Processing History
Arrangement note
Digital Collection
Scope and Content of the Collection
Biographical/Historical Note
Acquisition Information
Preferred Citation
Access
Publication Rights
Related Materials
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Julius Shulman Photography Archive
Creator:
Shulman, Julius
Identifier/Call Number: 2004.R.10
Physical Description:
537 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): 1935-2009
Abstract: Representing Julius Shulman's career as an architectural photographer from 1935 to 2009, the archive documents the modern
movement in architecture spanning 60 years and serves as a historical record of the Southern California landscape. The archive
comprises 537 linear feet and contains more than 260,000 of Shulman's vintage and modern photographs, contact prints, negatives,
transparencies, clippings, and indices.
Request Materials: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog records for this collection:
2004.R.10 and
2011.R.2 . Click here for the
access policy .
Language of Material:
English .
Processing History
Irene Lotspeich-Phillips registered the base collection and Lora Chin registered additional accretions. Laura Schroffel, Holly
Larson, Phil Curtis, Alexis Adkins, Chris Alexander, and Aimee Lind processed the collection. Under the supervision of Jocelyn
Gibbs and Andra Darlington, Laura Schroffel cataloged the collection, with Holly Larson's help on Series IV. The arrangement
was devised by Jocelyn Gibbs based on Shulman's original order.
In 2011, Teresa Soleau added to the finding aid approximately 290 photographs acquired and housed separately (accession number
2011.R.2).
Also in 2011 Laura Schroffel processed and cataloged additions to the collection (boxes 1046-1164) consisting primarily of
clippings and color slides. Container descriptions have been integrated into the finding aid.
Arrangement note
Organized in five series: Series I. Indices; Series II. Architects; Series III. Projects; Series IV. Job numbers; Series V.
Display photographs.
Digital Collection
Selected photographs have been digitized and are available online:
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/2004r10 . Series II and Series III were digitized in 2010 with support from Artstor. Series IV was digitized in 2012-2013 with support
from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).
Scope and Content of the Collection
The Julius Shulman Photography Archive documents Shulman's career as an architectural photographer from 1935 to 2009. The
collection contains 537 linear feet (more than 260,000 negatives, prints, transparencies and related printed material) of
vintage and modern photographs, contact prints, negatives, transparencies, color slides, clippings, papers and indices. The
material was generated and collected by Shulman.
Series I contains indices organized numerically by job number and shoot date, alphabetically by architect, or alphabetically
by client. The series also includes wall calendars maintained and annotated by Shulman as well as diaries.
The bulk of the archive documents the modern movement in architecture spanning 60 years and serves as a historical record
of the Southern California landscape. Shulman's photography highlights the important relationship between architect and photographer
through his strong grasp of design philosophy and his aesthetic sensibility. Series II. Architects, is rich in the projects
by California-based architects such as Richard J. Neutra, R.M. Schindler, Raphael Soriano, Gregory Ain, J.R. Davidson, John
Lautner and Pierre Koenig. The architects in series II. were intensively documented by Shulman and were separated out from
his other projects for ease of access. Particularly noteworthy in this sereis are the photographs of Richard J. Neutra's Kaufmann
House (Palm Springs, Calif.) or John Lautner's Chemosphere (Los Angeles, Calif.).
Series III. Projects includes documentaion of the Case Study House Program, sponsored by
Arts and Architecture and John Entenza. Particulalry note worthy in thise series is Pierre Koenig's Case Study House No. 22 (Los Angeles, Calif.).
Also included are photographs relating to the publication
Courtyard Housing in Los Angeles (1992) as well as photographs for the American Institute of Architecture's Cultural Heritage Board Committee for the City
of Los Angeles.
Series IV. Job Numbers, makes up an extensive portion of the archive documenting projects by lesser-known architects as well
as major commercial firms in Southern California (Welton Becket, Victor Gruen, and others). While the bulk of the collection
documents architectural projects, also included are product and furniture photographs for designers and other photographs
relating to commercial products such as those produced by the United States Gypsum Co. and the Libbey Owens Ford Glass Company.
The bulk of the archive reflects Shulman's preference for the dramatic contrast and depth of black and white film. He also
was one of few architectural photographers to use infrared film.
Click here for the finding aid for Series IV.
Series V. Display photographs is comprised of large format prints mounted on board or foam core. The display photographs were
used by Shulman for exhibiting and publicity purposes.
The collection is comprised primarily of photographic materials and may contain black and white 8x10 prints, 4x5 black-and-white
contact prints, 4x5 black and white negatives, 4x5 color transparencies, 4x5 color negatives. Other photographic formats include
8x10 color photographs, 4x5 color contact prints, color transparencies, 8x10 black and white negatives, Polaroids and slides.
Some 8x10 transparencies exist; in most instances these are enlargements of existing 4x5 transparencies. Not all jobs have
color photography.
Papers includes correspondence, invoices, clippings from publications, media relating to architects whom Shulman worked with
or projects that Shulman worked on, exhibition materials, print request documentation, printing notes for photography and
sometimes architectural plans.
Two boxes containing approximately 290 additional items (previous hit 2011.R.2 next hit) were acquired in 2011 as a gift of
Ruth Wallach on behalf of the USC Libraries.
Biographical/Historical Note
Throughout his long career, photographer Julius Shulman created one of the most comprehensive visual chronologies of modern
architecture and the development of the Los Angeles region. Shulman was born October 10, 1910 in Brooklyn, New York, and moved
to Los Angeles, California in 1920. Throughout the 1930s Shulman used an Eastman Kodak Vest-Pocket camera to photograph historical
locations in Los Angeles. In 1936 he photographed Richard J. Neutra's Kun House (Los Angeles, Calif.) and was subsequently
asked by Neutra to photograph some of his other projects. Through his relationship with Neutra he was able to secure other
architectural photography commissions, documenting the work of such prolific architects as R.M. Schindler, Raphael Soriano,
Gregory Ain, J.R. Davidson, John Lautner and Pierre Koenig, as well as many others. Shulman frequently worked with such writers
and editors as Esther [Tobey] McCoy, John Entenza, Dan MacMasters, and Barbara Lenox. While he also produced
product and furniture photographs for designers, he is most acclaimed for his iconic images of mid-century modern buildings
including the Case Study houses of Southern California.
Shulman's photographs have been widely published, and he produced several monographs about his work, including:
Photography of Architecture and Design: Photographing Buildings, Interiors, and the Visual Arts (1977),
Architecture and its Photography (1998),
Photographing Architecture and Interiors (2000), and
Malibu: A Century of Living by the Sea (2005). Over the years Shulman became known as a strong proponent of modernist architecture and his photographs trained the
spotlight on the architects whose work he featured. He received the American Institute of Architects Architectural Photography
Medal in 1969 and was made an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects in 1987. After a brief retirement in
1986, Shulman returned to work as a photographer and accepted assignments well into the 21st century. Julius Shulman died
in his home at the age of 98 on July 15, 2009.
Acquisition Information
The main archive (2004.R.10) was acquired from Julius Shulman and his daughter Judy McKee in 2004. Approximately 290 additional
items (2011.R.2) were acquired in 2011 as a gift of Ruth Wallach on behalf of the USC Libraries.
Preferred Citation
Julius Shulman photography archive, 1935-2009, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Accession no. 2004.R.10.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2004r10
Access
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Publication Rights
Related Materials
Photographs of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, Accession no. 2005.P.1
Getty Villa photographs, Accession no. IA20031
Portraits by Julius Shulman, Accession no. 2010.R.11
Entrance hall of the residence at 546 S. Rimpau, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2010.R.23
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Photographs, Original
International style (Architecture) -- California -- Case studies
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Buildings, structures, etc.
Courtyard houses -- California -- Los Angeles
Contact sheets
Housing, Single family -- California -- Case studies
Courtyards -- California -- Los Angeles
Architecture -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th century
Architecture, Modern -- 20th century
Color transparencies
Color slides
Architect-designed houses -- California
Los Angeles (Calif.). Cultural Heritage Board
Architecture, Domestic -- California -- Case studies
Architectural photography
Negatives
Photographic prints
Modern movement (Architecture) -- California
Modern movement (Architecture) -- United States -- Case studies
Newsom, Joseph C.
Palm Springs Desert Museum
Museo Rufino Tamayo
Neutra, Richard Joseph, 1892-1970
Rosenheim, Alfred F. (Alfred Faist), 1859-1943
Saarinen, Eero, 1910-1961
Racquet Club (Palm Springs, Calif.)
Rodia, Simon, 1879-1965
Lee, S. Charles
Los Angeles (Calif.). Department of Water and Power
Koenig, Pierre, 1925-2004
Lautner, John, 1911-1994
Miller House (Palm Springs, Calif.)
Morgan, Walls & Clements
Los Angeles City Hall (Los Angeles, Calif.)
László, Paul
Wayfarers Chapel (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.)
Taliesin West (Scottsdale, Ariz.)
Soriano, Raphael, 1904-1988
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Williams, Williams and Williams
Williams, Stewart, 1909-2005
Williams, Clark & Williams.
Williams and Williams
Shulman House (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Schindler, R. M. (Rudolph M.), 1887-1953
Schindler House (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Smith, Whitney Rowland, 1911-2002
Smith, Powell and Morgridge
Smith & Williams
Simon Rodia's Towers (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Wright, Frank Lloyd, 1867-1959
Wright, Lloyd, 1890-1978
Wurster, Bernardi, and Emmons
Wurster, William Wilson
Wyman, George
Zabludovsky, Abraham
Zwebell, Arthur
Zwebell, Nina
Clark & Frey
Clark, Frey & Chambers
Clark, John Porter
Cody, William
Bullock's Wilshire (Department store)
California Club (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Case Study House No. 9 (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Chinese Theatre (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Angels Flight (Railway)
Beverly Hills Hotel
Buff & Hensman
Buff, Straub and Hensman
Abell, Thorton M.
Ain, Gregory, 1908-1988
Albert C. Martin and Associates
Kaufmann Desert House (Palm Springs, Calif.)
Hollyhock House (Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.)
Killingsworth, Brady, Smith and Associates
Kesling, William, -1983
Goodhue, Bertram Grosvenor, 1869-1924
Gault, Charles
Hale House (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Grossman, Greta Magnusson, 1906-1999
Freeman House (Hollywood, Los Angeles, Calif.)
Ellwood, Craig
Frey, Albert, 1903-1998
Frey & Chambers
Eames House (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Davidson, Julius Ralph, 1889-
Eames, Ray
Eames, Charles