
Thomas Struth
Mailänder Dom (Fassade), Mailand, 1998
From Generation to Generation: Important Photographs from the Ames Collection
Diasec-mounted, …

Thomas Struth takes mesmerizing photographs that express his belief in photography as “a tool of scientific origin for psychological exploration.” He began taking pictures in 1976, influenced by his studies with three of the most important contemporary German artists of the time—painter and mixed media artist Gerhard Richter and photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher. After his early black-and-white series of deadpan views of cityscapes eerily devoid of any signs of urban life, in 1989, Struth began work on his best-known cycle, the “Museum Photographs.” In these large-format, color-saturated photographs, Struth captures individuals and crowds looking at famous works of Western art in the world’s most popular museums. While looking at the “Museum Photographs,” viewers are confronted with the act of looking itself and the social complexities of seeing and being seen.

From Generation to Generation: Important Photographs from the Ames Collection
Diasec-mounted, framed, the photographer's label, signed in ink and with typed title, date, and edition number, on the reverse, no. 7 in an edition of 10.
From the Catalogue:
‘My own work is about different situations in which people find …

Thomas Struth takes mesmerizing photographs that express his belief in photography as “a tool of scientific origin for psychological exploration.” He began taking pictures in 1976, influenced by his studies with three of the most important contemporary German artists of the time—painter and mixed media artist Gerhard Richter and photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher. After his early black-and-white series of deadpan views of cityscapes eerily devoid of any signs of urban life, in 1989, Struth began work on his best-known cycle, the “Museum Photographs.” In these large-format, color-saturated photographs, Struth captures individuals and crowds looking at famous works of Western art in the world’s most popular museums. While looking at the “Museum Photographs,” viewers are confronted with the act of looking itself and the social complexities of seeing and being seen.