Julius Shulman 1910-2009

Los Angeles Times

It is hard to tell what made mid-century architecture so popular, was it the design, or was it the incredible photography? On the east coast the credit was usually to Ezra Stoller, but from the west coast, if it was amazing, the name on the photo was Julius Shulman. He influenced architecture as much as the architects did; In the LA times they write that his photographs "are so redolent of the era in which they were built you can practically hear the Sinatra tunes wafting in the air and the ice clinking in the cocktail glasses."

The case study houses, which Shulman photographed and made so stunningly beautiful, were an attempt at reinventing the way houses were built. Modern architecture never looked so good.

Who knows, if photographers could make modern green design look this good, perhaps everyone would want it. Julius Shulman, dead at 98.

More on Julius Shulman:
Julius Shulman : Modernism Rediscovered
Residence 1 by Albert Frey, 1947