SIGNED Color Photograph
Art+Auction, 'In the Studio: Candida Höfer', February 2005, p. 30.
Candida Höfer: Architecture of Absence, Aperture, New York, 2004, cover image and p. 79.
Candida Höfer: Monographie, Schirmer/Mosel, Munich, Germany, 2003, plate 103.
This image is the cover image of Höfer's first major English-language monograph devoted to her work, published in conjunction with the artist's first United States retrospective, 'Candida Höfer: Architecture of Absence', which traveled the U.S. in 2007.In addition, Höfer's 'Bourse du Travail IV, Calais, 2001' was included in the group exhibition, 'Les Grands Spectacles' at the Museum der Moderne Salzburg Mönchsberg, Austria in 2005.
The Cologne-based photographer Candida Höfer will be awarded the Käthe Kollwitz Prize 2024. The Academy of Arts honors one of the world’s most recognized German photographers with the award. Candida Höfer’s oeuvre, which has grown over five decades, is part of the contemporary photographic avant-garde. Her large-format photographs show public and semi-public spaces in striking historical libraries, museums and opera houses. The motifs show places of encounter, communication, memory and knowledge, but also relaxation and recreation. The artist herself describes her works not as architectural photographs, but as portraits of spaces.
Ever since embarking on her first photographic projects in the early 1970s, Candida Höfer has been primarily interested in what could best be termed public space - interiors, such as libraries, auditoriums, lobbies, foyers, museums, club houses or, more rarely, urban scenarios such as public squares, streets or zoos. Höfer's recent photographs present a systematic study of rooms in various libraries, some modern and institutional, others centuries old and grand. Her straightforward and detached style seems at first objective and purely documentary, but is ultimately overtaken by incongruous elements and the mimetic nature of her subject matter. People are noticeably absent from her highly formal images. Instead, Hofer emphasizes repeated forms within the rooms such as chairs, tables, bookshelves and light fixtures to create patterns and produce a sense of orderliness. However, despite their conspicuous absence, it is people in whom Hofer is most interested; our culture and lifestyle are reflected in the architecture and interiors we create.
Candida Höfer's relationship to architecture is fully in keeping with the New Objectivity tradition. Her photographs of public spaces are almost sober and ascetic in feel - especially as she forgoes any spectacular staging of the locations. The emptiness is imbued with substance with a subtle attention to colour, and the prevailing silence instilled with a metaphysical quality. Even when Höfer's photographs present significant works of renowned architects or designers, her incorruptible and consistently laconic approach means that the architectural mind in question takes a back seat to the photographer.
Candida Höfer was born in 1944. She was a student at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art and studied film under Ole John before going on to study photography under Bernd Becher. The influence of the precise, scientifically minded Bechers (under whom Andreas Gursky, Thomas Struth and Thomas Ruff also studied), is very apparent in Hofer's work. She has taken part in many group exhibitions and has held countless solo shows, most recently at the Venice Biennale -- along side Martin Kippenberger they represented Germany -- and at Documenta XI, where her Zwölf - Twelve cycle was displayed. She is one of the greats of the international photographic and art community.
Candida Höfer is represented by Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, NY.
SELECT RECENT SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2024
'Candida Höfer', The Academy of Arts, Berlin, Germany (September 2024)
2023
'Candida Höfer: Epic Gaze', Macao Museum of Art (MAM), China (12/6/2023 - 3/3/2024)
'Candida Höfer: Lumière', Galerie Thomas Zander, Paris, France
'Candida Höfer: Reflections of Spaces - Spaces of Reflection', Kotaro Nukaga (Roppongi), Tokyo, Japan
'Candida Höfer: Heaven on Earth', Sean Kelly, New York, NY
'Candida Höfer: Berlin und Anderswo', Konrad Fischer Galerie, Berlin, Germany
2022
'Candida Höfer: Uninterrupted Spaces', Ben Brown Fine Arts, Central, Hong Kong
'Candida Höfer: Libraries - Churches - Theatres', Galleri K, Oslo, Norway
'Candida Höfer: Liechtenstein', Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, Liechtenstein
'Our Selves: Photographs by Women Artists from Helen Kornblum' (group exhibition), Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY
'Candida Höfer: Kunsthistorisches Institut Bonn', Paul Clemen Museum, Kunsthistorisches Institut Bonn, Bonn, Germany
'Schindler House Los Angeles: Space as a Medium of Art' (group exhibition), MAK Austrian Museum for Applied Arts / Contemporary Art, Vienna, Austria
'Candida Höfer: Image and Space', Berlin Museum for Photography, Berlin, Germany
'Body | spaces' (group exhibition), Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
2021
'Candida Höfer: Libraries, Museums and A Theatre', Ben Brown Fine Art, London, UK
'Candida Höfer: Belgisches Haus', Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany
2020
'Candida Höfer', Kukje Gallery, Busan, South Korea
'Candida Höfer: Enlightened Spaces', Matthew Liu Fine Arts, Shanghai, China
'Candida Höfer: Libraries: The Return', Neue Galerie Gladbeck, Germany
2019
'Candida Höfer: About Structures and Colors', Galería Helga de Alvear, Madrid, Spain
'Candida Höfer', Hall Art Foundation, Schloss Derneburg Museum, Derneburg, Germany
'Candida Höfer: In Mexico', Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, NY
'Candida Höfer: Paris: Faces des Espaces', VNH Gallery, Paris, France
'Contemplations: The Large and the Small-The Still and the Moving', Yuka Tsuruno Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
'Candida Höfer: In Moskau', Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich, Germany
'Candida Höfer: Showing and Seeing', Ben Brown Fine Arts, London, UK
2018
'Candida Höfer: In Mexico', North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA), Raleigh, NC
'Candida Höfer: Spaces of Enlightenment', Kukje Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
'Candida Höfer : In Mexico', Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico
'Candida Höfer: Elbphilharmonie 2016', Ungers Archiv für Architekturwissenschaft (UAA), Köln, Germany
2017
'Candida Höfer: Spaces and Places', Rena Bransten Projects, San Francisco, CA
2016
'Candida Höfer: Observations', Galerie Thomas Zander, Köln, Germany
'Candida Höfer: Memory, Selected from the State Hermitage Museum Exhibition', Ben Brown Fine Arts, Hong Kong
'Candida Höfer: Bibliotheken', Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich, Germany
'Candida Höfer: Palaces of St-Petersburg', Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, Russia
'Candida Höfer: Nach Berlin', Neuer Berliner Kunstverein (NBK), Berlin, Germany
2015
'Candida Höfer: From Düsseldorf', Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, NY
'Candida Höfer: Memory', The Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia
'Candida Höfer: Spaces of Knowledge', Galleri K, Oslo, Norway
'Candida Höfer: On Methods', Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing, China
'Candida Höfer: Les Bourgeois de Calais a Venice', Ca’Pesaro Galleria Internazionale, Venice, Italy
'Candida Höfer. Memory', Ben Brown Fine Arts, London, UK
'Candida Hófer', Galería Helga de Alvear, Madrid, Spain
2014
'Candida Höfer: Villa Borghese', Ben Brown Fine Arts, London, UK
'Candida Hófer: Villa Borghese', Tsuruno Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
'Candida Hófer: Immagini di Architettura', Fondazione Bisazza, Vicenza, Italy
'Candida Hófer: Immagini di Architettura', Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Munich, Germany
'Candida Hófer: Dusseldorf', Kunstmuseum Luzern, Luzern, Switzerland
'Candida Hófer: Dusseldorf', Landesgalerie Linz, Linz, Austria
'Candida Hófer: Dusseldorf', Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, Switzerland
2013
'Candida Höfer: Villa Borghese', Sonnabend Gallery, New York, NY
'Candida Höfer: Düsseldorf', Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast (SMKP), Düsseldorf, Germany
2012
'Candida Höfer', Artipelag, Värmdö Island, Sweden
'Envisioning Buildings' (group exhibition), MAK, Vienna, Austria
2011
'Candida Höfer', Kukje Gallery, Seoul, Korea
'Candida Höfer: Interior Worlds', Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
'Candida Höfer: Erinnern', Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris, France
'Candida Höfer: Projects: Done, 1968-2008', Lower Belvedere, Vienna, Austria
'Street Life and Home Stories: Photographs from the Goetz Collection' (group exhibition), Museum Villa Stuck, Munich, Germany
'Candida Höfer', Fúcares Gallery, Madrid, Spain
'Candida Höfer / Kuehn Malvezzi', Galleria Marabini, Bologna, Italy
2010
'Candida Höfer: Infinite Moments', Pinnacle Gallery, Savannah, GA
'Candida Höfer: Florence and Naples', Sonnabend Gallery, New York, NY
'Candida Höfer: Infinite Moments', ACA Gallery of SCAD, Atlanta, GA
'Stephen Shore and the New Düsseldorf Photography' (group exhibition), NRW-Forum Düsseldorf, Germany
'Candida Höfer: Projects: Done, 1968-2008', Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo (CAAC), Sevilla, Spain
'Candida Höfer: Philadelphia', Galerie der Stadt Tuttlingen, Tuttlingen, Germany
'Candida Höfer', Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Münich, Germany
'Candida Höfer: Florence and Naples', Sonnabend Gallery, New York, NY
'Candida Höfer: Zoologische Gärten', Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA
'Candida Höfer: Projects: Done, 1968-2008', Museo de Arte Contemporanea de Vigo (MARCO), Vigo, Spain
'Candida Höfer und Kuehn Malvezzi: Architekten Fotografien', Oldenburger Kunstverein, Oldenburg, Germany
2009
'Candida Höfer: Part Two Naples', Ben Brown Fine Art, London, UK
'Candida Höfer: Part One Florence', Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence, Italy
'Düsseldorfer Schule: Photographien von 1970 bis 2008 aus der Sammlung Lothar Schirmer' (group exhibition), Bayerische Akademie der schönen Künste, München, Germany
'Candida Höfer: Part One Florence', Ben Brown Fine Art, London, UK
'Candida Höfer: Part Two Naples', Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy
'Urban Spaces: Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Axel Hütte, Thomas Ruff, Thomas Struth' (group exhibition), Fundación Proa, Buenos Aires, Argentina
'The Making of Art' (group exhibition), Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany
'Candida Höfer: Projects: Done, 1968-2008', Städtisches Museum Schloss Morsbroich, Leverkusen, Germany
'1968: Die große Unschuld' (group exhibition), Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany
'Of Other Spaces' (group exhibition), Columbus College of Art & Design, Columbus, OH
'Schindler House: Candida Höfer and Olia Mishchenko', Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto, Canada
'Candida Höfer: Philadelphia', Sonnabend Gallery, New York, NY
2008
'Candida Höfer', Freie Akademie der Künste, Hamburg, Germany
'Candida Höfer: Weimarer Räume', Museum für Europäische Gartenkunst/Stiftung Schloss und Park Benrath, Düsseldorf, Germany
'Candida Höfer: Paris Serie', Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris, France
'Candida Höfer: Recent Photographs', Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA
'Candida Höfer: Weimarer Räume', Johnen Galerie, Berlin, Germany
'Candida Höfer', Kukje Gallery, Seoul, Korea
'Candida Höfer: Werkgruppen seit 1968', Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe (ZKM), Karlsruhe, Germany
2007
'Candida Höfer: Bologna', Centro Arti Visive Pescheria, Pesaro, Italy
'Candida Höfer and Simone Demandt: auf / zu. Schränke als Wissensgehäuse', Hausmeisterhaus, Museum der Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
'Candida Höfer: Weimarer Räume', Neues Museum Weimar, Weimar, Germany
'Candida Höfer: a Portugal', CaixaForum, Barcelona, Spain
'Candida Höfer: In Portugal', Sonnabend Gallery, New York, NY
'Candida Höfer', Kunsthaus Hamburg, Germany
'Candida Höfer', Lippische Gesellschaft für Kunst e.V., Detmold, Germany
'Candida Höfer: The Brussels Series', Patrick De Brock Gallery, Knokke, Belgium
'Candida Höfer: The Brussels Series', Palais des Beaux-Arts (BOZAR), Centre for Fine Arts , Brussels, Belgium
'Candida Höfer: Palaces, Theatres, Churches and a Casino', Ben Brown Fine Art, London, UK
'Candida Höfer: Argentina Series', Galleri K, Art Cologne, Germany
'Candida Höfer: Louvre, Brazil and other places', Henie Onstad Art Centre, Hovikodden, Norway
'Candida Höfer', Galería Fúcares, Madrid, Spain
'Candida Höfer: Architecture of Absence', Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN
2006
'Candida Höfer: Louvre', Galerie Johnen & Schöttle, Köln, Germany
'Candida Höfer: Em Portugal', Eentro de Exposições do Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon, Portugal
'Candida Höfer: Le Louvre', Sonnabend Gallery, New York, NY
'Candida Höfer', Musée du Louvre, Paris, France
'Candida Höfer: Architecture of Absence', Museum of Art, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
'Candida Höfer', Galerie Rüdiger Schöttle, Münich, Germany
'Candida Höfer: Dublin', Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin, Ireland
'Candida Höfer: Architecture of Absence', Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Philadelphia, PA
'Candida Höfer: Architecture of Absence', Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA
'Candida Höfer', Galerie Karlheinz Meyer, Karlsruhe, Germany
2005
'Candida Höfer: Photographs', La Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice, Italy
'Candida Höfer: Photographs', Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
'Candida Höfer: Fotografie 2004-2005', Museo Fotografia di Contemporanea, Cinisello Balsamo, Milan, Italy
'Candida Höfer: Architecture of Absence', Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL
'Candida Höfer: Timespaces', Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover, Germany
'Candida Höfer: Interiors', Kukje Gallery, Seoul, Korea
'Candida Höfer: Photographs', Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA
'Candida Höfer: Architecture of Absence', University Art Museum at California State University, Long Beach, CA
'Candida Höfer', Gallery of Photography, Sheldon Art Galleries, St. Louis, MO
'Candida Höfer: neue Arbeiten', Johnen Galerie, Berlin, Germany
2004
'Candida Höfer', Arte Contemporanea Alberto Peola, Torino, Italy
'Candida Höfer in Ethnographischen Sammlungen', Volkerkundemuseum, Zürich, Switzerland
'Tschechische Botschaft, Berlin Wilhelmstrasse 44 - Fotografien', Kunsthalle Kiel, Germany
'Schloss St. Emmeram Regensburg', Marstall des Furstlichen Schlosses, Regensburg, Germany
'Candida Höfer: New Work', Sonnabend Gallery, New York, NY
'Candida Höfer', Galerie Rudiger Schöttle, Münich, Germany
'Candida Höfer: Libraries', Ben Brown Gallery, London, UK
'Traces -- Spuren', Goethe-Institut, New York, NY
2003
'Candida Höfer', Antiquariat Grundel Gelbert, Köln, Germany
'Candida Höfer', Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, CA
'Candida Höfer', Johnen + Schöttle, Köln, Germany
'Candida Höfer', Galerie Rudiger Schottle, Münich, Germany
'50th Venice Biennale', German Pavillion (with Martin Kippenberger)
2002
'Zwölf - Twelve', Georg-Kolbe-Museum, Berlin, Germany
'Candida Höfer', Altonaer Museum, Hamburg, Germany
'Zwölf - Twelve', Documenta 11, Kassel, Germany
'Candida Höfer', Galerie Karlheinz Meyer, Karlsruhe, Germany
'The World of Knowledge II', Staatliches Museum fur Volkerkunde, Japanisches Palais and Das Kupferstich-Kabinett, Dresden, Germany
'Candida Höfer: Bibliotheksbilder', Schirmer/Mosel Showroom, Münich, Germany
'Candida Höfer: Basel', Ausstellung im Kunstforum Baloise, Basel, Switzerland
'Leseraume II von Candida Höfer', Krefelder Kunstmuseen, Kaiser Wilelm Museum, Krefeld, Germany
SELECT PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:
Bibliothéque Nationale de France, Paris
Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
Centro de Fotografia Universidad de Salamanca, Spain
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
DG Bank Collection
Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland
Kunsthalle Hamburg, Germany
Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Germany
Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria
Museum Folkwang, Fotografische Sammlung, Essen, Germany
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn, Germany
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Staatliches Museum fur Kunst und Design, Nurnberg, Germany
St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO
ZKM Karlsruhe, Germany