The present lot, Cooling Towers, exemplifies Bernd and Hilla Becher's landmark investigation of industrial architecture, a project that occupied the artists for more than four decades. Comprising nine ferrotyped gelatin silver prints made between 1964 and 1992 and printed later, the work belongs to one of the Bechers' most celebrated typological series. Through decades of photographing industrial architecture, the Bechers’ established an influential body of work that continues to resonate with artists and photographers today.

After meeting in 1957 at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, the Bechers’ went on to become influential teachers there, shaping a generation of German photographers and conceptual artists, including Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff, Candida Höfer and Thomas Struth.

Working with a deliberately consistent photographic approach, the Bechers’ photographed their subjects frontally and under diffuse light, using a large format camera to produce sharply focused images without dramatic shadows. By presenting multiple examples of similar structures next to each other, they would create a framework where industrial buildings could be studied and compared.

The work comes from the collection of Antonio Homem Sonnabend. Sonnabend Gallery’s program supported the avant-garde and conceptual art helping shape the course of Post-War collecting. Presented as a nine-part typology, as was their custom, the ensemble reveals the subtle distinctions between towers built for the same function, inviting viewers to compare their varying silhouettes, proportions, and construction methods.