Louis Sullivan in the Art Institute of Chicago : the illustrated catalogue of collections /

A complete catalog of all architectural drawings and sketches, building fragments, manuscripts, and memorabilia related to Louis Sullivan contained in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Editor Mollman has organized the entries into five chapters on architectural drawings by Adler and Sullivan; architectural drawings by Sullivan's associates and followers; architectural fragments from Sullivan's buildings; drawings of architectural ornamentation, details, plant studies, and figural drawings; and manuscripts and Sullivan memorabilia. Where appropriate, comparative photographs of buildings and their interiors have been effectively included with illustrations of the drawings. Among the most notable sets of architectural drawings are those of the Garrick Theater in Chicago, and several of Sullivan's late bank commissions. Significant architectural fragments illustrated include the entrance arch and trading floor of the Chicago Stock Exchange, staircase baluster panels from the Carson Pirie Scott store, and a teller's wicket from the National Farmer's Bank in Owatonna, Minnesota. The finest illustrations in the catalog are 20 plates done for A System of Architectural Ornament. . .(1924), revealing Sullivan's greatest potential for producing vigorous geometric and plantlike compositions as patterns for architectural ornament. This book is an important contribution to scholarship on Sullivan and its more than 300 drawings and photographs provide the best visual documentation available on Sullivan's archival collections. -J. W. Stamper, University of Notre Dame