Abstract

Julius Shulman was primarily responsible for being the graphic chronicler of mod­ernist architecture in Southern California. Aware of how difficult making the public see the beauty of these buildings could be, Shulman developed his own language, which was characterized by a strong theatrical sense which resulted in a mixture between classical architectural photography and contemporary advertising inspired in pop culture in which the placement of furniture at strategic intervals, lighting, models’ attitude and vegetation were carefully studied in order to guide the eye of the viewer into the architecture and its derived lifestyle.The article proposes a cross-disciplinary view of Shulman photography and establishes links between his work and the political tension that was present in the United States of the Cold War. Thanks to the “scenes” captured in his pho­tographs, Southern California mid-century modernist architecture would forever be associated with the context created by the photographer, resulting in images that time has elevated to the status of cultural icons of the twentieth century. As the architecture he photographed, his images became a celebration of modernism understood as a new era of welfare, prosperity and progress.