Monday, January 31, 2011

Ezra Stoller and Modern Architecture

Ezra Stoller and Julius Shulman were arguably the most influential and successful (in terms of the quality of their work and the significance of their commissions, not necessarily monetarily) architectural photographers of the 20th Century. Between them, they photographed the work of all of the top modern architects, including Wright, Neutra, van der Rohe, Johnson, Pei, Saarinen, etc..  Not long ago I found a copy of Ezra Stoller's book Modern Architecture, which was last reprinted in 1999. I had been meaning to get this book for many years.  Now I regret that it took me so long to get it. 

Shulman's work tends to get more recognition than Stoller's, perhaps because there are more books devoted to Shulman's work, some of which are still in print; and perhaps also because Schulman produced several iconic images (such as his famous photo of Richard Neutra's Kaufman house), that have received very broad exposure in publications beyond those devoted to architecture.  However, I think Stoller's work is of equal quality, and I think I even prefer it  to that of Shulman.

In any case, I think that anyone interested in architecture and architectural photography should take a good look at Stoller's work in this book.  Of course one can find examples of his work in many books on modern architecture, but I think it is especially useful to view his body of work in one place.

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