Axel Hütte studied at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf (1973-1981), where he was taught by Bernd and Hilla Becher and his fellow students included some of the leading figures of the rehabilitation of photography undertaken by the so-called Düsseldorf School or New German Photography. His work, which was supported by grants to study in London and Venice from 1986 to 1988, was initially in black and white and small format, and was inspired by the essentialism of New Objectivity in urban landscapes with no human figures. His photographic work, developed around travel, began in the 1990s with a trip through southern Europe, and comprised large format photographs in colour. He achieved formal perfection and extraordinary details, capturing landscapes focused both on the architecture of cities and on the majesty and sublime character of nature; he embraced the idea of dissolving human dimensions by doing away with spatial references, in blocks of colour, elements and textures that are diluted or repeated ad infinitum, overriding any cultural or geographical references. Special mention should be made of his series Fog (1994-2003), which includes photos of Switzerland, Spain, Iceland, Germany and Hawaii; Tropics (1998-2002), with photographs of Australia, South Africa, Costa Rica and Brazil; and Night (1998-2003), in which he returns to the idea of architecture as landscape through night-time images of buildings in the most important cities of the planet, including Paris, London and New York.
Since his first solo show at the Konrad Fischer Gallery in Düsseldorf in 1984, his work has been widely showcased at major international institutions, including exhibitions at the Hamburger Kunsthalle (Hamburg, Germany, 1993); and the Fotomuseum Winterthur (Winterthur, Switzerland, 1997). He has also exhibited in Spain at the Velázquez Palace, Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid, 2004), the César Manrique Foundation (Lanzarote, 2004), the Telefónica Foundation (Madrid, 2008), the Valencia Institute of Modern Art (Valencia, 2009) and the San Telmo Museum (San Sebastián, 2014).
Axel Hütte studied at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf (1973-1981), where he was taught by Bernd and Hilla Becher and his fellow students included some of the leading figures of the rehabilitation of photography undertaken by the so-called Düsseldorf School or New German Photography. His work, which was supported by grants to study in London and Venice from 1986 to 1988, was initially in black and white and small format, and was inspired by the essentialism of New Objectivity in urban landscapes with no human figures. His photographic work, developed around travel, began in the 1990s with a trip through southern Europe, and comprised large format photographs in colour. He achieved formal perfection and extraordinary details, capturing landscapes focused both on the architecture of cities and on the majesty and sublime character of nature; he embraced the idea of dissolving human dimensions by doing away with spatial references, in blocks of colour, elements and textures that are diluted or repeated ad infinitum, overriding any cultural or geographical references. Special mention should be made of his series Fog (1994-2003), which includes photos of Switzerland, Spain, Iceland, Germany and Hawaii; Tropics (1998-2002), with photographs of Australia, South Africa, Costa Rica and Brazil; and Night (1998-2003), in which he returns to the idea of architecture as landscape through night-time images of buildings in the most important cities of the planet, including Paris, London and New York.
Since his first solo show at the Konrad Fischer Gallery in Düsseldorf in 1984, his work has been widely showcased at major international institutions, including exhibitions at the Hamburger Kunsthalle (Hamburg, Germany, 1993); and the Fotomuseum Winterthur (Winterthur, Switzerland, 1997). He has also exhibited in Spain at the Velázquez Palace, Museo Reina Sofía (Madrid, 2004), the César Manrique Foundation (Lanzarote, 2004), the Telefónica Foundation (Madrid, 2008), the Valencia Institute of Modern Art (Valencia, 2009) and the San Telmo Museum (San Sebastián, 2014).