The photography of Julius Shulman (1910–2009) carried his vision of the American West Coast to the world. His signature lies beneath much of our collective image of modernism itself. Shulman’s photographs of Southern California mid-century architecture captured not only the structural, functional, and aesthetic qualities of a building, but also the atmosphere of its surroundings and inhabitants, expressing the spirit of an era and a distinctly modern way of living. Over time, his talents took him across the globe, establishing him as one of the great visual chroniclers of modernist architecture.

This revised edition of Modernism Rediscovered features more than 1,000 photographs of over 400 buildings drawn from Shulman’s archive of 260,000 images. Every project and photograph was personally selected by publisher Benedikt Taschen, who maintained a close relationship with Shulman and his work following the publication of Julius Shulman: Architecture and Its Photography in 1998. The buildings documented here represent the full range of modernist aesthetics, extending beyond the American West Coast to locations throughout the United States as well as Mexico, Israel, and Hong Kong — all captured through Shulman’s distinctive understanding of space, setting, composition, and atmosphere.

The images are contextualized by an introduction from photography critic Owen Edwards and accompanied by an extensive biography written by University of Southern California historian Philip J. Ethington. Captions discussing decorative and design elements are provided by Peter Loughrey, founder of Los Angeles Modern Auctions. The volume also includes biographies of major architects, reflections from Shulman himself, and an oral history portrait of the era assembled from interviews conducted by art critic and journalist Hunter Drohojowska-Philp.

DETAILS • Author: Julius Shulman • Publisher: Taschen • Format: Hardcover