Candida Höfer: Philadelphia

Softcover |23.65 x 0.48 x 24.61 cm | 60 pp

Schirmer/Mosel | 2010 | 9783829604406

Text in English and German

In 2007,Candida Höfer selected some of Philadelphia’s highly symbolic and venerable institutions that tell a story about the city’s 300-year history, and explored them with her tried-and-tested approach to photography. The interiors of the Fisher Library, the Girard College, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Masonic Temple convey a genuine dignity and representative splendour. Typically of the artist, the photos depict the interiors in a deserted state and and from an axis-symmetrical view. 

Philadelphia, the largest city in Pennsylvania, is also one of the country’s oldest cities and a place of special historical and national significance: in 1776, the American Declaration of Independence was proclaimed in Philadelphia and in 1787 the constitution was enacted there. 

Candida Höfer is a German photographer. She is a former student of Bernd and Hilla Becher. Like other Becher students, Höfer’s work is known for technical perfection and a strictly conceptual approach.