Louis Sullivan [1856-1924] the American Architect often referred to as father of modern ismâ€, mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright and creator of the modern skyscraper was my inspiration for a guest lecture given during the INTERNATIONAL SALON 2011 in Atlanta, GA. This lecture discusses the recreation process with visual representation, and respectfully pays homage to Sullivan.
INTERNATIONAL SALON 2011 was held in Atlanta, GA. During the five-day event I was privileged to present a Keynote Lecture on a project that was completed at a Historical Landmark in Chicago, IL. The choice of subject matter was the work from the Chicago firm of Adler and Sullivan, 1894. During the research process, Sullivan’s individuality began to emerge. While showing CLASSICAL DECORATIVE ARTS creative, and recreation process with visual representation, the lecture respectfully pays homage to Sullivan as a man, artist, and architect and his contribution to the architectural landscape.
Louis Sullivan was born on September 3, 1856 in Boston Massachusetts and relocated to Chicago after the windy city’s Great Fire in 1871.
During this career Sullivan executed approximately 238 designs. While in partnership with Adler from May 1883 until June 1895 he was involved in 158 projects. Today only 50 remain standing. One exception is the Chicago Art Institute full-scale rendition and reconstruction.
Sullivan’s designs reflected the current writings of Darwin, the botanist Asa Grey with the transcendentalist aspects of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, and Henry David Thoreau.
The architectural firm of Vinci and Kenny recreated the original room that is permanently installed at the Art Institute of Chicago.
CLASSICAL DECORATIVE ARTS recreated the reconstructed Trading Room wing at Driehaus Capital Management, 25 E. Erie in Chicago, Illinois. Project required extended onsite museum research and months of studio preparation before work could commence at the Historical Cable House. In early 1996 the reproduced historical room was unveiled. The Louis Sullivan reproduction required 63 stencil overlays and 33 individually mix-to-match colors to reproduce the room as Louis Sullivan originally intended.
Chicago Art InstItute Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room
BOOKS
Louis Sullivan and the Chicago School. Nancy Fraizer. Knickerbocker Press. ISBN: 1577150856
Sullivanesque: Urban Architecture and Ornamentation. Ronald E. Smith. University of Illinois Press. ISBN: 0252074645
The Trading Room: Louis Sullivan and the Chicago Stock Exchange. John Vinci. ISBN: 0865590826
