Art and Culture 

Modern Mirages

The Architect as a Photographer

Iñaki Bergera 
30/06/2013


The theme of architectural photography cannot be addressed without delving into the relationship between architects and photographers: the former condition and direct the portrayer’s gaze; the latter impose on and seduce the architect with certain visual languages. The Modern Movement rushed the incursion of architectural photographers as agents necessary for arbitrating the desire of architects and specialized media to publicize and promote building works. All the leaders of modernity entrusted the visual capturing of their works to a particular photographer, and this complicity has come down to our days. These relationships were so crucial as to determine how modern architecture was received and assimilated. The iconic Kaufmann House in Palm Springs can take on more transcendence in the mythic photograph shot at dusk by Julius Shulman than contextualized in the trajectory of Richard Neutra, just like the Mies of Chicago is iconically supplanted by the conspicuous photos of his work taken by Ezra Stoller or Hedrich-Blessing...

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