Contact: Kay Allen or Jennifer Jaskowiak
Associate Director Curator/ Exhibition Coordinator
(213) 740-4561
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
USC Fisher Gallery to Show
Architectural Photography of Julius Shulman
Fisher Gallery, the art museum of the University of Southern California,
announces an exhibition featuring 85 works by Southern California's premier
architectural photographer. The exhibition titled "L. A. Obscura: The
Architectural Photography of Julius Shulman," is drawn almost exclusively
from the photographer's own archive. It opens March 4, 1998 and continues
through April 18.
The exhibition presents masterpieces of Shulman's body of work portraying
Los Angeles and its environs during the middle of this century. Many
structures depicted in the photographs are no longer standing, and others
have succumbed to different uses, such as the former May Company department
store on Wilshire and Fairfax Boulevard which is currently undergoing
renovation for use by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Shulman's career spans more than 60 years working in Southern California.
Now a photographer with a strong international reputation, Shulman first
gained exposure in the 1930s while working for architect Richard Neutra.
He went on to photograph buildings by Southern California's preeminent
architects, including Rudolph Schindler, Gregory Ain, Pierre Koenig, and
Frank Lloyd Wright. Many of his photographs, including Koenig's Case Study
House #22 and Neutra's Kaufmann House, are known worldwide, presenting
iconic images of the architecture and lifestyle of Southern California.
Though Shulman is no longer photographing professionally, he has been very
active writing his autobiography, and recently taught a course in the USC
School of Architecture. This exhibition is part of an ongoing
collaboration between the photographer and the USC School of Architecture.
The exhibition will feature masterworks from the beginning of the
photographer's career up through the 1970s, with primary concentration on
the early 1950s. Of special note is Shulman's contribution to the Case
Study Program of the 1950s initiated by John Entenza, editor of Arts &
Architecture magazine. Here Shulman provided a conduit for the development
of a new architectural style with its roots in European Modernism, and come
to maturity in Southern California.
The illustrated catalogue accompanying the exhibition features five
articles on varied themes: the Miracle Mile district, the marketing of
Modernism to the middle class, interior designs of the 1950s and 1960s,
reception and reaction to Shulman's work in context of the Cold War, and
the attenuation of European Modernism in the style of California architects.
Many events will accompany the exhibition, including "Tuesdays at Fisher,"
the Gallery's weekly informal program of dialogue, workshops and
performances. Unless otherwise specified, all events are in Fisher Gallery
and run from noon to 1:00 p.m. Programs include:
March 10 Children's Art Workshop
March 17 Professor Pierre Koenig, FAIA, lectures on The Case
Study House Program and the Modern Movement after
World War Two.
March 31 Wake Up Call! James Steele, Professor, USC School
of Architecture and Anthony Scott, Executive Director,
Dunbar Economic Development Corporation, will discuss
critical issues surrounding the exhibition including
urban planning, the development of Los Angeles
architecture, and how these issues affect Los
Angeles
today.
April 7 Elizabeth A. T. Smith, curator, Museum of Contemporary Art,
Los Angeles, will talk about the Arts & Architecture Case
Study House Program.
April 14 Curatorial Walk-through
RELATED EVENTS:
March 18 An evening lecture by Julius Shulman, 61 Years of
the
Photography of Architecture, sponsored by the USC
School
of Architecture.
6:00 p.m. in Harris Hall 101 Auditorium.
March 28 Families at Fisher, noon to 2:00 p.m. Bring your
family for a free afternoon of artmaking workshops
and activities.
This exhibition is made possible by the support of the Department of Art
History in the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and the School of
Architecture of the University of Southern California, and the generous
cooperation of the photographer.
USC's Fisher Gallery is located at 823 Exposition Blvd. Gallery hours are
noon to 5:00 p.m., Tuesday through Friday and 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on
Saturday. Admission and events are free and open to the public. RSVP
requested. For information please call (213) 740-4561.
To learn about Julius Shulman and California architects, please visit
http://www.usc.edu/dept/Fisher_Gallery or
http://www.usc.edu/dept/architecture/shulman
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