to the light

Irioptika

In Homage To...

Julius Schulman

For 70 years, Shulman steadily created one of the most comprehensive visual chronologies of modern architecture and the development of the Los Angeles region. The prints in the exhibition are selected from a portfolio of more than 70,000 images.

Julius Shulman is renowned for some of the most iconic photographs in architectural history. His images seem to reveal the essence of an architect's vision and capture the spirit of the eras in which they were produced.

Julius Shulman's intuitive timing and distinctive camera angles produced bold portraits of hundreds of modern structures beyond Los Angeles. Through Shulman's lens, buildings become unique studies of mass, shadow, and light.

Julius Shulman's attentive professionalism was as critical to his success as his pioneering principles of design. His impeccably organized working archive of 260,000 prints, negatives, and color transparencies enabled him to fulfill the requests of generations of clients in architecture, construction, academia, publishing, and the media. Rather than guard his efficient business methods and photographic techniques, Shulman shares his acquired knowledge in his book The Photography of Architecture and Design: Photographing Buildings, Interiors, and the Visual Arts (1977).

Shulman enhanced the text with revealing photographs of the tools of his trade. Displayed collectively, these images render a self-portrait of the photographer as a proud entrepreneur dedicated to the development of his craft, the promotion of his product, and the perpetuation of his legacy.

While global demands for his talent allowed Shulman to travel extensively, Los Angeles has always been his home. The thousands of photographs he has taken of the city now serve as significant visual records of the unique urban fabric of Los Angeles. Poetic images of subjects not normally associated with Shulman, such as streetscapes, movie palaces, factories, and bustling markets, highlight the energy and style of a metropolis that continues to define itself.

Excerpted from: Getty Museum