BALTHAZAR KORAB

One of the brightest talents of modernist architectural photography, Balthazar Korab's photos are true works of art. Korab created dazzling images of architectural masterpieces designed by the world's most celebrated architects, including Eero Saarinen, Mies van der Rohe, and Frank Lloyd Wright.  Based in Detroit, Michigan, Korab also excelled at art and landscape photography.

Korab was born in Budapest, Hungary, and migrated to France after fleeing from Hungary's communist government in 1949. At the École des beaux-arts in Paris, he completed a diploma of architecture in 1954. For a time, he was a journeyman under the direction of leading European architects, including Le Corbusier.

In 1955, Korab arrived in the United States, and Eero Saarinen employed him to document and participate in his architectural design process, which included photographing architectural models at multiple stages of development, as well as photographing finished, built projects upon their completion.

"I am an architect with a passion for nature's lessons and man's interventions."

– Balthazar Korab

The architectural community in Detroit embraced Korab's photographic talents, and many firms retained him to document their projects. In addition to Saarinen, Korab was recruited to photograph the work of many of the world's most prominent architects, including Marcel Breuer, Louis Kahn, and Richard Meier. In 1994, American President Bill Clinton presented a portfolio of Balthazar Korab's photography to Árpád Göncz, the president of Hungary.

Korab died in 2013.  His life and work is remembered in a fascinating and insightful book by John Comazzi – Balthazar Korab: Architect of Photography.