Inside the archives of American photographer Ezra Stoller

A new book and exhibition
A new book and exhibition on Ezra Stoller dig into an archive of more than 50,000 of his works, showing the diversity of his expansive output. Pictured is a photograph of Olivetti-Underwood Factory, 1969
(Image credit: © Ezra Stoller /Esto/ Yossi Milo Gallery)

Ezra Stoller is one of the 20th century's most acclaimed photographers of Modern and Midcentury architecture. A new book and exhibition is set to throw fresh light on his oeuvre, showing his well-known architectural photographs alongside little seen works fuelled by his own personal interests.

Digging into Stoller's archive of more than 50,000 images, the book 'Ezra Stoller: Photographer' (published by Yale University Press) presents the Chicago-born photographer's industrial and domestic work. This sits side by side with his better-known images of Modernist architecture, showing the breadth of his output. It is penned by curator Nina Rappaport and Erica Stoller (the photographer's daughter and director of their agency, Esto).

The book is a timely precursor to the exhibition Beyond Architecture, which opens at the Yossi Milo Gallery in New York in January. Aiming to capture a 'lost America', it features visuals taken all around the country, from workers in Queens to conveyor belts at the Heinz factory.  

Together they show a new perspective of post-war America, while also offering some of the images that helped define the cultural memory of mid-century design.

CBS Records

CBS Records, 1953

(Image credit: © Ezra Stoller /Esto/ Yossi Milo Gallery)

Lifesavers Factory

Lifesavers Factory, 1956

(Image credit: © Ezra Stoller /Esto/ Yossi Milo Gallery)

Hirshhorn Museum

Hirshhorn Museum, designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill, 1955

(Image credit: © Ezra Stoller /Esto/ Yossi Milo Gallery)

Fortune Magazine

Power in West', photographed for Fortune Magazine, 1947

(Image credit: © Ezra Stoller /Esto/ Yossi Milo Gallery)

Fortune Magazine

Power in West', photographed for Fortune Magazine, 1947

(Image credit: © Ezra Stoller /Esto/ Yossi Milo Gallery)

Inside the archives of American

Power in West', photographed for Fortune Magazine, 1947

(Image credit: © Ezra Stoller /Esto/ Yossi Milo Gallery)

Power in West

Power in West', photographed for Fortune Magazine, 1947

(Image credit: © Ezra Stoller /Esto/ Yossi Milo Gallery)

Duplan Silk Mills

Duplan Silk Mills, 1943

(Image credit: © Ezra Stoller /Esto/ Yossi Milo Gallery)

Tuskegee Institute Chapel

Tuskegee Institute Chapel, designed by Paul Rudolph, 1969

(Image credit: Paul Rudolph)

Equitable Building

Equitable Building, Portland, designed by Pietro Belluschi, 1948

(Image credit: Pietro Belluschi)

John Hancock Construction

John Hancock Construction, designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill, 1967

(Image credit: Skidmore Owings & Merrill)

World’s Fair

World’s Fair, NY State Pavilion, designed by Philip Johnson, 1964

(Image credit: Philip Johnson)

World’s Fair

World’s Fair, NY State Pavilion, designed by Philip Johnson, 1964

(Image credit: Philip Johnson)

Philip Morris Research Building

Philip Morris Research Building, designed by Ulrich Franzen, 1972

(Image credit: Ulrich Franzen)

Guggenheim Museum

Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1959

(Image credit: Frank Lloyd Wright)

Marin County Civic Center

Marin County Civic Center, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1963

(Image credit: Frank Lloyd Wright)

Deering House

Deering House, designed by Paul Rudolph, 1958

(Image credit: Paul Rudolph)

Cocoon House

Cocoon House, designed by Paul Rudolph, 1951

(Image credit: Paul Rudolph)
TOPICS

Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).

Read more
Latina women in car
‘American Photography’: centuries-spanning show reveals timely truths
frinton park estate book image showing white modernist villa in black and white
New book takes you inside Frinton Park Estate: the Essex modernist housing scheme
Alaïa by Anthony Seklaoui Book with Pieter Mulier
This photo book captures the ‘beauty and chaos’ behind the scenes of an Alaïa collection
House Richter, part of our tour of lesser-known modernist houses in europe
Tour 21 lesser-known modernist houses in Europe
Albert Frey House l a.k.a. Frey I with AlbertFrey Seated, Albert Frey, 1940. Photographer Unknown. part of the palm springs school
Take a deep dive into The Palm Springs School ahead of the region’s Modernism Week
L House by Steven Holl, a furniture gallerist's dream and sculptural timber composition both internally and externally
Step inside this furniture gallerist's live-work space by Steven Holl in upstate New York
Latest in Photography
Ewen Spencer, Twice as Nice, The End, London, 1999, Courtesy the artist. photography exhibition
From counter-culture to Northern Soul, these photos chart an intimate history of working-class Britain
Juno Calypso, Chicken Dogs 2015, Archival Pigmant
This fun and free-spirited photography exhibition offers a chromatic view on the world
plane images
Flights of fancy: a colourful new photography book documents our obsession with aviation
Latina women in car
‘American Photography’: centuries-spanning show reveals timely truths
David Bailey Eighties
Era-defining photographer David Bailey guides us through the 1980s in a new tome not short of shoulder pads and lycra
black and white men hugging
Discover Rotimi Fani-Kayode's fluid photographs of the queer male body, on show in London
Latest in Feature
lean lui guide to hong kong
A local’s guide to Hong Kong, by photographer Lean Lui
people at watch show
What can we expect from Watches and Wonders 2025?
Perfume Genius Glory album artwork
Inside the visual universe of Perfume Genius
art works
Don’t miss these five artists at Art Basel Hong Kong
best hotels hong kong
Where to stay in Hong Kong
jewellery
Bold colours and tactile textures: inside Bottega Veneta's second fine jewellery drop