Candida Höfer (b. 1944), Villa Borghese Roma IV 2012. Lightjet print, 180 x 227 cm; (70 7/8 x 89 3/8 in.). Edition of 6
LONDON.- Ben Brown Fine Arts presents Candida Höfer’s Villa Borghese series on 25 June. Höfer’s Libraries was the inaugural exhibition at Ben Brown Fine Arts’ Cork Street space in 2004. Now celebrating its 10th year, her return for Villa Borghese holds special significance for the gallery.
Commissioned by the Galleria Borghese in 2012 for their Committenze Contemporanee project, Höfer's series captures the institution's architectural splendour and history. The statues raised on blue plinths in each image form part of the Galleria's rich narrative. First owned by the Galleria, sold to French collectors, and then loaned back to the museum by the Louvre, they are here poignantly depicted in their original environment.
Produced using only natural light with a long exposure and untouched by digital alteration, Höfer's photographs couple a rare intimacy with monumentality of scale. Customarily devoid of human presence, yet resonating with the academic spirit of the institution's founder, Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the Villa Borgheseseries encapsulates Höfer's sensitivity to place.
These images will be complemented by a selection of iconic images from Ben Brown Fine Arts' 2004 exhibition, marking the longstanding representation of the artist and her ongoing fascination with institutional spaces.
A member of the Düsseldorf School (Kunstakademie Düsseldorf), Höfer was a noted pupil of Bernd and Hilla Becher. Whilst retaining the Bechers’ documentary style in her methodical processes, Höfer’s large-scale colour prints display a heightened sympathy with her subjects’ culture and history.
Born in 1944 in Eberswalde, Candida Höfer lives and works in Cologne. After completing her training at the Schmölz-Huth Studio, she began studying with the influential photography duo Bernd and Hilla Becher in 1976, the teachers of other noted Düsseldorf School photographers including Andreas Gursky, Thomas Struth, Axel Hütte and Thomas Ruff. Höfer’s internationally recognised work has been shown at the Kunsthalle in Basel and Berne, the Louvre in Paris, and the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin. Höfer has represented Germany at the 2003 Venice Biennale, participated in documenta 11 in 2002, and her photographs are part of major museum and private collections across the globe.
Candida Höfer (b. 1944), Villa Borghese Roma XIII 2012.Lightjet print,180 x 200 cm; (70 7/8 x 78 3/4 in.).Edition of 6.
