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Architectural Photographer Julius Shulman

"Case Study House #22, Los Angeles, 1960. Pierre Koenig, Architect"
Julius Shulman
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The J. Paul Getty Trust
"Case Study House #22, Los Angeles, 1960. Pierre Koenig, Architect"
View of a three-dimensional model created using Shulman's iconic photo -- a gift to the photographer from a model maker fan.
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View of a three-dimensional model created using Shulman's iconic photo -- a gift to the photographer from a model maker fan.
Julius Shulman in his Los Angeles-area home.
Alex Chadwick, NPR /
Julius Shulman in his Los Angeles-area home.

Julius Shulman is, many experts would agree, the greatest living architectural photographer. Since the 1930s, he's photographed the work of virtually every modern architect.

Yet among his tens of thousands of images, there is one that stands out -- a photograph taken in 1960 of a modern house by architect Pierre Konig overlooking the winking lights of Los Angeles.

The photo is called "Case Study House #22, Los Angeles, 1960. Pierre Koenig, Architect." It's a clear night and two young women sit and chat in a living room hanging over the side of a canyon. In the background, streetlights chart the grid of the city streets far below.

That well-known photo is now reproduced on banners that are hanging all over Los Angeles. The Getty Museum, which purchased a major part of Shulman's photographic collection, is exhibiting selections a show that runs through January.

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