Balthazar Korab@balthazarkorab
Korab was born in 1926 in Budapest, Hungary. As a young man, his studies of architecture at the Polytechnicum were interrupted in 1949 by the necessity to escape his country’s communist regime. In a prevailing trend of overseas emigration he opted for France, where in Paris he attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts obtaining his diploma of architecture in 1954. During this time, Korab worked throughout Europe as a journeyman with notable architects, including Le Corbusier.
Coming to the United States in 1955, Korab was hired by Eero Saarinen where he began experimenting with the use of photography as part of the design development process. In 1956 he was awarded fourth place in the international design competition for the Sydney Opera House, and in 1958, invited by Frank Lloyd Wright to join Taliesin as both an architect and photographer. In 1964 Korab received the prestigious AIA Medal for Architectural Photography, recognizing his worldwide coverage of prominent architects. By now photography of architecture was his main occupation. In 1994, President Clinton offered a portfolio of Korab’s photographs as a state gift to Arpad Goncz, the president of Hungary.
Korab currently lives in Troy, Michigan with his wife Monica.