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Colleagues, family and admirers of Julius Shulman gathered at Getty Center this afternoon to remember and applaud "truly one of the great photographers of the 20th century," in the words of publisher Benedikt Taschen, one of the speakers. The mood was more celebratory than sad, during both the program in the Harold Williams Auditorium and the reception in the sunshine on the terrace. A recurring theme was Shulman's surprise at the esteem that came his way late in life. "He didn't see himself as an artist, but he loved being acclaimed as an artist," his daughter, Judy McKee, told the audience. Gallery owner Craig Krull and others enjoyed sharing Shulman stories and laughing about his legendary bite, including the 2005 episode at the Cinerama Dome when Shulman pronounced a new L.A. photo book by Krull and panel mate Ben Stiller "crap." That year the Getty acquired Shulman's body of work, and Andrew Perchuk of the Getty Research Institute said Sunday "the arrival of the Shulman archives literally changed our lives." The Shulman archive quickly became the Getty's most accessed.
Other speakers and guests included biographer and UCLA emeritus professor Thomas Hines, Chief Justice Ronald George of the California Supreme Court, numerous architects, actresses Lily Tomlin and Kelly Lynch (who told me she was at the Cinerama Dome that day in 2005), author Barbara Isenberg, Los Angeles Magazine editor Mary Melton, KCRW host Frances Anderton, photographer Gil Garcetti and Juergen Nogai, the German photographer who collaborated with Shulman in recent years. Introduced and warmly greeted by the crowd were the two women who served as models in Shulman's iconic 1960 photo of the Stahl house in the Hollywood Hills. Shulman was 98 when he died on July 15.
Photo: Gerard Smulevich at the website for Eric Bricker's film Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman