Typologies in photography

Abstract

Certain trends in recent photographic art, their relation to the idea of typology and to architecture motivated the writing of this essay. Physiognomy, as the content of portrait photography and as an analogy for the nature of photographic images of any kind, is relevant to the issue of typology. The curatorial profession in the world of art aspires for interpreting, grouping and physically exhibiting a number of artworks by one or more artists, mostly around a theme or a relevant problematic, an issue. One such exhibition that I will refer here, which traveled the United states in 1991 and 1992, is called “Typologies: Nine Contemporary Photographers”, and was curated by Marc Freidus. Among the 'nine', more than half were German who made series of photographs of “types” (of buildings, interiors, people, streets, landscapes, etc.). Within this group are Bernd and Hilla Becher, a husband and wife team, of great significance for this essay.