Balthazar Korab (; 1926 – January 15, 2013) was a Hungarian-American photographer based in Detroit, Michigan, specializing in architectural, art and landscape photography.
Biography 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 as an architect, where his skill with a camera lead to him becoming responsible for the integration of photography into the architectural design process. The architectural community in Detroit embraced Korab's career, and many firms retained him to document their building and private home projects. In 1956, he was awarded fourth place in the international design competition for the Sydney Opera House with fellow Hungarian Laszlo Peter Kollar. Korab documented the 1966 flood of the Arno in Florence, Italy.
In 1994, American President Bill Clinton presented a portfolio of Balthazar Korab's photography to Árpád Göncz, the president of Hungary. Korab died on January 15, 2013, after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. He is survived by his wife Monica and two children, Christian and Alexandra. Today, Korab's collection is held at the Library of Congress.
Highlights of architectural photography Le Corbusier: Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University; Unité d'Habitation, Marseille Mies van der Rohe: Berlin National Gallery; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Louis Isadore Kahn: Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA; Kimbell Art Museum, Ft. Worth, TX Frank Lloyd Wright: Guggenheim Museum, New York; comprehensive coverage of all structures built between 1893 and 1959 Eero Saarinen: TWA Terminal, JFK Airport, NY; Dulles International Airport Terminal, Washington Metropolitan Area; Gateway Arch, St. Louis; GM Technical Center, Detroit Harry Weese: Arena Stage, Washington D.C.; Time-Life Building, Chicago Minoru Yamasaki: World Trade Center - North Tower and South Tower - comprehensive coverage of model through finished building Frank Gehry: Own house in Santa Monica, CA; Weisman Museum, Minneapolis Marcel Breuer: Saint John's Abbey, Collegeville, Minnesota; UNESCO Headquarters, Paris Edward Larrabee Barnes: Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Philip Johnson: Transco Tower, Houston; Detroit One Center; Glass House, New Canaan, CT I M Pei: Dallas City Hall, National Gallery East Wing, Washington, D.C.; Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland Cesar Pelli: City Hall San Bernardino, CA; Four Leaf Towers, Houston; Cleveland Clinic Skidmore, Owings & Merrill: US Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs; Lutheran Brotherhood, Minneapolis; Grinnell College, Iowa Louis Sullivan: National Farmers Bank, Owatonna, MN; Carson Pirie Scott, Chicago
Honors and career highlights
1957 Sydney Opera House Competition with Laszlo Peter Kollar – Fourth Place 1958 Invited by Frank Lloyd Wright to join Taliesin 1964 American Institute of Architects Medal for Architectural Photography 1975 Michigan Society of Architects – Honorary Member 1977-1982 Governor's Committee on Art in Public Places – Michigan 1984-1986 Design Editor – Metropolitan Detroit 1985 American Institute of Architects Detroit Chapter – Honorary Member 1986 Arts Foundation of Michigan 1989 Michigan Society of Landscape Architects – Honorary Member 1998 Cranbrook Educational Community, President's Design Advisory Committee 2007 American Institute of Architects Lifetime Achievement Award for Photography; Hungarian Institute of Architects, Honorary Award for Lifetime Achievement
Bibliography Books and articles featuring Korab's pictures. Comazzi, John, Balthazar Korab: Architect of Photography, Princetown Architectural Press, New York, 2012 Ferry, W. Hawkins, The Buildings of Detroit; A History, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1968 Hogg, Victor and Balthazar Korab, Legacy of the River Raisin: The Historic Buildings of Monroe County, Michigan, The Monroe County Historical Society, Monroe, Michigan, 1976. Schmitt, Peter and Balthazar Korab, Kalamazoo: Nineteenth-century Homes in a Midwestern Village, Kalamazoo City Historical Commission, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1976 Hendry, L Fay, Outdoor Sculpture in Grand Rapids, iota Press, Okemos, Michigan, 1980 Hendry, L Fay, Outdoor Sculpture in Kalamazoo, iota Press, Okemos, Michigan, 1980 Hendry, L Fay, Outdoor Sculpture in Lansing, iota Press, Okemos, Michigan, 1980 New Deal, Government Architecture, Murals & Sculpture of the 1930s & 1940s: A Walking Tour of East Lansing & Lansing, photographs from the Balthazar Korab Collection ca. 1986 Farbman, Suzy and James P Gallagher, The Renaissance of the Wayne County Building, Smith, Hinchman & Grylls Associates, Inc., The Old Wayne County Building Limited Partnership, Walbridge Aldinger Company, Detroit, Michigan 1989 Eckert, Kathryn Bishop, Buildings of Michigan, Oxford University Press, New York, 1993 Eckert, Kathryn Bishop, Cranbrook: The Campus Guide, Princeton Architectural Press, NY, 2001 Hill, Eric J. and John Gallagher, AIA Detroit: The American Institute of Architects Guide to Detroit Architecture, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 2003
References
External links Korab Image Korab photograph archive at the Library of Congress