Julius Shulman: Architecture and its Photography [Hardcover]

Julius Shulman (Author), Peter Gossel (Editor), Julius Schulman (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 16, 1999

American photographer Julius Shulman's images of Californian architecture have burned themselves into the retina of the 20th century. A book on modern architecture without Shulman is inconceivable. 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. 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. The clarity of his work demanded that architectural photography had to be considered as an independent art form. Each Schulman image unites perception and understanding for the buildings and their place in the landscape. The precise compositions reveal not just the architectural ideas behind a building's surface, but also the visions and hopes of an entire age. A sense of humanity is always present in his work, even when the human figure is absent from the actual photographs. Today, a great many of the buildings documented by Shulman have disappeared or been crudely converted, but the thirst for his pioneering images is stronger than ever before. This is a vivid journey across six decades of great architecture and classic photography through the famously incomparable eyes of Julius Shulman.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Our contact with great architecture tends to be indirect, through representations. Few of us have seen the Taj Mahal, yet we all know exactly what it looks like. The useful act of photographing buildings can be an art, particularly when the photographer's presence seems to recede, and a great architectural shot suggests that you're seeing things as they are rather than through someone else's prism.

Julius Shulman has documented buildings in that seemingly transparent way for more than six decades. This meticulous and prolific craftsman was in the right place, California, at the right time, the golden age of West Coast modern residential architecture that spanned the 1930s to the 1960s. Richard Neutra helped him get his start, and he recorded early modernists such as Wright, Schindler, Soriano, Harris, Frey, Ain, Stone, Gropius, Kahn, and Neutra, as well as younger ones such as Goff, Lautner, Ellwood, Koenig, Drake, Killingsworth, Eames, Greene, Legoretta, and even early Frank Gehry. His view camera captured the glamour of hillside steel-and-glass houses cantilevered above the city lights, the serenity of desert vacation homes at dusk, and the clean-lined ingenuity of young architects working on modest budgets.

Shulman's text is a knotty quasi biography, but some good stories lurk there. This is a physically impressive book: its 300 large-format pages contain 500 superbly reproduced color and black-and-white photos that are worth more than the proverbial thousand words each. --John Pastier

Product Details

• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: Taschen; First Edition edition (January 16, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3822872040
• ISBN-13: 978-3822872048
• Product Dimensions: 12.7 x 9.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #877,227 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning design, beautiful photography, entertaining memoir, December 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Julius Shulman: Architecture and its Photography (Hardcover)

An extraordinary and rare book. Master architectural photographer Julius Shulman showcases the stunning modern designs of Neutra, Koenig, Eames, and others with extraordinary talent and craft. The photographs literally glow. Many of them bowl you over with their beauty. Others have the camp value of '50s advertising: housewives in modern kitchens, families lounging at poolside, couples entertaining in open living spaces. Shulman adds considerable depth by recalling his relationships with the architects, his encounters with the homeowners, his notes on making the photographs. If you admire modern design, appreciate fine photography, and like a good story, this is a book you will cherish.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent graphic material and a sensitive life story ., November 29, 1998

By 

Julio Villar Marcos ([e-mail]) (Montevideo, Uruguay) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Julius Shulman: Architecture and its Photography (Hardcover)

By pure chance my son browsed this book in Madrid and found it extremely interesting, so I decided to buy it through Amazon. To my surprise, I found that somehow it belongs to my own life story, because in 1966, in L.A. I met Julius and organized the trip to Uruguay mentioned in pages 211 th 217. In this highly valuable volume, the roots of the modern California architecture and its subsequent development are brightly displayed and wittingly evoked by a man who saw it happen and really played an important role in the process. Shulman's comments on people and places are acute, humorous and, I must say from my own experience, tell the real thing. About the photography. Every architect has a penchant to it, mainly regarding his works, so I strongly advice my colleages through the world to read this book and think how Shulman does it. This simple exercise will undoubtedly help them a lot. In brief, a book to occupy a privileged place in my library, to consult as a permanent reference whenever a new work is finished and needs to be documented.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this book, January 9, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Julius Shulman: Architecture and its Photography (Hardcover)

If one is ever to purchase a book concerning mid-century modernism, purchase this book. The photography is amazing, and inspiring. The text is informative without being verbose. This is definitely one of the top ten favourites in my collection.
Mr. Shulman is absolutely brilliant.