• Bernd and Hilla Becher (photographers)

View of a blast furnace head of the U.S. Steel mill, Youngstown, Ohio

1981

- The group of 86 photographs PH1987:0996 - PH1987:1081 by Bernd and Hilla Becher show 75 views of steel mill blast furnaces and 11 views of mines. There are 45 views of steel mill blast furnaces in Germany, 15 in the United States, and five in each of France, Luxembourg and Belgium. There are five views of mines in Germany, two in Belgium, two in the United States, and one in each of France and Wales.
- The group of 86 photographs PH1987:0996 - PH1987:1081 by Bernd and Hilla Becher show 15 views of steel mill blast furnaces in the United States including: three views of the Bethlehem Steel steel mill in Johnstown, Pennsylvania (PH1987:1054 - PH1987:1056); three views of the U.S. Steel steel mill in Youngstown, Ohio (PH1987:1038, PH1987:1057, and PH1987:1059); two views of the Sheet & Tube Co. steel mill in Youngstown, Ohio (PH1987:1060 - PH1987:1061); and one view each of the Republic Steel steel mill in Youngstown, Ohio (PH1987:1047), the Central Furnaces of the U.S. Steel steel mill in Cleveland, Ohio (PH1987:1039), the U.S. Steel Duquesne Plant in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (PH1987:1040), the U.S. Steel Edgar Thompson Plant in Braddock, Pennsylvania (PH1987:1041), the Jones & Laughlin Steel Co. steel mill in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (PH1987:1062), the U.S. Steel steel mill in Gary, Indiana (PH1987:1058), and the Bethlehem Steel steel mill in Sparrows Point, Baltimore, Maryland (PH1987:1037).
- The photographers indicate that the group of ten photographs PH1987:1032 - PH1987:1041 of views of blast furnace heads should be exhibited in two rows arranged from left to right and top to bottom in numerical order according to the photographers' inscriptions "K 1" through "K 10". Photograph PH1987:1032 would therefore be at the far left of the upper row, while photograph PH1987:1041 would be at the far right of the bottom row (Kicken Pauseback, 1987).

Gelatin silver print

comp.: 40.5 x 30.8 cm

PH1987:1038

• exterior view

inscribed, numbered, signed and dated - by the photographers, in graphite, on the print, verso, c.: "US STEEL / YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO" [erased]; "K 7" [circled]; "Bernd Becher / Hilla Becher"; "5 7" [circled; erased]; l.l.: "US STEEL, YOUNGSTOWN OHIO"; and l.r.: "1981" imprinted - in grey ink, on the print, verso, throughout: "Agfa" [diagonally; upside down; underlined twice]

Youngstown; Ohio; United States;

• architecture
• ingénierie

• blast furnace
• steel mill

© Estate Bernd & Hilla Becher, represented by Max Becher