03 settembre 2006
Louis Sullivan
[dal sito del “Chicago Sun-Times” con l’articolo completo e maggiori informazioni]
“The tragic tale of Louis Sullivan
September 3, 2006
BY KEVIN NANCE Architecture Critic
Society has a nasty way of turning its back on some of its greatest artists at the zenith of their powers: Mozart buried in a pauper's grave at the age of 35, Oscar Wilde sent to prison just as his plays were dominating the West End. To these must be added the the tragic tale of Louis Sullivan, the Chicago architect who was born 150 years ago today. This week, as Chicago prepares to mark the occasion with a six-week celebration culminating with a symposium at the Chicago History Museum, it's worth remembering not just how Sullivan lived but how he died: bitter, lonely and destitute in a dreary South Side hotel. Although the architectural press continued to hail his creative genius throughout his final two decades, the man who gave Chicago the Auditorium and Carson Pirie Scott buildings, the Charnley-Persky House and Pilgrim Baptist Church increasingly found himself shunned. By Sullivan's death in 1924, he had been evicted from his office in the Auditorium tower and forced to sell virtually all his possessions. At the end he was a depressed, hard-drinking recluse, relying on handouts from a few friends -- notably his protege, Frank Lloyd Wright -- to pay for food and shelter; he died owing several weeks of back rent”.
“The tragic tale of Louis Sullivan
September 3, 2006
BY KEVIN NANCE Architecture Critic
Society has a nasty way of turning its back on some of its greatest artists at the zenith of their powers: Mozart buried in a pauper's grave at the age of 35, Oscar Wilde sent to prison just as his plays were dominating the West End. To these must be added the the tragic tale of Louis Sullivan, the Chicago architect who was born 150 years ago today. This week, as Chicago prepares to mark the occasion with a six-week celebration culminating with a symposium at the Chicago History Museum, it's worth remembering not just how Sullivan lived but how he died: bitter, lonely and destitute in a dreary South Side hotel. Although the architectural press continued to hail his creative genius throughout his final two decades, the man who gave Chicago the Auditorium and Carson Pirie Scott buildings, the Charnley-Persky House and Pilgrim Baptist Church increasingly found himself shunned. By Sullivan's death in 1924, he had been evicted from his office in the Auditorium tower and forced to sell virtually all his possessions. At the end he was a depressed, hard-drinking recluse, relying on handouts from a few friends -- notably his protege, Frank Lloyd Wright -- to pay for food and shelter; he died owing several weeks of back rent”.
