Join
author Patrick F. Cannon as he discusses his new book, Louis Sullivan: An American
Architect (University of Minnesota Press, 2024), published on the 100th
anniversary of the architect’s death.
The designs of Louis Sullivan, FAIA,
(1856-1924) stand today as leading exemplars of Chicago School architecture. Having
spent much of his career in a late Victorian world of ornament for ornament’s sake,
Sullivan refuted this style with the now-famous dictum “Form follows function.”
This break from tradition is perhaps most evident in Sullivan’s strides to reimagine
commercial space—from America’s earliest skyscrapers to the small-town banks that
populated the architect’s commissions in the second half of his career. In the
new book, nearly 200 photographs with descriptive captions document Sullivan’s genius
for Modern design. Cannon introduces each chapter and discusses the influences that
shaped Sullivan’s illustrious career. Rare historical photographs chronicle those
buildings that, sadly, have since been destroyed, while James Caulfield’s contemporary
photography captures those still standing.
After his retirement in 2001 as manager
of the Public Relations and Communications Division of the International Association
of Lions Clubs, Cannon began a partnership with photographer Caulfield that has
yielded eight books on Chicago architecture and architects. Three were Gold Medal
winners at the Independent Publisher Book Awards: The Space Within: Inside
Great Chicago Buildings (Pomegranate
Communications, 2016), At Home in Chicago: A Living History of Domestic
Architecture (CityFiles Press, 2021), and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple: A Good-Time Place Reborn (Unity
Temple Restoration Foundation, 2022).
Authors on Architecture: Cannon on Sullivan,
Sunday, October 13, 2024; 1-2:30 PM PST; $5; go to www.sahscc.org and pay via PayPal; Zoom connection information sent upon registration.
