The Master of Modern
More discoveries from the Julius Shulman vaults

TASCHENs Modernism Rediscovered (2000) brought to light for the first time forgotten architectural masterpieces, drawn from photographer Julius Shulmans personal archives. Paying tribute to residential and commercial buildings that had slipped from public view, Shulman`s stunning photographs uncovered a rarely seen side of California Modernism. This extensive, three-volume follow-up to that remarkable volume brings over 400 more architectural gems into the spotlight. Not just restricted to the West Coast this time, the images were taken all across the United States as well as in Mexico, Israel, and Hong Kong.

Each project and photograph in these volumes was personally selected from over 260,000 photographs over a two-year period by publisher Benedikt Taschen, who has enjoyed a close collaboration with the photographer since first publishing Julius Shulman: Architecture and Its Photography (1998). Augmenting the photographs are an introduction by photography critic Owen Edwards, an extensive biography by University of Southern California historian Philip J. Ethington, captions on decorative elements by Los Angeles Modern Auctions founder Peter Loughrey, biographies of key architects, and personal reflections from the photographer himself. Arts writer Hunter Drohojowska-Philp conducted months of interviews with Shulman to construct an informative and lively oral history and portrait of the times.

Julius Shulmans photography was instrumental in crafting the image of the midcentury Southern California lifestyle across the United States and around the world. His work keenly identifies the distinctive structural, functional, and design elements of a building, in the context of both its natural surroundings and the people who occupy the spaces. This sensitivity, combined with his intuitive and brilliant sense of composition and timing, has earned him the reputation as a master of the genre. How fortunate we are that Shulman has once again opened his archives so that we may rediscover his photographs of the worlds hidden Modernist treasures.