Friday, May 22, 2009

Modernism Rediscovered

I always get curious about the contents when a book arrives that is an odd size. Today we received a large three volume set with the title 'Modernism Rediscovered'.
On the Taschen website I found this description:
" Thanks to Julius Shulman's abandoned files, an unknown side of American mid-century architecture is now coming to light.

The buildings burned in our memories, which to us represent the spirit of fifties and sixties architectural design, were those whose pictures were widely published in magazines and books; but what about those that got lost in the process, hardly or never appearing in publication?

The exchange of visual information is crucial to the development, evolution, and promotion of architectural movements. If a building is not widely seen, its photograph rarely or never published, it simply does not enter into architectural discourse. Many buildings photographed by Julius Shulman suffered this fate, their images falling into oblivion. With this book, TASCHEN brings them to light, paying homage to California Modernism in all its forms.

The abandoned files of Julius Shulman show us another side of Modernism that has stayed quiet for so many years. Bringing together nearly 300 forgotten masterpieces, 'Modernism Rediscovered' pays tribute to these lesser known yet outstanding contributions to the modern architectural movement. It's like sneaking into a private history, into homes that have rarely been seen and hardly appreciated as of yet."

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