Candida Höfer | Libraries, 2005

Albertinum Dresden | 1999.

BNF Paris | 1998.

Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek Weimar | 2004.

Biblioteca Nacional Madrid | 2003.

MOCA Los Angeles | 2000.

Sächsische Landesbibliothek Dresden | 2002.

Národní knihovna Praha | 2004.

Candida Höfer photographs rooms in public places that are centers of cultural life, such as libraries, museums, theaters, cafés, universities, as well as historic houses and palaces. Each meticulously composed space is marked with the richness of human activity, yet largely devoid of human presence. Whether it be a photograph of a national library or a hotel lobby, Höfer’s images ask us to conduct a distanced, disengaged examination through the window she has created.

Not purely architectural photographs, her rhythmically patterned images present a universe of interiors constructed by human intention, unearthing patterns of order, logic, and disruption imposed on these spaces by absent creators and inhabitants. Her photos of ornate, baroque interiors achieve images with extreme clarity and legibility while the camera maintains an observant distance, never getting too close to its subject.

Born in Eberswalde, just north of Berlin, in 1944,  Höfer was a student at the Dusseldorf Academy of Art from 1973 to 1982, embracing film before going on to study photography under the tutelage of Bernd Becher. Since 1975 she has taken part in numerous group exhibitions and released a number of volumes with Thames & Hudson, including Candida Höfer: A Monograph, published in 2003.

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Candida Höfer | Libraries

Introduction by Umberto Eco

Thames & Hudson

2005

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ICA

Thames & Hudson

A