Libraries - Candida Höfer and Umberto Eco - Thames & Hudson, 2006

Born 1944, Eberswalde, Germany; lives in Cologne, Germany. Candida Höfer is particularly well-known for her technical perfection and conceptual approach to her art. She produces large-format color photographs of architectural interiors that double as systematic visual studies of social and public spaces, devoid of human presence. Her works chronicle the physiology of social architecture and are noted for their subtle allusions to human activity. Höfer is meticulous in her practice and is determined to do “justice” to the places she photographs; throughout her career she has photographed spectacular cultural spaces including libraries, museums, theaters, universities, as well as historic houses and palaces. Candida Höfer has exhibited widely in her native Germany and abroad, in museums such as Kunstsammlung Nordrhein Westfalen in Dusseldorf; Museum Ludwig in Cologne; Newport Harbor Art Museum in Newport Beach, California; Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia and the Saint Louis Art Museum in Saint Louis, Missouri, to name a few. Her photographs are found in public and private collections throughout the world, including the Bibliothëque Nationale de France, Paris; Museum of Modern Art, New York, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others.