Scope and Content Note
The Balthazar Korab Collection of over 542,000 images is amazing for its breadth and depth - covering many different countries and topics ranging from flowers to city night life; but offering intense coverage of specific topics and locations such as the barns of the Midwest, the architecture of Eero Saarinen, or the roof-scapes of Rome. The collection spans over six decades and ranges from 35 mm to 4 x5 inch black & white negatives to color transparencies of all sizes and some digital formats.
Known for iconic images of modernist architectural masterpieces, Korab was especially skilled in the use of color photography. His work on commissions from major 20th century architects makes up the bulk of the collection material. In addition to his commercial work, the collection also reveals his personal interest in extensively photographing the Midwest, parts of Europe, and American car culture among other topics.
The photographs in the Eero Saarinen Book Project, 2005-2008 are a selection by Korab of over 700 photographs documenting 19 projects designed by renowned architect Eero Saarinen (1910-1961). Included are airports, churches, corporate headquarters, embassies, private residences, university facilities, and the monumental arch of St. Louis. Korab captured their development in the 1950s and 1960s from model and site plan through construction to finished exteriors and interiors.
His Midwestern United States work focuses heavily on two states, Indiana and Michigan. Korab started working in Indiana to photograph Saarinen's designs for a residence commissioned by the community business leader and patron of architecture, J. Irwin Miller. For several decades afterwards, Korab continued to photograph the architectural gems concentrated in the town of Columbus, Indiana. Korab visits produced photographs for most of the schools and public buildings commissioned by the Cummins Foundation Architecture Program. In Michigan he balanced commissions to document modernist structures with personal interest in city and rural views, historic neighborhoods, and natural life in his home state. This led to extensive surveys of Detroit, Kalamazoo, and Cranbrook, as well as vernacular architecture throughout the country.
In addition to documenting the American built environment, Korab also traveled extensively and captured significant architecture and landscapes around the world including: France, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Mexico, China, and most significantly Italy. Korab lived in Italy for a number of years and documented the great flood in Florence in 1966, Tuscan towns and villas, and the roof-scapes of Rome.