Photographer Ezra Stoller’s striking images of many of the 20th century’s most important architectural landmarks, such as the Guggenheim Museum and Fallingwater, have, in some ways, become as familiar and memorable as the building themselves. Now, a long-awaited monograph, entitled Ezra Stoller, Photographer, offers a thorough and beautifully illustrated look at the influential architectural photographer’s full range of work, while taking us behind the lens and into Post War America’s changing landscape.
Stoller treated architecture as a true art form with the facades and interiors as his subjects – and an iconic group of subjects at that. The industrial and residential buildings he photographed were designed by the leading architects of the time, including Paul Rudolph, Marcel Breuer, Mies van der Rohe, Gordon Bunshaft, Eero Saarinen, Richard Meier and I.M. Pei. Preparation for each project was met with hours of careful observation, “exploring every angle, spending a day on site to understand the passage of the sun on the building,” reports editor Nina Rappaport.
Stoller had also harbored a personal interest in all types of industrial subjects, shooting factories, machines, and equipment that defined the time period. As modern architecture was taking grip of the country, so too was Stoller taking a photograph, his gelatin silver prints becoming as synonymous as the structures themselves.
“Though Julius Shulman may be more well known, it was Stoller who first saw, captured and shared the beauty of the modern form,” shared The Agency’s Billy Rose. “We are greatly indebted to Stoller’s documentation, interpretation and presentation; generations have been able to enjoy the world as he saw it.”
To own what is being heralded as the most complete compilation of Stoller’s work, go here.
