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MATTHEW LAMBERTBA3 ARCHITECTURE

ARC220: DISSERTATION STUDIES

PHOTOGRAPHY:THE VISION OF ARCHITECTURE

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PHOTOGRAPHY-THE VISION OF ARCHITECTUREContents:

01. Introductiona. Realising The Vision

b. A History Of Architectural Photography

02. A Part Of The Visual Language Of Architecture:a. Documenting Architecture – The Informative Style

b. The Development of Contrasting Approaches – Art Vs. Information

c. A New Photography of Art and Information

d. The Visual Language Of Modernism

e. Art And Information

03. The Architectural Photograph As A Tool Of The Promotera. The Distribution Of Images

b. The Relationship Of Architect and Photographe

c. Social Awareness Of Cosumerist Idealism

d. Architectural Photography Today

04. Visualising Architecturea. Architectural Photography Today

b. Architectural Photography As Art

c. The Vision Of Architecture

References

Bibliography

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01 – Introduction

Fig. 1 Photographer: Eric De Mare Self Portrait

a. Realising The Vision

Architecture and architectural photography have shared a close

relationship from the beginning of the 20th Century. Photography has

provided an insight into past architecture, affected design movements and

allowed us to draw conclusions about the way in which Architecture is

perceived.

I have looked at styles in architectural photography by considering two

ends of the spectrum with pictorialism on the one hand and

representationalism on the other. Inevitably though, just as architectural

language takes account of both the detail and the wider context of the

building the most successful examples fall somewhere in between the

artistic and the merely documentary.

I have investigated a theme which seems to run throughout the story of

architectural photograph: the extent to which architectural photography is

art or information. Photographers are both in the business of providing

information and interpreting to provide artistic insight, conveying the

language of architecture and making stylistic choices to dictate its

representation.

- 4 -I wanted to look at the use of Architectural photography as a promotional

tool for the architect, This study also considers whether the camera

truthfully depicts buildings and how in striving to promote the

building/architect the photographer sometimes neglects the buildings

users. I have looked at how pictures have been used to encourage an

awareness of architecture in a social context. The study also considers the

emergence of architectural photography as art in its own right.

b. Overview: A History Of Architectural Photography

In 1839 the Daguerrotype was revealed and became the first viable

photographic process, it was invented by a painter who’s mission to depict

architecture had led to its invention, and was a direct positive image

formed on a silver-coated copper plate. The photograph became a

powerful tool with which to record architecture, as up until its invention

there was a reliance on precise illustration and engravings 1.

Photography’s new method of representation boasted a number of

advantages over traditional methods: it could record accurate detail; was a

lot quicker than drawing; and it was an precise and accurate way of

recording that appeared to expel human error prevalent in traditional

documenting. Photographs were also used as a method of recording

architectural precedents from around the world and allowed architects to

see buildings and styles that without photography wouldn’t have had such

an influence on their stylistic sensibilities. During this period architectural

thought and inspiration was directed to the past and photography was

used as a method of recording historic monuments the quality of which

was dictated by the technological limits of the medium 2. People featured

little in early photographs due to the long exposure times needed for early

emulsion’s low sensitivity and sky’s were dull white patches due to the

emulsion being oversensitive to the colour blue. Early photographic

equipment wasn’t easy to use on site, it was bulky and produced small

mirror images 2.

The daguerrotype process was by no means perfect, and most held the

view that earlier modes of representation - plan section and elevation were

far superior.

- 5 -The 1860’s saw a style emerge due to a more entrepreneurial outlook that

many photographers adopted during this period. It was also at this time

when the first architects were seeing potential in photographs as

conveyors of information, they documented not only their work in progress

but past completed projects with which to impress possible future clients 2.

The photography of this period was greatly affected by the spread of

urbanization, and many buildings were photographed as a record for

future development of the area. Large sweeping views of cities and

panorama’s of the urban environment looked to promote a message of

civilization and progress 2. Figure 2 shows an example of a photo used to

record architecture that was soon to be demolished.

Fig. 2 Photographer: Marshall WaynePhoto Of House, Edinborough

A major leap forward in terms of distribution of architectural photography

occurred in the 1880’s, the half-tone block allowed the reproduction of

both image and text onto the printed page. Soon a number of magazines

such as the Architectural review (1891) were created beginning the

spread architectural discourse to the masses that would have a great

influence not just on Architectural photography but on the way in which the

whole of Architecture was perceived.

- 6 -In the early 1900’s architects began to recognise photography’s potential

as a promotional tool, with their buildings becoming known through

images in journals, architects realised that to embrace the medium would

mean a direct control over both their own image and the image of the

buildings they created. The modernist movement in architecture radically

changed the styles adopted by architectural photographers and prompted

a new consideration of machines and and industry. For the next decade

architectural photography embraced modernism and was crucial in the

distribution of its image to the masses, two prime providers of modernist

imagery were Hedrich Blessing and Dell & Wainwright.2

Architectural photography looked to provide the imagery that would

compliment the literature and design ethos of the modernist movement

with journals now allowing a combination of words and images that could

be used to influence the way architecture was perceived.

The second world war prompted an evaluation of national monuments and

buildings to be recorded by photographic means as a method of

preservation in case they were bombed. In England The National

Buildings Record was founded in 1941 capturing images of national pride

to be used as propaganda. Fig. 3 Photographer : Herbert Mason

Saint Paul’s, London, in the Blitz, 29 December 1940

2

- 7 -This photo appeared in the Daily Mail in 1940 and was used as

propaganda to strengthen the nations resolve. 3

There were no large changes to the photographic style prevalent in the

1930’s after the war, photographers instead refined and perfected

previous ideas about composition and light. Post-war photographers

found an interest in re-evaluating their heritage and investigating what had

been protected during the war. Architectural photographers of the next two

decades were split between those photographers who concentrated on

contemporary buildings and photographers with a revived interest in

vernacular architecture, such as Eric de Mare. Eric de Mare’s photo’s of

the British vernacular formulated his theory of the ‘functionalist tradition’,

and looked to finding a direct link between past industrial architectural

heritage and modern functionalist theories.

The post-war architectural photography in the United States was

dominated by three main photographers, Julius Shulman, Ezra Stoller and

the distinctive style of Hedrich Blessing.

Stoller rejected the style prevalent in the 1930’s of distorting ‘forced

perspective’ and ‘queer angles’ using a much more restrained classical

approach of elevational images capturing accurate portraits of the

architects idea 2. Shulman’s perspective was one of relating a lifestyle to

architecture. His photo’s of the case study houses 1945-67 are utopian

images of a consumerist dream.4

John Donat was a reactionary against this kind of ‘perfectionist’

photography, looking to portray architecture in a more messy realistic way.

The last thirty years have seen the emergence of colour effecting post-

modern architecture, and digital technology posing questions as to the

future of the medium.

3

2

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02 - A Part Of The Visual Language Of Architecture

a. Documenting Architecture - The Informative Style

The 1840s-1860s saw many expeditions across the world documenting

famous architectural sites of cultural significance.

The architect has always looked for ways of recording precedents to aid

him in analysis and photography had an immeasurable effect on the ease

and accuracy with which ancient architecture could be documented,

allowing a more detailed and thorough investigation of precedents and

architectural styles.The photograph proved an invaluable means of

recording architecture as up until its invention there was a reliance on

precise illustration and engravings to document buildings 5.

Architects were influenced by these photographs of architecture from

different cultures and many architects used them as direct visual

inspiration for reapplying in designs of their own. In the 1870’s Antoni

Gaudi studied heliotype reproductions of photographs of architecture

acquired by the Escuela de Arquitectura de Barcelona of many varied

styles from Spanish to Egyptian. 2

In 1880 T.R Smith remarked in ‘The Practice of An Architect’

“foreign travel, photography and the multiplication of all kinds of pictorial

illustrations, have made all the art of the past property of the present …

our very wealth of knowledge is always likely to prevent our universal

adherence to any one style or manner in art” 6

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Fig. 4 James Hay

Unexecuted Design for the Anglican Cathedral

Liverpool

Figure 4 highlights the possible danger of photography as an informant,

spreading multi-cultural information that could be misinterpreted and is a

sentiment that resonated in the twentieth century with the spread of the

international style. Many architects in the twentieth century only saw the

international style in architecture through photographs, and photographs

of the day were black and white. This led to architects misguidedly design

in a monochromatic International style. 7

b. The Development of Contrasting Styles

When photography was invented to many it was seen as a way of

imitating art. The advancement in technology allowing more accurate

representations of architecture prompted a step away from photography

as art towards photography as information.

As early architectural photographers experimented more with the medium

they developed an artistic style that looked to capture the atmosphere of

the architecture. In a major photographic expedition in the 1850s five

architectural photographers were assigned specific regions of France

where they recorded several cultural buildings. 8 The results of the

’Voyages picturesque et romantiques dans l’ancienne France’ showed that

Photographers could impress their own style upon the photo, the

- 10 -photograph was being used as part of the language of architecture. Two

stylistically contrasting architectural photographers of the expedition were

Jean-Louis-Henri Le Secq Des Tournelles and Edouard Baldus

Fig. 5 Fig. 6

Photographer: Jean-Louis Henri Photographer: Edouard Baldus Le Secq Des Tournelles Temple of Augustus and Livia, Vienne, 1851 West Door, Church of Saint-Loup, Salt Print

1851

Salt Print

It is clear that the photographers have addressed their subject in different

ways. Baldus looking to record as much detail as possible of the whole

building and Le Secq taking a small fragment to show the building’s

emotive characteristics. Figure 1. shows Le secq’s use of light and

shadow to emphasise architectural detail of the building fragment,

whereas in Figure 2. Baldus takes account of the whole building and uses

sharp contrasts to render fine detail. These contrasting ways of looking at

architecture were to resonate throughout the history of its photography.

The pictorialist style was a reaction against more precise methods of

photography, immitating painting rather than striving for accurate detail.

Advancements in technology allowing photographers to record buildings

with ever more refined detail strengthened the divide between the

pictorialist and architectural photographers.

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Fig 7. Fig 8.Photographer: Alfred Stieglitz Photographer: Bedford lemere and co Flatiron building, New York, 1903 Charles Jenner & Co., Edinburgh, 1895Gravure on vellum Gelatine silver print

Architect: Daniel H Burnham Architect: George Beattie & Son

Figures 7. and 9. show how this contrast in styles in architectural

photography developed into the late 1800’s early 1900’s. Alfred Stieglitz

was a proponent of the Pictorialist style and Figure 9 shows pictorialisms

power in capturing an ethereal atmosphere, the building rising up behind

the trees as a statement of the power of architecture in dominating the

landscape. Figure 4 shows Bedford Lemere and Co.s predilection with the

strict informative style and translates the grandiose architectural beauty

with sharp contrasting shadows.

The separation in architectural photography between art and information

continued into the twentieth century, but the way in which each approach

developed began to blur the boundaries as architectural photographers

started investigating exactly what a photograph can reveal.

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c. A New Photography of Art And Information

The modern movement in architecture brought about a change in the

responsibilities of the architectural photograph with architects now using it

not only as a tool with which to spread the message of modernism to the

media but with which to inspire a new way of thinking about design.

Moholy-Nagy, a prominent member of the Bauhaus from 1921

encouraged greater experimentation in different types of photographic

images and was inspired by cubism and constructivism. 8

The ‘New Objectivity’ movement had a profound effect on the style of

architectural photography and in Germany photographers developed the

‘New Photography’, a precise style the ethos of which was to portray the

materiality and raw elements of the architecture using abstract geometry 9.

Albert Renger-Patzsch was a prominent architectural photographer of the

New photography. His philosophy concentrated on the clear depiction of

surfaces and expressing isolated details in buildings to prompt an abstract

consideration of form.

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Fig. 9 Fig. 10 Photographer: Laszlo Moholy Nagy Photographer: Albert Renger Patzsch Bauhuas Balconies, Dessau, 1926 Blast Furnaces, Herrenwick 1927 Gelatine silver print Gelatine silver print.

Architect: Walter Gropius

d. The Visual Language Of Modernism

In figure 6 we can see how Patzsch brings together light and dark

elements to express a specific geometric relationship of masses. Two

divisions of new photography existed in the 1920s, one of which was

Patzsch was a proponent the other Mohohly Nagy headed with Alexander

Rodchenko to investigative a more expressive style. They focused on the

use of ‘birds-eye’ and ‘worms-eye’ views to present ‘new experiences of

space’ 10. Their investigations prompted a new way of thinking in

photography towards portraying space and volume. In figure 5 the tilted

view and extreme perspective give a tremendous sense of height and

space.

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Fig. 11 Fig. 12Photographer: Dell & Wainwright Photographer: Francis Rowland Yerbury Gull Rock, Carlyon Bay, Cornwall 1936 Sprinkenhof, Hamburg, 1929

Gelatine silver print Gelatine silver print

Architect: Marshall Sisson Architect: Fritz Hoger with Hans &

Oskar Gerson

The effect of the New Photography was profound and photography was

now seen as a key conveyor of the language of modernism. From the

1930’s photography started to be the driving force behind its promotion,

Dell & Wainwright, and Francis Yerbury exemplifying the stylistic approach

of architectural photographers of this period. 8

Yerbury’s style was not extreme in its compositional emphasis but the

subject matter of his images were innovative, taking the role of stylistic

informant and allowing British architects insight into modernist architecture

abroad. In Figure 12 the photograph’s almost Patzsch-like geometry and

concentration on the buildings façade surface depicting the array of

windows in an enticing yet unstifling composition.

Dell and Wainwright first appeared in the Architectural Review in 1929

with ground-breaking photographs entirely encapsulating the modernist

spirit(ref bwl). The images of Dell and Wainwright use the camera’s

- 15 -abilities to powerful effect expressing the dramatics of architecture using

many key devices of new photography, bold cast shadows, tipped views

with strong diagonals. Figure 11. uses a one point perspective to

effectively expand and exagerate space.

Fig. 13 Fig. 14Photographer: Lucien Herve Photographer: Ezra Stoller

1 ‘Daguerre and Niépce - The invention of photography’

from About Photography - http://photography.about.com

2 Robert Elwall, Building With Light – An International History Of Architectural Photography, Merrel, 20042

23 Daily Mail 11th December 29 1940 pg 13.

2

4 Julius Shulman, Architecture And Its Photography, Cologne and London (Taschen), 1998

5 Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture – A Critical History, Thames & Hudson, Third Edition 19922

6 T.R.Smith, ‘The Practice Of The Architect’, British Quarterly, 1880 p.426

7 The Architects Journal August 1979 ‘The Craven Image’

8 Robert Elwall - Building With Light – An International History Of Architectural Photography, Merrel, 20048

9 Kenneth Frampton, Modern Architecture – A Critical History, Thames & Hudson, Third Edition, 1992

10 Lazlo Moholy Nagy ‘A New Instrument Of Vision’ Telehor Vol 1February 1936 p.368

- 16 -Villa Shodan, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Ahmedabad, 1955 New York, 1963

Architect: Le Corbusier Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright

Figure 13 and 14 contrast in terms of texture but share a commonality of

purpose, they both strive to depict form and space. Figure 13 shows

Herve’s style of photography with its striking use of shadows and

composition which complimented Le Corbusiers personal view of

architecture as the ‘shrewd, rigorous and magnificent play of volumes

assembled in light’.11 Much of Herve’s inspiration stems from his interest in

New photography’s abstract views and concentration on expressing the

materials. The photograph shows his use of light and shadow to sculpt the

‘Beton brut’ creation Villa Shodan by Le Corbusier, expressing both the

solidity and seeming plasticity of concrete. In Figure 10 Ezra Stoller uses a

similar upward looking perspective looking to convey a spatial relationship

and give an amazing sense of depth trying to emulate the experience of

being inside the Guggenheim. Stoller took a classical approach to

photography and the use of elevational shots were common in his work

much like Baldus a century earlier. The subtly of his style looked to

capture a bold and simplified image which translated the architecture

directly without over dramatising. The crisp precise style of Stoller allows

the architecture to speak without distorting or mistranslating the visual

language.

e. Art And Information

11 Domus 2002 Mar n846 p.20

- 17 -As photographers commanded a more sophisticated approach to the

medium an interdependence between the objects photographed and the

two dimensional images of them developed. This interdependence

developed to the point where architectural photography became an

integral part of design communication. The philosophy of architectural

photographers vary but two key traits that can be traced through the

above figures (5-14) is that of Art and Information. The style chosen by the

photographer reflects their philosophy towards architectural

representation. The first style is of an architectural photography that looks

to purvey information:

Informative Style -Taking an informative and subjective viewpoint, looking

to document and simply ‘show’ the architecture to the viewer.

For example the photo’s of Baldus, Renger-Patzsch and Stoller show

similar philosophies with a view to accurately represent the architecture

with an emphasis of showing a particular architectural quality the

photographer thought prevailed, this style can be seen in Fig. 2,4,6,8 and

10.

Artistic Style - Using the camera creatively to convey the language of the

architecture it depicts.

Photographers who exemplify this style are Alfred Stieglitz, Mohohly Nagy

and Lucien Herve and can be seen by the photographs in Fig 1,3,5,7,9

illuminating a view of architecture as art, of the photograph as interpreter

and as an inspiration to the viewing of Architecture in unusual ways. This

style can also be used to influence and persuade, utilised to useful effect

by photographers involved in promotion.

03 - Architectural Photography: A Tool For Promotion The photograph provides a way of conveying an image and a message of

architecture, and with the invention of magazines and journals its pictorial

representation became widespread. Architects at the start of the twentieth

century started to realise the visual impact of photograph could have on its

viewer and they began to consider their value in promoting their work.

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a.The Distribution Of Images

The rise of the architectural photograph coincided with the rise of popular

magazines and journals. Although at first photography was unable to

contribute due to its incompatibility with type, with the invention of the half-

tone block in the late 1880’s photographs and typed words were able to be

printed onto the same page.12 This meant that architectural photography

could make a valid contribution to architectural debate.

Magazines such as the Architectural Record, Architectural Review and

Country Life. began to be published. This opened up an avenue of

promotion for the architect in which buildings could be shown via the

medium of Architectural Photography.

The realisation that to embrace the medium would mean a direct control

over both their own image and the buildings they created led to several

architects to taking up photography, Frank Lloyd Wright used cleaned up

versions of photo’s and Le Corbusier practiced photography for a time. 12

12 Robert Elwall - Building With Light – An International History Of Architectural Photography, Merrel, 2004

1

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Fig. 17 Architectural Review Vol. 85 march 1939

From the start of the twentieth century Architectural photography provided

the imagery to compliment the literature and design ethos of the modernist

movement with journals now allowing a combination of words and images

that could be used to influence the way architecture was perceived (Figure

17). In the early 1900s as images of architecture became more

widespread architects began to realise that photographs weren’t just

mirror images of the architecture they depicted, that in fact the

photographer has several editorial choices effecting the photograph’s

composition and in turn the perception of the architecture.

b. The Relationship Between Architect And Photographer

As architects realised the potential of Photography as a tool of promotion

relationships developed between architects and photographers

sympathetic to their particular design style, with many photographers

becoming lifelong documenters of one particular Architect. An important

example of such a relationship is Richard Neutra and the photographer

Julius Shulman, their meeting in 1939 effectively starting Shulman’s

career13.

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Fig 18 – Photographer: Julius Shulman

Case Study House #22

Los Angeles, 1960

Architect: Pierre Koenig

Shulman’s images were regularly featured in popular magazines of the

day such House and Garden, Good housekeeping and Life using people

in his pictures with which to show architecture as a fashionable accessory

to living. Figure 18 shows Shulmans iconic image of the Case Study

House #22 and is a prime example of Shulmans ability to create images of

the modernist American dream, looked at with a critical eye the images

were nothing but staged reproductions of real life situations for which the

building was to function.

In ‘Architecture and Its Photography’ Shulman recounts a story which

highlights the danger of the architect closely associating with the

photographer –

‘…while I was photographing the business education building by architect

Richard Neutra and focusing my camera a blurred object suddenly

13 Julius Shulman, Architecture And Its Photography, Cologne and London (Taschen), 1998

- 21 -appeared on the ground glass of the camera. Lifting my head I observed

Neutra holding a small branch within inches of my camera lens “Richard,”

I exclaimed, “what are you doing?” He said, that he wanted to “cover the

area where the building met the concrete walk, the contractor didn’t do it

right!”’14

The danger of an over sympathetic Architectural photographer it seems

was to present an unrealistic image of architecture. The growing imagery

of the modernist movement of seemingly ‘perfect’ imagery was criticised

for simply engaging on a fashionable or stylistic level and not getting in

touch with the actual architectural qualities present. Images were being

produced by the architect’s personal photographers and being sold to

magazines rather than the magazines employing critical photo-journalists.

This meant the type of imagery contained in journals of the day were clean

images of a modernism that appeared to ‘work’ as apposed to addressing

the often harsh and aesthetically less pleasing realities present in the

building.

Many buildings which Dell and Wainwright photographed suffered from

structural faults and staining of materials15 Dell and Wainwright’s ‘artistic

license’ transcends the physicality of architecture to promote conceptual

idea’s and in doing so neglects the people who use the building. This led

to a reaction against this sort of imagery, and asked if Architectural

photography could benefit from being more socially aware.

d. Social Awareness or Consumerist Idealism

In 1979 an article in the Architects Journal ‘The Craven Image’, Tom

Picton raises an important question:

14 Julius Shulman, Architecture And Its Photography, Cologne and London (Taschen), 1998 pg. 137

15 Robert Elwall - Building With Light – An International History Of Architectural Photography, Merrel, 2004

- 22 -‘To whom is the Architectural Photographer responsible? To the architect

or to the people who are actually going to use the building?’

It is a question posed to John Donat who responds ‘to both-you must’. 16

Donat was a photographer who spoke out against past promotionalist

propaganda photography like that of Dell and Wainwright, remarking that

this kind of photography ‘ignores life’17 and that architectural photography

is a subsitute for real experience’18. In his talk at the RIBA entitled ‘The

Camera Always Lies’ Donat speaks out against many traditional methods

in Architectural Photography such as the Camera with rising front,

claiming it lends itself to stale photography.

‘By the time the porters have unpacked all the gear and set it all up – the

picture has walked away’ 19

Donat instead preferring a quicker more convenient method using smaller

camera’s to capture an ‘experience’ rather than looking for a picture.

Donat’s images look to capture the architecture in use as apposed to

photography in which he felt ‘reality and experience disappear - ART

prevails’.20 Donats aim is to try to give the viewer an experience of the

building as if they have been there.

When we compare Donats image (Figure 19) with that of Shulman we can

see that both Photographers looked to express the architecture using

people. Shulman uses people like actors on a stage set rather than using

them in a more realistic manner such as in Donat’s image.

16 The Architects Journal 1st August 1979 ‘The Craven Image’ pg. 232

17 Ibid.

18 The Architects Journal, 17th January 1998 pg. 198

19 RIBA Journal 1968 Vol 75 ‘The Camera Always Lies’ Feb p.63

20 Ibid.

- 23 -

Fig. 19. Fig. 20

Photographer: John Donat Photographer: Julius Shulman Physics Library At Queen Mary University Case Study #21, 1958

Library London, 1962

Figure 19 and 20 also show a difference in the philosophies of the two

photographers. Shulman’s image is a picture for the consumer, an advert

for living, whereas Donat’s image looks to experience the more messy

realistic side of buildings as they are experienced in reality.

If we ask the question which of which photograph Figure 19 or 20 would

sell the architecture more successfully? A popular answer would be 20.

The biggest provider of architectural imagery is the journal. The Journals

aim is for the promotion of architecture, this means that the majority of

images produced are that of Figure 20, i.e a style with which to sell

architecture to a wider audience.

04 - Visualising ArchitectureArchitectural Photographers have always addressed the either or both of

two key elements, Art and Information. These elements are observations

- 24 -by photographers striving to depict what is ‘Architecture’. Architecture is

complex in representing, therefore photographers have a challenge to

depict Architecture completely accurately.

a. Architectural Photography Today

Architectural photography currently is widespread, although its major

outlet is in Architectural Journals. There is a rising criticism that

architectural photography of the media i.e. in journals, is becoming ever

more fashion conscious and instead of using the camera to show structure

and a spatial planning for which it is a valuable tool, the camera is used as

a simple tool to convey style. On the other hand it could be argued that

improvements in detail and technical drawing in journals has led to

photography becoming slightly redundant. It is obvious however that

photography remains a very important element in the promotion and

representation of architecture, an image can still sell a building.

b. Architectural Photography As Art

Architectural photography in recent years has seen artists embracing the

medium and benefitting from museums and galleries increased interest in

Architectural Photography. Architectural photography is starting to cross

the boundary between artistic interpretation of architecture into an artistic

transformation with computer manipulation opening new avenues, asking

how architectural photography should be depicted in this new digital

medium.

Hiroshi Sugimoto prompts us to look at architecture in a way that allows us

to ponder the inherent fragility of buildings. His photographs of

contemporary Architecture render buildings as blurred images that remove

all the detail and as a result slow down the initial impact of the image, and

allow it to form in our percieved subconscious (Fig. 15)21.

21 Hiroshi Sugimoto: Architecture  - Marco De Michelis, Francesco Bonami 2003

- 25 -

Fig 15. Photographer: Hiroshi Sugimoto,

Chrysler Building, New York, 1997

Architect: William Van Alen,

Fig 16. Photographer: Thomas Ruff

The Barcelona Pavilion, Barcelona (from the Exhibition ‘l.m.v.d.r.’ 2000)

Architect: Mies Van Der Rohe

- 26 -The work of Thomas Ruff exemplifies a current digitised outlook toward

photography and art. His photographs look to explore the realm of

perception and what we can interpret from an image. Ruff’s photographs

use computer manipulation and looks at the way in which we percieve the

image, his view being ‘perception has less to do with what we see that

with what our brain does with the information’ 22. In 2000 he undertook a

project taking photo’s of Mies Van Der Rohes buildings, the exhibition

entitled ‘l.m.v.d.r’ looks at computer manipulation as a way of addressing

the representation of architecture investigating how the medium can

express how it architecture is percieved.

Ruff’s work also poses questions as to in what way will architectural

photographers respond to computers allowing a new way of manipulating

imagery, and could mean a shift in what is acceptable as a representation

of a building. Such Artistic ventures give us a separate standpoint with

which to view architecture and indeed architectural photography with new

eyes.

c. Architectural Photograpy As Social Commentator

Architectural photography’s use in recent social documentation has

allowed new approaches to Architectural subjects providing new insight

into Architecture. Gabriele Basilico and his compatriots Mimmo Jodice,

Vincenzo Castella and Guido Guidi use black and white photographs

document chillingly desolate images of the city which he uses to depict the

way in which the urban experience has become unrelated to the cities

historic core23. Figure 21. addresses the issues of urbanisms supposed

liberator: the elevated road, showing the city’s stark reality.

22 A thousand words: Thomas Ruff Talks about "l.m.v.d.r." – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Brief Article Summer, 2001  by Ronald Jones from findarticles.com

23 Gabriele Basilico - Interupted City , Actar, 1999

- 27 -

Fig. 21 Photographer: Mimmo JodiceNaples, 1978

Gelatine silver print

d.The Vision Of Architecture

Architecture is both about the small details, and the bigger picture,

Architectural photographers have grown to realise this since they began

capturing it. They have realised that a concentration on detail and

information can give us great insight but an ‘artistic’ impression perhaps

tells us more of the larger picture. For example the work of sharp precise

work of Baldus giving us an insight into the detailed physicality of the

architecture is no more valid than Alfred Stieglitz’ contrasting artistic

approach in conveying an architectural sense to the viewer.

The Architectural photograph is a complex method of representation and

can satisfy a range of objectives and to provide a vision of ‘Architecture’

the photographer must be able to comprimise, between art and

- 28 -information, between social reality and consumerist idealism, and

depending on its use either as a tool for promotion or social commentator,

shed new photographic light on the subject. The camera cannot show all

but the photographer can choose what to express.

In the words of photographer Eric De Mare:

‘The camera is a liar…but it can indicate some of the truth’24

24 The Architects Journal 17 January 1968

Bibliography

Books-

Iain Borden, Katerina Ruedi, ‘The Dissertation – An Architecture Student’s Handbook’, Architectural Press 2000.

Gabriele Basilico, Interupted City, Actar, 1999

T.R.Smith, ‘The Practice Of The Architect’, British Quarterly, 1880

Kenneth Frampton, ‘Modern Architecture – A Critical History’ Thames & Hudson, Third Edition, 1992

Hiroshi Sugimoto: Architecture  - Marco De Michelis, Francesco Bonami 2003

Robert Elwall, ‘Building With Light – An International History Of Architectural Photography’ Merrel, 2004

Robert Elwall, ‘Photography Takes Command: The Camera And British Architecture 1890-1939’ London, RIBA Heinz gallery 1994

Robert Elwall , ‘Eric De Mare -Architecture In Camera series’ London, Riba publications 2000

Architectural Photography and the Growth of Cities 1850-1914, Stuttgart, 1980

Building Images: Seventy Years Of Photography at Hedich Blessing, Chronicle Books, 2000

Malcom Daniel, The Photographs Of Edouard Baldus, New York, Metropolitan Museum Of Art 1994

Eric de Mare, Photography and Architecture, London, Architectural Press 1961

Norman McGrath, Photographing Buildings Inside and Out, London, Architectural Press, 1987

Julius Shulman, ‘Architecture And Its Photography’, Cologne and London, Taschen, 1998

Julius Shulman, ‘Photographing Architecture and Interiors’. Los Angeles, Balcony Press

Journals-

Domus 2002 Mar n846 p.17-20

The Architects Journal 17 January 1968

The Architects Journal 1st August 1979

The Architects Journal 14th August 1991

The Architects Journal 31st January 2002 v215 P.19

- 29 -

References

The Architects Journal 4th October 1989 v190 p.90-91

The Architects Journal 16th October 1990 v192 p.90-92

RIBA Journal February 1968 p.63

RIBA Journal July 1991

AA Files Autumn 1991 No.22 p70-74