Yale Bulletin and Calendar

March 16, 2001

Volume 29, Number 22

These architectural photographs of Saarinen's TWA Terminal at JFK International Airport -- the top by Ezra Stoller and the bottom by Balthazar Korab -- reveal their dramatically different styles.

Exhibition examines photographers'
contrasting images of Saarinen designs

Contrasting approaches to the art and craft of architectural photography are showcased in a new exhibition at the School of Architecture.

Titled "2 Views of Eero Saarinen: The Architectural Photography of Balthazar Korab and Ezra Stoller," the exhibit of 40 black-and-white images will be on view through May 4 in the newly restored North Gallery of the Art and Architecture Building at 180 York St.

The show marks the first time the two master American modernist photographers have been exhibited together.

"This exhibition celebrates the work of two great architectural photographers who were closely associated with a great architect, Eero Saarinen," says Robert A.M. Stern, dean of the School of Architecture. "Through the interpretive photography of Stoller and Korab, we are able to rediscover not only the work of a master of formal invention but also to be let in on the working processes leading to formal designs."

Korab and Stoller worked closely with the architect Eero Saarinen (19101961) in the mid-20th century. Each captured and communicated the architect's highly original building forms in his own distinctive ways.

While the projects they documented often overlapped, each photographer worked with different purposes and followed divergent career paths.

Korab was particularly interested in the architectural process. He pioneered the use of photography with large-scale study models during the design phase of a project and went on to document buildings in construction and upon their completion. His later career focused on two important architectural sites, Cranbrook Academy of Art, designed by Eliel Saarinen, Eero's father, and Columbus, Indiana, a city that the Saarinens and other contemporary architects built as a virtual museum of modern architecture.

By mid-century, Stoller had established a reputation as one of this country's preeminent architectural photographers. His images were widely published in architectural journals, influencing architects around the world. Stoller's professionalism, artistic control and technical skill were seen as consistent with the functional modern architecture he was hired to shoot.

While Korab used diverse lighting conditions and a focus on abstract details to discover new forms within the image, Stoller was interested in formal alignments, straight lines and razor-sharp lighting conditions. Stoller claimed that his super-realistic images helped architects see in reality what their mind's eye had previously visualized.

The exhibition is curated and designed by Dean Sakamoto, an architect, lecturer and director of exhibitions at the School of Architecture. The show also features a video about the two photographers produced by Carol Scully, videographer and director of the Yale Digital Media Center for the Arts.

Korab and Stoller will discuss their work at a reception on Thursday, April 12, 5:30-7 p.m. Both the exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.

Hours for the gallery are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday. For more information, call (203) 432-2288 or visit the architecture school's website at www.architecture.yale.edu.

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