Julius Shulman, 1910-2009
Jul 19, 2009
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We lost a Los Angeles icon this past Wednesday night. Julius Sherman spent decades photographing and documenting the Los Angeles that once was . . . and which we’re in danger of completely losing.
Shulman brought such 20th-century architects as Frank Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra to life. This mid-century crowd designed its buildings as part of their surrounding landscape instead of scarring it; made what may look mundane magnificent; and with Shulman’s work, created boisterous images of what at first looked boring.
Shulman’s work is in part important because so much of what he photographed has been demolished. Los Angeles has long been a hub of experimental architecture and design; unfortunately, LA is also a case study of historic pulverizing, not preservation. From the Ambassador Hotel to Bunker Hill to Beverly Hills, Los Angeles and its adjacent communities have fallen into the trap of favoring McMansions over majesty and developers over designers. I’ll stroll around Union Station or Neutra’s Silver Lake homes, or Rossmoyne in Glendale any day instead of The Montage, The Grove, or downtown Burbank.
Sustainability, in my opinion, is more than just being kind to the earth or moderating use of our resources; it’s also preserving what we’ve already built and using what we’ve already got. I cringe when I think of all the waste involved in propping up a new building that replaced a demolished one; thankfully I have Shulman’s photos to remind me of a time when architects aimed to leave a legacy—not an eyesore. 