There are photographers who posses the “soul” of an architect, as Le Corbusier once put it, and then there are architects who posses the incisive eye of a photographer. The latter formulation was perhaps best embodied by Balthazar Korab, the architect-turned-documenter of buildings who died yesterday. The Michigan chapter of the AIA announced the passing of the Detroit-based photographer, who was born in Budapest in 1926. The Hungarian native received his architectural training in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and despite his tutelage there, would find work in the offices of modernists like Le Corbusier himself. In 1955, Korab was hired by Eero Saarinen as the architect’s in-house photographer and in whose employment, he would capture some of his most stunning images, including those of TWA Terminal and the Miller House. Continue.

Following his experiences with Saarinen, Korab would go on to place fourth in the international competition to design the Sydney Opera House. He then joined Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin entourage in 1958, at the master’s personal request. His photographic work, which is marked by deep shadows and contrasts, gained widespread acclaim from both the press and practitioners like Mies van der Rohe. In 1964, Korab was awarded the AIA Medal for Architectural Photography, after which he would focus his talents solely on images. This past year, the Princeton Architectural Press released a collection entitled Balthazar Korab: Architect of Photography, which features some of Korab’s most memorable pictures.

All images from “Balthazar Korab: Architect of Photography” by John Comazzi; Princeton Architectural Press

by Architizer Editors

posted in Uncategorized

tagged architectural photography, Balthazar Korab, chiaroscuro, eero saarinen, Le corbusier, modernism, photography, princeton architectural press, RIP, twa terminal

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