By Design on the ABC recently had a programme on Julius Shulman, the American photographer of (Californian) modernist architecture of the 1950s that incorporated the sleek lines, broad expanses of glass, and steel frame construction popularized by European architects in the 1930s.

He shot glossy, stylized images of California cool, which in turn promoted the architecture of Richard Neutra, and John Lautner, and their colleagues. His iconic photographs symbolized the polished freedom of LA living, evoked by shots like that of models lounging in Pierre Koenig’s Case Study House No. 22.

His images were dramatic and clean, like the lines of the modern buildings he shot, but also playful, redolent of the easygoing California lifestyle that he helped to define. His specialty was domestic architecture, and in his later years, with the rediscovery of mid-century modernism and the helpful promotion of the publisher Taschen, he became something of a minor celebrity.

Giselle Arteaga-Johnson in Narrating Modern Space:The Interior View says of Shulman's architectural work that:

He frames his images as narratives by photographing interrelated compositions of space and Modern furniture that serve as guides, allowing the viewer to imagine walking through the room. In this way, Shulman depicts homes as stage sets, using furniture and architecture to suggest a modern living style unique to California....Shulman achieve[s] the unique effect of blurring the lines between what is inside and what is outside

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Posted by: Pam | October 1, 2009 2:13 PM