Thomas Struth
Todai-Ji, Daibutsu-den, Nara
1996
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The subjects of Thomas Struth's photographs may be simple,
but his work resonates with an almost Hegelian sense of
history, time, place and meaning. On view in this show are
Struth's recent images from Japan. Nagato Bay is a dreamy
landscape that references ancient Japanese painting. The
human condition is the overriding theme of his portraits of his
Japanese friends. The Okustsu Family in Tatami Room,
Yamaguchi features a family of four seated in quiet repose on
a reed mat, gazing into infinity. The most spectacular of the
images on view is the nearly 6-by-8-foot Todai-Ji, Daibutsu-
den, Nara, an image of the famous temple glowing in a serene
gray-white light. Perhaps the most haunting works are the
unpeopled black-and-white urban street scenes hung in the
gallery's back room.
Struth's photographs are often permeated by this peculiar
gray-white light, which seems to lend them a quiet, almost
melancholy serenity. In the past, it seemed to me that the
images are somehow enhanced with either special lights or in
the darkroom. However, while visiting the exhibition, I had the
opportunity to ask the artist about his process and about the
light in his recent works. He denied the use of any technical
tricks. "I wait," he said. "I wait for the right light. I would never
have photographed the temple, for instance, on a sunny day
against a bright blue sky."
Struth is well known as a member of the group of German
photographers, including Andreas Gursky and Thomas Ruff,
who were inspired in the early '80s by Bernd and Hilla Becher,
whose sharp-focus black-and-white studies of industrial
architecture are bathed in a crisp, clear light. Struth's next big
exhibition is a show of recent portraits and a new video work
that opens later this year at the Sprengel Museum in Hannover,
Germany.
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