Elevator Grille Ornament from the Schlesinger and Mayer Store, Chicago, Illinois
1903 · Bronze plated cast iron
Diam.: 56 cm (23 5/8 in.)
Art Institute of Chicago
WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture
Louis Sullivan
American, 1856
Representation
None documented
5
Institutional Exhibitions
11
Works in Collection
32
Assets Indexed
3
Authority-backed Facts
0
Publications Referenced
80%
Profile Completeness
Cultural Positioning
Movements
No movements recorded
Related Artists
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Selected Institutional Exhibitions
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20th Century Design from the Museum Collection
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1958–1959
No image
Architecture Worth Saving
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1958
No image
Louis Sullivan: 1856�1924
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1948
No image
Three Centuries of American Architecture
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1939
No image
Early Modern Architecture: Chicago 1870�1910
Museum of Modern Art, New York
1933
About
Why this artist matters now
Louis Sullivan was an American architect and theorist who pioneered the modern skyscraper, developing a distinctive ornamental language that integrated geometric and organic forms across cast-iron facades and terra-cotta surfaces. Working primarily in Chicago from the 1880s onward, he designed the Auditorium Building and the Carson, Pirie, Scott store, establishing a vocabulary of vertical emphasis and decorative unity that influenced generations of architects. His essays on architectural form, particularly his dictum that form follows function, articulated a philosophical foundation for modern design that extended beyond building to industrial production and craft.
Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 25d ago
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Institutional
Museum Collections
Canonical record
Artworks (11)
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Institutional
Representation & Collections
In collection
Museum of Modern Art
New York, US
In collection
Art Institute of Chicago
In collection
Cleveland Museum of Art
Record