The Greatest Architecture Photo Ever Taken

The photographer Julius Shulman died this week at age 98, and I think someone should just say it: Julius Shulman was responsible for the greatest architecture photo ever taken.

Who could possibly photograph the soul of Los Angeles? Shulman did, in 1960. On the surface it's a photo of modern glass house -- "Case Study House 22" - cantilevered over the nighttime infinity of the city.

But it's also a photo of two young women, in cocktail dresses and heels and practiced finishing school poses, who have no idea that their world is about to be rocked - the Sixties were coming, we now know. It was the original Mad Men, only this wasn't television, this was really happening. In a long, remarkable life of his own invention, Shulman documented the entire history of modern California with his camera. But like the Beach Boys, he added something only he saw, creating a California that exists only in the mind. Sometimes it's better that way.

Comments

[VicksieDo]

That is a FANTASTIC photo! WOW

[oregonbird]

I was prepared to argue -- loudly -- that it was a matter of TASTE! Then I saw the photo.

Okay. Yes.

But the house wasn't comfortable to live in! Best photo; definitely a failure as a long-term abode. There are a few old architects living in their glass houses -- with a 'cottage' nearby to which they retreat when it's too hot or cold. Not exactly a success, those wonderful designs. Demanded space to offer otherwise impossible privacy, too.

What I call an unsustainable design -- you see such things in interior decorating, too. Look great -- but flawed. Take out the red divan, and you get ordinary. Push a chair out of place, entire room falls apart. Hit 90 degrees, and the house occupants run for the mall.

[jukesgrrl]

When I read the headline before I clicked on the article, the first thing that popped in my head was ... THAT photo!

Not only is it an amazing picture of a totally cool house, but spins all the magic of Los Angeles. Mr. Drucker, you're absolutely correct to say it creates "a California that exists only in the mind." But what a creation!

I read in the LA Times just recently that the widow of the man who built the house still lives there and the family has turned down MANY multi-million dollar offers for the house. They have sometimes allowed tours and rented the house several times to movie-makers, but is has been mostly used as a "normal" family dwelling. And not to shatter the dream, but the cool furniture pictured was in the house only for that shoot.