Stratosphere Tower, Las Vegas

Axel Hütte

Among the celebrated postwar German photographers collectively named the Düsseldorf School, Axel Hütte is known for his large-scale, coolly beautiful photographs of urban and natural landscapes. Alongside such artistic peers as Andreas Gursky and Thomas Ruff, Hütte studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy under the influential husband-wife photography duo Bernd and Hilla Becher. He shoots “straight,” aiming to document the scenes before his lens with an almost clinical detachment, and he avoids any manipulation of his negatives and prints. Through this approach, Hütte explores our perception of the world. “In my landscape work I am working with the emptiness, avoiding any signs of civilization or narrative indication, so in [the] best case you are lost in time and space,” Hütte once explained. “Irritation of . . . perception and awakening the fantasy or imagination of the beholder is my aim.”