The Fine Art of Buildings: 'Visual Acoustics'

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A CULTURAL AMBASSADOR for some of Modernism's greatest architects, Julius Shulman brought iconic images to America's coffee tables through his architectural photography. In his new film, "Visual Acoustics," Eric Bricker explores the life and work of the world's finest architectural photographer, and he brings the best of Shulman's photos to the big screen.

» EXPRESS: Shulman worked with so many important architects -- how did you decide who to contact?
» BRICKER: Some of it was based on my own research, and some of it was from talking with Julius. I would say, "Hey, Julius, who do you think would be the appropriate person to talk to about [Rudolf] Schindler? Or [Richard] Neutra?" It was great. I would sit there with Julius, and he would crack open his Rolodex and would call someone up and tell them what we were up to and book an appointment with me.

» EXPRESS: You had the unusual challenge of presenting a large number of still photographs in a film. How did you approach that?
» BRICKER: It took me a number of years to curate and distill an adequate number. I ended up choosing what I thought would be the best illustrations of the point we were discussing. There were also certain images that just had to be in the film because of what they were and what they represented.

» EXPRESS: In the film, various types of animation are used to add visual interest to the photography. Did Shulman ever object to any of those choices?
» BRICKER: I never showed him any of those animated sequences out of fear of that. The first time he saw those was when we very first screened this in public, and he absolutely loved it.

Written by Express contributor Ryan Little
Photo courtesy Arthouse Films