Important Design 
7 June 2018
Aaron Siskind and students of the Institute of Design, Chicago, seven works from the Louis H. Sullivan project - Image 1 of 1
Important Design 
Aaron Siskind and students of the Institute of Design, Chicago, seven works from the Louis H. Sullivan project - Image 1 of 1
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Aaron Siskind and students of the Institute of Design, Chicago

seven works from the Louis H. Sullivan project

USA, c. 1952
gelatin silver print
estimate: $2,000–3,000
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Lot is comprised of seven works by Len Gittleman, Aaron Siskind, Richard Nickel, Leon Lewandowski and Casimir Estramskis illustrating religious and educational institutions designed by Louis Sullivan; six images were featured in the 1954 exhibition Louis H. Sullivan at the Institute of Design, Chicago. Stamped to verso of each example: [Institute of Design IIT] and signed by the artist.
provenance: Private Collection, Evanston, IL
literature: Aaron Siskind and Louis Sullivan: The Institute of Design Photo Section Project, Plank, illustrates and discusses project

print

Complete Lot Details

St. Paul's United Methodist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1914 Len Gittleman. 8 h × 10 w in (20 × 25 cm). Signed to verso: [L. Gittleman].

St. Paul's United Methodist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1914 Len Gittleman. 10 h × 8 w in (25 × 20 cm). Signed to verso: [L. Gittleman]. This image was featured in the 1954 exhibition.

St. Paul's United Methodist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1914 Len Gittleman. 8 h × 10 w in (20 × 25 cm). Signed to verso: [L. Gittleman]. This image was featured in the 1954 exhibition.

St. Paul's United Methodist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1914 Aaron Siskind. 10 h × 8 w in (25 × 20 cm). Signed to verso: [A. Siskind]. This image was featured in the 1954 exhibition.

Kehilath Anshe Ma'arav Synagogue, Chicago, 1890 Richard Nickel. 8 h × 10 w in (20 × 25 cm). Signed to verso: [R. Nickel]. This image was featured in the 1954 exhibition.

Kehilath Anshe Ma'arav Synagogue, Chicago, 1890 Casimir Estramskis. 8 h × 10 w in (20 × 25 cm). Signed to verso: [C. Estranskis]. This image was featured in the 1954 exhibition.

Marengo Public School, Marengo, Illinois, 1883 Leon Lewandowski. 10 h × 8 w in (25 × 20 cm). Signed to verso: [L. Lewandowski]. This image was featured in the 1954 exhibition.

In 1952, Aaron Siskind led a group of advanced photography students at the Institute of Design on a comprehensive photographic survey of architecture by Louis Sullivan. Over the span of three years, Siskind and his students photographed over sixty buildings, many of which were in various states of disrepair and demolished shortly thereafter. The significance of the Sullivan photography project is two-fold: on one hand it offered the students an opportunity to hone their technical skills and on the other, it resulted in the documentation of many works by the master architect that had been previously overlooked. Student and project participant Richard Nickel recalled this as “the sublime personal satisfaction of recording the beginning shapes of the first modern creative architect”.  In 1954, Siskind compiled 126 works from the project illustrating thirty-five Sullivan buildings for the exhibition Louis H. Sullivan, marking the largest exhibition of Sullivan building photographs to date. Many of the images offered here were chosen to be featured in the 1954 exhibition.

Views of the Exhibition

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Photos by Richard Nickel from the Archival Image Collection, Art Institute of Chicago

Amid the mass of buildings which speak of the growth of a city, the architecture of Louis Sullivan now stands unnoticed but for the student of architecture and those who believe that architecture is the very essence of civilization. The philosophy of Louis Sullivan is of particular note to the students of the Institute of Design in that it bears striking resemblance to their own aesthetic conception.

Richard Nickel

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