to the darkroom early on. She began photography at thirteen using a plate camera and even sold small portrait prints of her high-school teachers.

After being expelled from school, she apprenticed under Walter Eichgrün in Potsdam starting in 1951, studying at a vocational photography school while completing her high-school degree. In 1954, she relocated to West Germany and worked freelance in Hamburg before moving to Düsseldorf in 1958, enrolling in the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf to study graphic design and printing, she later led darkroom instruction there.

At Düsseldorf, Hilla met Bernd Becher in 1957. They began collaborating by 1959, photographing industrial sites across Europe and later North America. The couple married in 1961 and worked as a team for nearly 15 years, documenting industrial structures -- water towers, blast furnaces, coal tipples, framework houses -- referencing them as "anonymous sculptures." They established the Düsseldorf School of Photography and influenced many students, like Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Thomas Ruff.

Hilla and Bernd Becher's hallmark method was serial typologies -- grids or series of black and white images shot in neutral light, with precise framing and large-format cameras. Key works include Framework Houses (1959-1973), featuring timber-framed miner dwellings, and Water Towers (1968-1980), a series of nine-image grids.

Framework Houses, 1959-1973

Water Towers, 1968-1980

Blast Furnaces, Völklingen, Saar District, 1986

Sources:

Wikipedia

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/849258

https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/500

https://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/bernd-and-hilla-becher

https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/group/103KGG

https://www.paulacoopergallery.com/news/james-welling-bernd-hilla-becher

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/what-bernd-and-hilla-becher-saw-in-the-remnants-of-industry

https://metropolismag.com/viewpoints/bernd-and-hilla-becher-architectural-photographs/

Monday, September 1, 2025

The White Stripes - I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself

Music Appreciation

On September 1, 2003, American alternative rock band The White Stripes released "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself," originally written by songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David. It was the second single released from The White Stripes' album, Elephant.

The White Stripes’ rendition of "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself" takes the classic composition and injects it with raw, garage-rock intensity. Jack White strips away the smooth orchestration of earlier versions, replacing it with his signature distorted guitar work and a dynamic, unhinged vocal performance that teeters between desperation and explosive frustration. This version reinterprets the heartbreak of the lyrics through the lens of raw blues-rock, making it one of the most striking covers in The White Stripes' catalog.

The music video, which was directed by Sofia Coppola, features supermodel Kate Moss pole dancing in black underwear. The black and white cinematography transforms the song's restless melancholy into a hypnotic, intimate visual experience. The music video strips away narrative in favor of pure physical expression.