Thomas Struth Alte Pinakothek. Selbstportrait, München, 2000

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Index
Thomas Struth
*1954 in Geldern (DE), lives and works in Düsseldorf and Berlin (DE)
Alte Pinakothek. Selbstportrait, München, 2000
Chromogenic print; 158.5 x 187 cm (framed); edition of 10
Private collection
Tokamak Asdex Upgrade, Interior 1, Max Planck IPP, Garching, 2010
Digital c-print; 275.8 x 225 cm (framed); edition of 6 (1/6)
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
Stellarator Wendelstein 7x Detail, Max Planck IPP, Greifswald, 2009
C-print; 160 x 209.5 cm (framed); edition of 10 (4/10)
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
Illustrations: © 2011 Thomas Struth
Thomas Struth
Alte Pinakothek.
Selbstportrait,
München, 2000
Struth’s focus of content is always the perception of architecture and
urban structures, which he systematically pursues in his work. The theoretical background to his analysis of public spaces is Richard Sennett’s
study of the public sphere and the architecture of social institutions and
practices. Thus Struth’s other areas of interest are closely connected
with his urban images. Whether it is museums, places of important
events, the heart of primeval forests or interiors of scientific machines
and apparatus—it is always about human constructs of knowledge, of
fantasies and of the practices of their design. His pictures tell of everyday life and collective experiences in almost epic style. The relationship
with history that adheres to the works is also clearly evident in the
museum pictures, the starting points of which are always figurative historical paintings in a museum setting. Struth leaves nothing about the
subject matter to chance, and edits his photos during the process of
making them. Alte Pinakothek, Selbstportrait, München, 2000 is a selfportrait in a double sense, showing the photographer himself in front of
Dürer’s celebrated self-portrait. Dürer explored the world with grids and
prisms, and, as a composer of pictures and author of perspective theory
was a pioneer of analytical seeing. Whereas Struth presents himself to
the viewer in a cropped, blurred back view, Dürer shows himself as Christ,
countering the gaze of both Struth and the viewer of the photograph.
Struth’s large-format photos of the inner workings of machines and their
dizzying structure of coloured cables, pipes and smooth, gleaming
metallic surfaces make it impossible to take in the gist of what we see,
and evoke associations with patterns and geometrical shapes. Descriptive titles such as Stellarator Wendelstein 7x Detail, Max Planck IPP,
Greifswald, 2009 or Tokamak Asdex Upgrade, Interior 1, Max Planck IPP,
Garching, 2010 indicate that in both cases the subject matter involves
precise measuring-machines for present-day fusion research. They create
a different image about the forms of the ever-inquiring human eye.
Brief biography
Thomas Struth is one of the best-known German photographers of the
present day, and played a decisive part in the establishment of art photography in the mid-80s with the development of large-format colour
photos. He studied at the State Art Academy in Düsseldorf (initially studying painting under Gerhard Richter and Peter Kleemann, and from
1976 photography with Bernd and Hilla Becher). This was followed by a
scholarship in New York and his first solo exhibition at P.S.1 (1978). That
was also when he turned his interest to the ‘architecture of the streets’,
which in the 1970s and 1980s developed into an extensive series of
works. From 1993 to 1996, he held a professorship at the State College
for Design in Karlsruhe. A number of solo and group exhibitions, including participation in the Venice Biennale (1990) and documenta 9 (1992),
bear witness to the artist’s international success. In 1997, he was awarded the Spectrum Prize (international photography prize) of the Lower
Saxony Cultural Foundation.
Solo exhibitions (selection)
Thomas Struth: Fotografien 1978–2010, Kunsthaus Zürich/Zurich (2010), Whitechapel Gallery/London
(2011), Kunstsammlung Nordrhein Westfalen/Düsseldorf (2011), Museo Servales/Porto (2012)
Thomas Struth: Familienleben, Die Photographische Sammlung, SK Stiftung Kultur/Cologne (2008)
Thomas Struth: Pergamon Museum, Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Gegenwart/Berlin 2004
Thomas Struth: Picturing the World, Museum of Contemporary Art/Chicago (2003)
Publications (selection)
Thomas Struth. Fotografien 1978-2010. Exh. cat. Kunsthaus Zürich/Zurich, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein
Westfalen/Düsseldorf, Museo Servales/Porto and Whitechapel/London. 2010.
Annette Emde: Thomas Struth. Stadt- und Strassenbilder. Architektur und öffentlicher Raum in der
Fotografie der Gegenwartskunst. 2008.
Thomas Struth. Familienleben. Exh. cat. Die Photographische Sammlung, SK Stiftung Kultur/Cologne.
Cologne 2008.
Hans Belting: Thomas Struth. Museum Photographs. Exh. cat. Hamburger Kunsthalle. Munich 1993.