posted on 29 May 2023

Libraries by Candida Höfer

German photographer, Candida Höfer was born in 1944 and her body of work has brought her international recognition and a series of awards. Her style is unmistakable and follows a template that she has developed to express a specific aesthetic conception. The New York art gallery's, Sean Kelly describes her work in this way:

“Known for her meticulously composed, large-scale color images of architectural interiors, Höfer’s oeuvre explores the structure, presentation, and influence of space. Interested in the psychological impact of design and the contrast between a room’s intended and actual use, Höfer has focused her lens on cultural and institutional buildings such as libraries, hotels, museums, concert halls, and palaces. Whilst devoid of people, the images allow us to consider the role of their missing inhabitants. The large-scale nature of the work invites the viewer to linger over the architectural details and contemplate the subtle shifts in light that make up the character of the space.”

Höfer puts a very specific emphasis on photographing environments devoid of people and she explains this by saying “…it became apparent to me that what people do in these spaces – and what these spaces do to them – is clearer when no one is present, just as an absent guest is often the subject of a conversation.”

So, in many ways, she’s certain to bring a provocative interpretation to the subject of public libraries – which are spaces we tend to never see without the presence of the people who visit or work in it. The camera takes you into empty spaces and tempts you into an almost voyeuristic, or at least privileged, view of what happens in these spaces behind closed doors.

Some of the libraries shown in her photographs are very beautiful, with the rows of shelved books making the spaces look like enormous artworks. Sometimes the architecture, baroque or ornamental, adds to the feeling of classical painting and you’re encouraged to react to them as you might to a still life.

Other buildings are more brutal, more utilitarian and if there is beauty to be found in these, its in the organisational certainty. These buildings are to be admired for the efficiency of their design and their dedication to the task of preserving the histories that the books contain.

Having made an issue of the way people are excluded from Höfer’s photographs, there is one very beautiful example of people in a library that has clearly been taken on a very slow shutter speed mode. This turns the figures into shimmering ghosts that seem to been whirling like vapours around the wooden reading benches. Beautiful.

The book – a large and heavy affair – is all about the photographs but there is an introductory essay included by Umberto Eco. Eco is always entertaining and thought-provoking an focuses on the cultural value of libraries rather than being a commentary directly on Höfer’s work.

Let me finish by including a direct quotation from the book’s dust jacket. I know these are there usually as commercial puffs designed to tempt you to buy but on this occasion it’s entirely fair and accurate:

"Nobody photographs libraries, those splendid and intimate cathedrals of knowledge, as beautifully as Candida Hofer. Her photographs are sober and restrained in feel- the atmosphere is disturbed by neither visitors nor users, especially as she forgoes any staging of the locations. The emptiness is imbued with substance by a subtle attention to colour, and the prevailing silence instilled with a metaphysical quality that gives voice to the objects, over and above the eloquence of the furnishings or the pathos of the architecture."

You’ll probably know that photography books don’t come cheap and this one falls into what I’d call mid-range for such large collections – so expect to pay in the region of £30 for a copy.

 

Terry Potter

May 2023