Ben Brown Fine Arts presents Candida Höfer’s Villa Borghese series. Höfer’s Libraries was the inaugural exhibition at Ben Brown Fine Arts’ Cork Street space in 2004. Now celebrating its 10th year, her return for Villa Borghese holds special significance for the gallery.

Commissioned by the Galleria Borghese in 2012 for their Committenze Contemporanee project, Höfer’s series captures the institution’s architectural splendour and history. The statues raised on blue plinths in each image form part of the Galleria’s rich narrative. First owned by the Galleria, sold to French collectors, and then loaned back to the museum by the Louvre, they are here poignantly depicted in their original environment. Produced using only natural light with a long exposure and untouched by digital alteration, Höfer’s photographs couple a rare intimacy with monumentality of scale. Customarily devoid of human presence, yet resonating with the academic spirit of the institution's founder, Cardinal Scipione Borghese, the Villa Borghese series encapsulates Höfer’s sensitivity to place.

These images will be complemented by a selection of iconic images from Ben Brown Fine Arts’ 2004 exhibition, marking the longstanding representation of the artist and her ongoing fascination with institutional spaces.

A member of the Düsseldorf School (Kunstakademie Düsseldorf), Höfer was a noted pupil of Bernd and Hilla Becher. Whilst retaining the Bechers’ documentary style in her methodical processes, Höfer’s large-scale colour prints display a heightened sympathy with her subjects’ culture and history.

Image: © Candida Hofer
Courtesy of the artist and Ben Brown Fine Arts