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Palm Springs Modern Living
A photographic tribute to the people and personalities that are keeping the California midcentury lifestyle alive and well by photographer James Schnepf
The time is right to celebrate the architecture, and the people behind it in Palm Springs today.
My Palm Springs project took root as I was beginning a new relationship with the desert with the purchase of a 1959 William Krisel designed home at the Sandpiper in Palm Desert. Curiosity began to get the best of me as I began exploring the desert architecture, landscape and its people. As a people photographer I began to question, “Who lives in that house? Who is the person that designed that house?” The camera has always acted as a passport into other worlds and a wonderful learning tool.
About
Simply put, I wanted to meet the modernists that lived behind the decorative screen block. I went to work.
The Palm Springs project is a perfect union of photographing and discovery. Over the course of the four year project I photographed over fifty architecturally significant homes and the owners that have lovingly nurtured them back to life. I had the privilege of making portraits of a handful of Midcentury Modern architects while they were still with us, masters who used the empty California desert as a canvas to make dreams concrete and to expand horizons of what the art of architecture could be.
My camera has also captured a few of today’s contemporary desert architects who stand on the shoulders of these pioneers, as well as the region’s blend of artists, preservationists, revivalists, members of the old guard, and the assorted cast of characters who make up the Palm Springs renaissance. Along with the photographs in my book, you will find insightful statements from each of the subjects gathered from interviews conducted by writer and editor Matthew Link. Architect William Krisel shares his insights into the people of Palm Springs and desert modernism in the book’s foreword. And finally, the book’s tasteful design has been created by Gary Wexler.
This one-of-a-kind photographic collection is showcased in PALM SPRINGS MODERN LIVING, my coffee table book released by publisher Gibbs Smith. I hope you will enjoy exploring this fascinating world and its people as much as I’ve enjoyed discovering it.
“Palm Springs has its own unique vibe and one has to be aware of it.”
Gallery
All images shown are available for purchase. Signed editions of various sizes using archival papers and inks. Contact me for complete details.
The People of Palm Springs
J.R. at Dawn, Edris House by E. Stewart Willams 1954
Architect William Krisel Walking in Twin Palms
Architect Donald Wexler
Architect Donald Wexler - Looking for Gary
Architect Donald Wexler at the Merrill Lynch Building 1971
Architect Hugh Kaptur, Palm Springs Golf Course Clubhouse 1967
Architect Lance O' Donnell
Jean Farrar, Companion of Albert Frey
Wednesday Afternoon at the Palm Springs Glass House, William Cody 1967
Cody Glass House Interior
Putters at Marrakesh Country Club
Catherine Meyler, Grace Miller House by Richard Neutra 1937
Trina Turk and Jonathan Skow, Ship of the Desert 1936
Barbara Black, The General Hose 1936
Chris Menrad in Twin Palms, Architect William Krisel
Chris Menrad - Before
Chris Menrad - After
Christy Eugenis at The Hideaway, Architect Herbert Burns 1947
Lars and Kelly Viklund, Del Marcos Hotel by William Cody 1947
Disc Jockey Don Wardell
Richard DuPont at the Ocitillo Lodge, William Krisel 1957
Trina Turk and Jonathan Skow, Ship of the Desert 1936
Trina and Jonathan
Gary Johns with Kirby at Canyon View Estates, Palmer & Krisel 1962
Brian McGuire at Home, Architects Donald Wexler and Richard Harrison 1962
Brian McGuire, Poolboy
Cheeta, Actor and Artist
Dan Westphal at Home with Cheeta
Actor Udo Kier at Home
Wil and Molly Floating
Artist Josh Agle -SHAG- and Family
Robert Imber at Palm Springs City Hall, Frey Clark & Chambers 1952-1957
Sidney Williams at Architecture and Design Center, E. Stewart Williams 1960
Modernists Behind Glass
William in Reflections
Janice Lyle at Annenberg Estate, A. Quincy Jones 1966
Tracy Conrad, Smoke Tree Ranch by E. Stewart Williams 1953
The Lyall's Lounging at Pool, The Lost Krisel
The Lyall's Walking
Before the Lyall's Walking
Joan in Front of Swiss Miss, Charles Dubois 1958
Joan and Gary in Thunderbird
Richard and Debra Hovel at Desert Star, Richard Lapham 1954
Richard Hovel, Artist
Architect Hugh Kaptur, Palm Springs Golf Course Clubhouse 1967
Architect Hugh Kaptur on Roof of Family Home 1957
Artist Jim Isermann at Home
Artist Jim Isermann
Jacques Caussin
Jade and Martin at Home with Toffee
Desert Two 2013, JIm Jennings and David McAdam
Brad Dunning, Tramway Valley Station by Albert Frey 1963
Jim Moore at Steel Home, Architect Donald Wexler 1962
Jim Moore in Wexler Steel Home
William Kopelk, Landscape Designer
John Renner, Aerialist
Kim and Joe, Racquet Club Garden Villas William Cody 1960
Judy Sheppard Misset - Founder of Jazzercize at Maranz House, Van Powelson 1960
Artist Karen Baron
Artist Tony Baron
Karen Prinzmetal at Sandpiper Home with Father's Artwork
Linda and Elvis at Sandpiper, Original Vee Nisley Decor 1963
Joe and Kim Sunning in Polyester
Architect Lance O' Donnell with Family
Melvyn
Harold and Dorothy Meyerman at Bougain Villa, Kaptur and Frey 1957 - 1963
Bougain Villa - Burgess / Meyerman House, Frey and Kaptur 1957 - 1963
Publisher Milton Jones in 1957 Thunderbird
Courtney and Joy at Modernway
Two Pearls at 98, Villa Roma by James K. Schuler 1964
Author and Historian Peter Moruzzi at Home
Artist Phillip K. Smith III
Vince and Karen Pirozzi, Architect Albert Frey 1956
Raymond in Living Room
Raymond by Pool
Kevin on Moped
Architect Lance O' Donnell
Kevin & Howie with Inflatable Swans, Homage to Doisneau
David Lyons, Original owner of Lyons English Grill now Mr. Lyons Steakhouse
J.R. in the Edris House, E. Stewart Williams
J.R. at Sunrise in the Edris House
Tracy and Ryan, Hotel Lautner Owners
Architect William Krisel Waves to Modernists
The Architecture and Landscape
Dusk in Vista Las Palmas, Charles Du Bois 1962
Frey House II, Architect Albert Frey 1963
Frey House II Bedroom
Frey House II Pool Reflection
The Hollywood House at Sandpiper, William Krisel 1963
Starburst Mirror Reflection
Bedroom
Breezeway and Edsel Bermuda
Canyon View Estates, Palmer & Krisel 1962-1967
1963 Avanti's at the Raymond Loewy House
Edris House, E. Stewart Williams 1953
Edris House Detail
The "Lost Krisel", 1963
Albert's View from Frey House II
Sinatra's Twin Palms Detail
Atmoic Lamp
Agave
Globe Tree at Marrakesh
House of Tomorrow, William Krisel 1960
Steel Home, Donald Wexler 1962
Grace Miller House, Richard Neutra 1937
Catherine Inside Her Grace Miller House, Richard Neutra 1937
Grace Miller House Inside/Outside, Richard Neutra 1937
Afternoon at The Hideaway, Herbert Burns 1947
D'Angelo Rotating House, 1963
D'Angelo House Interior
D'Angelo House Detail
Smoke Tree Ranch, E. Stewart Williams 1953
Sunnylands, A. Quincy Jones 1966
Steel Home Interior
Steel Home Kitchen
Dining Room Detail
Miles C. Bates "Wave" House, Walter S. White 1955
"Wave" House, Walter S. White 1955
Maryon Toole House, Rudolph Schindler 1947
Maryon Toole House Interior
Maryon Toole House Exterior at Sunset
Bougain Villa Interior
Art and Nature, Bougain Villa
Hotel Lautner Exterior, John Lautner 1947
Tramway Gas Station, Frey & Chambers 1965
Contact
James Schnepf Photography
N34 W5543 Hamilton Rd
Cedarburg, WI 53012
372 Sandpiper
Palm Desert, CA 92260
414 406 4755