Neutra. Complete Works

About Barbara LamprechtJulius Shulman

Barbara Lamprecht is a writer and teacher in architectural history with a focus on modernism. She contributes to Dwell The Architectural Review Architecture Architectural Record and Fine Homebuilding and also practices architecture specializing in sustainability and small spaces. American photographer Julius Shulmans images of Californian architecture have burned themselves into the retina of the 20th century. A book on modern architecture without Shulman is inconceivable. Some of his architectural photographs like the iconic shots of Frank Lloyd Wrights or Pierre Koenigs remarkable structures have been published countless times. The brilliance of buildings like those by Charles Eames as well as those of his close friend Richard Neutra was first brought to light by Shulmans photography. The clarity of his work demanded that architectural photography had to be considered as an independent art form. Each Shulman image unites perception and understanding for the buildings and their place in the landscape. The precise compositions reveal not just the architectural ideas behind a buildings surface but also the visions and hopes of an entire age. A sense of humanity is always present in his work even when the human figure is absent from the actual photographs. Today a great many of the buildings documented by Shulman have disappeared or been crudely converted but the thirst for his pioneering images is stronger than ever before. Peter Gössel runs an agency for museum and exhibition design. He has published TASCHEN monographs on Julius Shulman R. M. Schindler John Lautner and Richard Neutra as well as several titles in the Basic Architecture series.