Ezra Stoller had such a profound impact on the field of modern architectural photography that his name became a verb. Famous architects like Frank Lloyd Wright, Eero Saarinen and Marcel Breuer saw their buildings “Stollerized” — a word coined by none other than Philip Johnson, denoting expertly reimagined for the flat space of the photograph and made accessible to readers of books and magazines who could not visit them in person.
Stoller’s mostly black-and-white photographs play up the most exciting features of 20th-century landmarks: the swooping curves of Saarinen’s TWA Terminal (1962), the radical transparency of Johnson’s Glass House (1949), the monolithic gravitas of the United Nations Building (1950). As the photographer once said, “While I cannot make a bad building good, I can draw out the strengths in a work that has strength.”
Although he didn’t have an architecture degree, Stoller, who died in 2004 at age 89, very nearly joined the profession. He was enrolled in architecture school at New York University when he began taking photographs in the late 1930s. This side project soon became a full-time career, as his classmates and professors (including Edward Durell Stone) started giving him assignments.
By 1946, he was traveling around the country documenting major projects for Fortune magazine, including Wright’s Taliesin West, in Scottsdale, Arizona. This was the beginning of a long association with Wright, who later commissioned Stoller to shoot the Guggenheim Museum and the house perched above a waterfall known as Fallingwater.
Stoller had an equally symbiotic relationship with Saarinen, capturing many of the low-slung, boxy structures the Finnish architect designed for Midwestern corporate campuses, as well as his more fanciful TWA Terminal at Idlewild Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport), in New York.
For someone so strongly aligned with modern architecture, Stoller acknowledged some surprising historical influences. One was the visionary 18th-century printmaker Giovanni Battista Piranesi, who, like Stoller, trained in architecture. Another was the late-19th-century photographer Eugene Atget, who documented the streets and storefronts of Paris during a major upheaval in urban planning.
“For getting a sense of space, there’s nobody like Atget,” Stoller once told an interviewer.
In addition to Stoller’s artistry, architects appreciated his meticulous multistage process. Typically, he would start with a daylong walk-through of a project, after which he formulated a detailed shooting plan — annotating images of the building with arrows and times of day and paying close attention to the weather and changing light.
Once onsite with his equipment, Stoller would rearrange the furniture to achieve the perfect shot and obsess, as he later recalled, over such questions as “at exactly what angle should the window be open.”
Find original Ezra Stoller photography on 1stDibs.
Miami Parking Garage, Robert Law Weed and Associates, Miami Fl.
By Ezra Stoller
Located in Miami, FL
Ezra Stroller is perhaps the world's most accomplished Architectural Photographer. In this image " Miami Parking Garage, Robert Law Weed and Associates" ...
C Print
$1,200
H 22.5 in W 28.5 in
St. Louis and the Arch Vintage Photograph Joel Meyerowitz Architectural Photo
By Joel Meyerowitz
Located in Surfside, FL
St. Louis and the Arch Vintage Photograph St. Louis: title, signature, dated 1977, copyright 1982, and edition 1/10 to verso. View down Walnut St. of St. Louis' city hall building. ...
Photographic Paper, C Print
$1,200
H 22.5 in W 28.5 in
St. Louis and the Arch Vintage Photograph Joel Meyerowitz Architectural Photo
By Joel Meyerowitz
Located in Surfside, FL
St. Louis and the Arch Vintage Photograph St. Louis and the Arch: titled, initialed, dated 1981, copyright 1982, and editioned 4/20 to verso. Provenance: US Bank Visual Arts Departm...
Photographic Paper, C Print
Eleuthera Pool Party - Slim Aarons - Bahamas - Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
'Eleuthera Pool Party' by Slim Aarons LIMITED EDITION ESTATE STAMPED PRINT Numbered in ink to 150 only and emboss stamped on front. Guests at the French Leave...
C Print
Downtown In New Mexico
By Alain Le Garsmeur
Located in London, GB
DOWNTOWN LAS VEGAS, NEW MEXICO, USA 1979 by Alain Le Garsmeur A gorgeously evocative shot taken in the late 1970's by prolific documentary and well known editorial photographer Alain Le Garsmeur. Perhaps one of his most classic of images - it is one of our absolute favourites. Beautiful extra large Oversize C type print 40x30" inches paper size ( 101 x 76 cm's) LIMITED EDITION, unframed. edition size 1 / 100 only (Also available signed - ask us for details) Alain Le Garsmeur was born in France in 1943 and after assisting the likes of Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin and Donald Silverstein...
C Print
$5,400
H 40 in W 60 in
Poolside Party - Limited Slim Aarons Estate Print
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Slim Aarons Estate Limited Edition C print 40 x 30 inches / 101 x 76 cm unframed. ' Poolside Party ' A poolside party at a desert house, designed by Richard Neutra for Edgar J. K...
C Print, Color
'Holiday In Mustique' SLIM AARONS ESTATE PRINT
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
'Holiday In Mustique' by Slim Aarons LIMITED EDITION ESTATE STAMPED PRINT Numbered in ink to 150 only and emboss stamped on front. Pierre Vincent Marais and his wife Isabelle holiday with friends at Gelliceaux House, their home on the island of Mustique in the Grenadines, February 1989. A fabulous Slim- You can almost feel the heat! The beautiful turquoise waters of the swimming pool are fringed by palms, a swimmer in bright coloured bikini surveys the spectacular view beyond of the crystal clear waters of Mustique. This photograph epitomises the travel style and glamour of the period's wealthy and famous, beautifully documented by Aarons. In his words, he loved to photograph 'beautiful people in beautiful places, doing beautiful things'. An exquisite LIMITED Edition Slim Aarons Estate Print. Gorgeous print measuring a huge 60 x 40" inches / ca 152 x 101 cm's. Produced utilising the original transparency held at archive source. EDGE PRINTS works in close partnership with the Getty Images Archive & Slim Aarons Estate and Collection, in London England. We ship regularly using crating...
C Print
$3,950
H 40 in W 60 in
Laguna Beach Surfers - Slim Aarons - colour C print photography - 20th century
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
Laguna Beach Surfers (Slim Aarons Estate Edition) Three surfers with their boards at sunset, Laguna Beach, California, January 1970. (Photo by Slim Aarons) This photograph epitomises the travel style and glamour of the period's wealthy and famous, beautifully documented by Aarons. In his words, he loved to photograph 'beautiful people in beautiful places, doing beautiful things'. A beautiful authentic LIMITED EDITION Slim Aarons Estate Stamped Edition - limited to 150 only. Numbered in ink & emboss stamped on front. Gorgeous print measuring a very large 60 x 40" inches / ca 151 x 101 cm's. Produced utilising the original transparency held at archive source. Slim Aarons Archive authorized. Supplied with certificate of authenticity. We ship regularly using crating...
C Print
$3,900
H 20 in W 30 in
Snowmass Village, 1968, Midcentury Modern Photography
By Slim Aarons
Located in New York, NY
Women in colourful hats at an apres ski party in Snowmass Village, in Pitkin County, Colorado, in March 1968. Slim Aarons Snowmass Village 1968 C print (Printed later) Estate signa...
C Print
Mosquito Coast
By Alain Le Garsmeur
Located in London, GB
Horses on Mosquito Coast, Honduras, Central America 1980's. (photograph Alain Le Garsmeur) A gorgeously evocative shot taken in the early 1980's by prolific documentary and well kn...
C Print
$3,650
H 30 in W 30 in
'Palm Beach Street' 1953 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
'Palm Beach Street' 1953 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition Cars parked on a tree-lined street in Palm Beach, Florida, circa 1953. (Photo by Slim Aarons) C Print Produced from the ...
C Print
$3,550
H 30 in W 30 in
'Walking Up Cortina D’Ampezzo' 1962 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition
By Slim Aarons
Located in London, GB
'Walking Up Cortina D’Ampezzo' 1962 Slim Aarons Limited Estate Edition Skiers walk up a mountain in Cortina D’Ampezzo, a ski resort in northern Italy, 1962. (Photo by Slim Aarons) ...
C Print
Midtown Manhattan Night
Located in London, GB
Midtown Manhattan Night Artist Aerial Perspectives / Getty Images C print Oversize 40 x 60" inches / 101 x 152 cm Unframed Framing & Different S...
C Print, Color