Selwyn Pullan
Photographing Mid-Century West Coast Modernism
by Kiriko Watanabe; Donald Luxton; Barry Downs & Adele Weder
The stark beauty of an iconic architectural movement is captured in this rare collection of stunning images.
As an emerging photographer in the 1950s and '60s, Selwyn Pullan played an important role in popularizing the new style of West Coast modernist architecture.
His photographs capturing Vancouver's rapidly changing urban landscape appeared regularly in magazines and architectural journals, and helped tout the bold, dramatic architectural ideas thriving on the West Coast. Pullan became known for his ability to contextualize the work of architects through unique composition and tonal range.
He photographed projects for B.C.'s leading architects of the era, including Ron Thom, Fred Hollingsworth, C.E Pratt, Arthur Erickson and Barry Downs. Today, as Vancouver's architectural landscape changes again, his photographs are all that remain of many of these projects, now demolished or altered beyond recognition. His archive forms a crucial record of a definitive architectural movement. Selwyn Pullan is the first full-length book dedicated to his compelling photographs. An extensive retrospective with beautifully reproduced images, this book's illuminating texts also put the artist in historical and cultural context.
close this panel"Smartly written and beautifully designed... [The photographs] lucidly articulate what is most compelling and distinctive about cutting-edge residential, commercial and institutional structures built in the Vancouver area between the late 1940s and the mid-1970s. "
