New topographics (photographic genre)
New Topographics is a style of urban landscape photography that began in the United States in the mid-1970s. It presents man-made landscapes in a neutral, straight-on way, avoiding romantic or dramatic views. Photographers focus on ordinary, everyday places—suburban sprawl, factories, parking lots, roads and other infrastructure—shown without emotion or opinion.
The term was coined by curator William Jenkins in 1975 for the exhibition New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape at the George Eastman House, and it has since described an ongoing movement influencing how photographers in the U.S. and Europe depict the built environment. The look is deadpan and informative, aiming to convey lots of detail about the landscape while leaving beauty and sentiment out.
New Topographics has shaped later photography. Alec Soth has cited its influence on Sleeping by the Mississippi, while Joel Sternfeld's American Prospects blends New Topographics restraint with other styles. Richard Misrach's Desert Cantos and Mitch Epstein's American Power extend the approach to ecological and political issues. The movement also influenced German photographers connected to Bernd and Hilla Becher, including Andreas Gursky, Thomas Struth, Candida Höfer, and figures such as Joachim Brohm, Hans-Christian Schink, Michael Schmidt, Hildegard Ochse, and Heinrich Riebesehl.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 02:32 (CET).