When Shulman was 10, the family moved to Los Angeles. He graduated from Roosevelt High School, where he took his only course in photography. After being what he termed "an academic drifter" for seven years at UCLA and UC Berkeley, he left college without a degree.
In 1936, just two weeks after leaving Berkeley, a man who was renting a room from Shulman's sister invited him along to see a Richard Neutra's Kun House. Shulman always carried a camera with him and took photos of the house. The man, who worked as a draftsman for Neutra, showed the photographs to the architect, who sent for the young Shulman and ordered more prints.
As a result of this chance meeting with Neutra, Shulman met other prominent architects, such as Rafael Soriano and Rudolph Schindler. After serving in World War II, Shulman came home to find himself in even more demand than before the war. Of the two dozen Case Study homes designed by such architects as Charles Eames, Craig Ellwood, A. Quincy Jones, Pierre Koenig, Neutra and Soriano, Shulman took photographs of 18.
Before his 70-year career ended, he also photographed the houses of Gregory Ain, Frank Lloyd Wright, John Lautner, Eero Saarinen, Albert Frey, Frank Gehry, Harwell Harris and many others. His work was contained in virtually every book published on modernist architects.
The image of Koenig's Case Study House #22, which was built for Carlotta and Buck Stahl, was the photograph that would secure Shulman's reputation and career. The black-and-white image, taken from outside the house as the sun was setting May 9, 1960, shows two pretty women dressed for a special night out, but for the moment, sitting and chatting. The image became an iconic snapshot of the good life.
Always generous with what he knew about his profession, Shulman for decades conducted seminars in photography at USC, UCLA and other universities. He was awarded the American Institute of Architecture's Gold Medal for architectural photography in 1969.
When Shulman was well into his 90s, a three-volume set called Modernism Rediscovered was published by Taschen. The set features more than 400 of his architectural projects.
From latimes.com and metropolismag.com
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| Neutra's Kun House la.curbed.com |
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| Eames/Saarinen's Entenza Residence metropolismag.com |
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| Soriano's Krause Residence metropolismag.com |
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| Gehry's Steeves Residence metropolismag.com |
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| Ain's Wilfong Residence metropolismag.com |
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| Koenig's Stahl House (Case Study House #22) juliusshulmanfilm.com |
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| Shulman at work siongchin.com |
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| Shulman at work in later years viewfromaloft.org |
If you haven't seen the documentary Visual Acoustics, I recommend that you visit the film site to learn more about the available DVD or about screening dates on the Sundance Channel and elsewhere.
Sounds like a great book for the Santa list! The photographs still resonate today, the contrast is so crisp!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I think the set costs $500! I'll have to wait till it comes way down in price like the Eames book did.
DeleteThanks for giving the background story behind the pictures behind those fabulous houses. I have admired the L.A. picture of the women in the corner of the house perched on a cliff for years. And another book recommendation. Yes, that is a lot. Maybe used at some point.
ReplyDeleteThe video costs less than $25 on Amazon...and is free for Amazon Prime members to stream. (I love that membership!) It's an amazing film, and watching it will have to do till the 3-volume set turns up on half.com one of these days.
DeleteI think I seen "Shulman at work in later years" eyeglasses at a thrift store last week.
ReplyDeleteSuch gorgeous homes!!
Although I think I would be slightly scared to sit back and relax in the corner of the case study house #22. You know the corner... that's just hanging there above the cliff edge.
Sitting in that corner of the room would make me very, very nervous too. I never had a fear of heights till I was in my mid-40s, and all of a sudden it hit me. The older I get, the worse it gets. I even hate climbing a ladder now, so I know I wouldn't like hanging over a cliff.
DeleteShulman was so amazing. There has never been, and never will be, anyone who can capture the feeling of a mid century modern home as well as that man.
ReplyDeleteYou're so right. He understood them like no one else...sometimes even better than the architects did, I think, because he had a feel for the furnishings and not just the structures alone. He actually had some critics who said he made the homes look too good with his extensive staging and lighting. Be that as it may, I'm glad he did what he did. His images are treasures.
DeleteThose really are images of the good life. So soothing to look at and imagine a different time.
ReplyDeleteI'd never really thought about it before, but his photographs really do have a soft and soothing luminosity.
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