![]() ![]() The precise compositions reveal not just the architectural ideas behind a building's surface, but also the visions and hopes of an entire age. Each Schulman image unites perception and understanding for the buildings and their place in the landscape. The clarity of his work demanded that architectural photography had to be considered as an independent art form. The brilliance of buildings like those by Charles Eames, as well as those of his close Friend, Richard Neutra, was first brought to light by Shulman's photography. Some of his architectural photographs, like the iconic shots of Frank Lloyd Wright's or Pierre Koenig's remarkable structures, have been published countless times. A book on modern architecture without Shulman is inconceivable. Organised as it is, in three detailed yet easy to manage sections interspersed with generous commentary, this beautifully presented collection is a fitting tribute to both mid-century architecture, and the man who dedicated his life to capturing it.American photographer Julius Shulman's images of Californian architecture have burned themselves into the retina of the 20th century. So impressive and overarching is his work that it's often difficult to picture the buildings he photographed without the epochal Shulman-hue over them. Shulman brought this 'Southern Californian lifestyle' to a world stage, and his stylised images are imprinted on the retina of the 20th century because of it. 'In Shulman’s vision, the meticulous organisation of interior space, so reassuring in an often chaotic world, is balanced by the free form of an ad-hoc landscape.' 'Growing up in Southern California, at a time when Los Angeles was far closer to nature than it is today, gave Shulman the background to understand the near seamless compatibility of interior and exterior that is a hallmark of modernist design,' Ethington writes. But it was Shulman's Californian childhood that primed him to have such a universal modernist's eye. Ethington's biographical introduction explains. ![]() Shulman's unique access inside the homes, where he was welcomed as an esteemed guest time after time, reflects his close friendship with many of the master modernists, allowing him to deftly and respectfully capture their work as it was intended to be seen – as a place in which to live and exist.Īlthough most often remembered for his commitment to photographing Californian architecture, Modernism Rediscovered represents Shulman's work across the rest of the USA, and further afield in Hong Kong, Israel and Mexico, as Philip J. But here, it's the mix of previously unseen, quiet portraits and intimate family shots that make us look again, and 'rediscover' modernism as the title asks of us. It's all too easy to become immune to the power of these iconic images, having seen them stamped across magazines and in photobooks for two generations. Volume to volume, the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright and Oscar Niemeyer feature amongst a catalogue of genre-defining talent from Frank Gehry's swooping structures to the swathes of white walls that characterise Le Corbusier. Taschen, who enjoyed a close publishing relationship with Shulman since 1998, sensitively whittled the selection down to 1,008 pages, split into three insightful volumes entitled Modernism Rediscovered. Publisher Benedikt Taschen has surveyed the 260,000-strong photo archive of Julius Shulman (1920 – 2009), in order to find the hidden gems and shining moments of the architectural photographer's illustrious career.
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