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Friday, March 20, 2009

Visual Art SAM Buys Louis Sullivan's 1893 Chicago Stock Exchange Elevator Facade

Posted by Jen Graves on Fri, Mar 20, 2009 at 2:05 PM

On March 31, another gate of paradise will go on display at Seattle Art Museum—this one designed by the great Louis Sullivan.

Sullivan is the poet of early modern architecture, a skyscraperist still in love with the plants right here on the ground. His drawings are knockouts, his lines as full of life as anything by da Vinci. This facade, from one of his most famous buildings, is made of cast and wrought iron and bronze, and stands 9 1/2 by 13 3/4 by 1/2 feet. The round forms you see are Sullivan's representations of seeds, an homage to the fact that the Chicago Stock Exchange was the nation's largest agricultural stock exchange at the time.

A row of grain-like plants seems to sprout from the top of the façade. Abstract vegetal ornamentation in the top and side panels, as well as the bronze T-shaped element at the center, has been associated with interwoven Celtic designs, but it was another source that influenced Sullivan in this concept—the geometric and abstract flat-patterning derived from Islamic decoration and promoted by British design theorist Owen Jones (1809—1874).

“This acquisition ushers in the 20th century much as our Italian Room set the stage for art and design of the high Renaissance,” said Julie Emerson, the Ruth J. Nutt Curator of Decorative Arts at the Seattle Art Museum. “This stunning elevator façade will have an instant sculptural and ornamental dialogue with many of our signature American works from this era such as the sculptural relief Amor Caritas by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the Herter Brothers cabinet, the stained glass window by John La Farge, and the silver Tiffany tankard produced the same year,” added Emerson.

Here is the design in situ at the exchange, before the building was demolished in 1972.

And the building.

This facade was not rescued intact. (The only other complete facade at a museum is at the Art Institute of Chicago, from the first floor of the exchange, according to SAM.) This one is a Frankenstein's monster, recently assembled from rescued parts from floors 3 through 13 and purchased by SAM at auction at Sotheby's. The museum declined to say how much it paid or who the seller was.

UPDATE: I found the sale, from December 18, 2008, on Sotheby's site here. (Great detail image!) According to this, the hammer price with buyer premium was $602,500. (I'm not sure if that's what the museum paid, because I don't know exactly what that means, but I'm working on finding out.) In addition, this is the most complete elevator assemblage from the Stock Exchange ever to appear at public auction. The seller is not listed; SAM says it doesn't know who the owner was.

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There's something that really gets to me about those old city buildings (are they even tall enough to qualify as "skyscrapers"?) Part of it is the agedness of the photographs, but I'm also completely fucking enamored of the tiny details and nooks and embellishments borrowed from houses of the era. I feel like the worst kind of anti-modernist after looking at a building like this.

Posted by leek on March 20, 2009 at 2:18 PM

I have a question that is somewhat related: How come there's a lack of dated cornerstones in Seattle?

Posted by tabletop_joe on March 20, 2009 at 2:27 PM

Loving Sullivan is nothing to be ashamed of. I am always just blown away imaging the amount of labor that must have gone into producing his intricate designs, and the follow up thought: wondering what people were thinking as they erased the evidence of all that effort.

Posted by MikeP on March 20, 2009 at 2:30 PM

Facade? Pfft, we have a room:

http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/art…

Posted by Joseph Finn on March 20, 2009 at 2:35 PM

Jen, you might get some useful info if you contact Eric Barnett at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. Eric is the director of the SIUE museum, which has a huge sullivan collection. He might even be able to tell you who sold the piece, and he can certainly tell you more about it. I think they have at least some pieces of another elevator facade in their collection.

Posted by yuiop on March 20, 2009 at 2:36 PM

sullivan - genius - liebermeister

Posted by lhs on March 20, 2009 at 3:00 PM

Sullivan's one of my heroes. Much more so than FLW. But then, like leek, I'm coo coo for cocoa puffs about prewar commercial blocks. Those Sullivan doors are as exciting to me as a Michelangelo would be.

Posted by Fnarf on March 20, 2009 at 3:07 PM

Jen,
I am a devotee of Louis Sullivan. His student was Frank Lloyd Wright. I'm from Chicago and I have beheld the facade of the Carson, Pirie, Scott Dept. store which I'm not sure is around anymore. I've also seen the Auditorium Theatre (another work of Sullivan) in Chicago which is magnificent. I've visited his grave (he's buried in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery where Daniel Burnham is interred as well. Sullivan's gravestone is awesome as is the Getty Tomb which he designed. I'll send you a pic). Good that you note him. He was a visionary ("Form follows function"). I shall view the elevator door at SAM.

Posted by lark on March 20, 2009 at 3:12 PM

Carson Pirie Scott how houses one of the Galleries for The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They're called the Sullivan Galleries... I'm not sure what else is in the building and yes, Sullivan's Grave is groovy. Makes me want to jump for joy... not his grave but Sullivan in general...

Posted by jen on March 20, 2009 at 3:38 PM

That is so cool! My great grandfather was one half of The Winslow Brothers Iron Works in Chicago, and worked with Sullivan -- and Frank Lloyd Wright -- on other projects. It'll be neat to have this here at SAM - another feather in the cap of their American art collection.

Posted by arts&letters on March 20, 2009 at 3:39 PM

fnarf: You do follow Shorpy, right? Beautiful building porn all over the place.

Posted by leek on March 20, 2009 at 3:47 PM

Many pics from Shorpy have been my desktop. My favorite was a color shot of the shipping terminal in downtown Baltimore in about 1940.

Posted by Fnarf on March 20, 2009 at 4:29 PM

Jen, please revert to the art historically endorsed "Leonardo" when referring to the great Renaissance artist born in the town of Vinci.

Posted by Eric F on March 20, 2009 at 5:21 PM

Stuart Grannen, owner of Architectural Artifacts, was the owner of the CSE elevator that sold last December.

Posted by sullivanesque on April 15, 2009 at 9:28 AM

"I feel like the worst kind of anti-modernist after looking at a building like this."

I think you mean the best kind!

Posted by Rocketman0739 on April 29, 2009 at 9:57 AM

This is great news! Sullivan is my favorite archtitect, a true modern master. An inspired purchase for sure.

Posted by scharrera on May 11, 2009 at 4:59 PM

uh, architect. As in: "I am an architect who apparently cannot type."

Posted by scharrera on May 11, 2009 at 5:00 PM

You can see many fine photos of Sullivan's work on Flickr, where there is a photo pool for Louis Sullivan. Incidentally, the Carson Pirie Scott facade in Chicago is still there, it's just been under wraps for the past year or two since Carson's closed. I find it very annoying that the new management keeps the beautiful cast iron under a plastic-wrap "billboard" for themselves, with no indication of when it will be taken off.

Posted by Fleabell on May 16, 2009 at 9:36 PM

Sullivan is the poet of early modern architecture, a skyscraperist still in love with the plants right here on the ground. His drawings are knockouts, his lines as full of life as anything by da Vinci. The round forms you see are Sullivan's representations of seeds, an homage to the fact that the Chicago Stock Exchange was the nation's largest agricultural stock exchange at the time. the hammer price with buyer premium was $602,500. (I'm not sure if that's what the museum paid, because I don't know exactly what that means... free baccarat online

Posted by varisha on June 24, 2009 at 12:38 AM