About This Artwork

Richard Yoshijiro Mine
American, born Japan, 1894-1981

Chicago Tribune Tower Competition Entry: Michigan Avenue Elevation, 1922

Ink, graphite, and wash on paper
140.3 x 59 cm (55 x 23 in.)
Signed and dated when given to Art Institute, 01/04/1979
Gift of Richard Yoshijiro Mine, 1988.408.5

The 1922 Chicago Tribune Tower competition is perhaps the most well-known contest in Chicago's architectural history. The competition, which elicited 260 designs from firms around the world, proved to be an important international forum for attitudes about the prevailing aesthetic of the tall office building.

This Gothic-inspired entry by Japanese-born architect Richard Mine (1894-1981) received one of 50 honorable mentions in the competition. Mine, a recent graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign at the time of the competition, went on to work for companies and firms such as General Motors, Kraft Foods, and Holabird, Root and Burgee.

Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories

Exhibition History

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago and New York: More Than a Century of Architectural Interaction, cat. no. 59; traveled to Art Institute of Chicago, Mar. 8-July 29, 1984; Washington, DC, Octagon, Oct. 17, 1984-Jan. 6, 1985; Houston, Farish Gallery, Rice University, Feb. 11–Mar. 31, 1985, New York Historical Society, May 22–Oct. 26, 1985.

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Architecture and Design, 1872-1922: Birth of a Metropolis, cat. no. 255-A; traveled to Paris, Musée d'Orsay, Oct. 2, 1987–Jan. 4, 1988; Frankfurt am Main, Deutsches Architekturmuseum, Feb. 5-Apr. 25, 1988; and Art Institute of Chicago, July 16–Sept. 5, 1988.

Art Institute of Chicago, Unbuilt Chicago, Apr. 3, 2004–January 16, 2005. (not in catalogue)

Publication History

Art Institute of Chicago. 1982. Chicago Architects Design: A Century of Architectural Drawings from The Art Institute of Chicago. Exh. cat. Art Institute of Chicago/Rizzoli, frontispiece.

Zukowksy, John, David van Zanten, and Corol Herselle Krinsky. 1984. Chicago and New York: Architectural Interactions. Exh. cat. Art Institute of Chicago, cat. no. 59.

Zukowsky, John, ed. 1987. Chicago Architecture and Design, 1872-1922: Birth of a Metropolis. Exh. cat. Art Institute of Chicago/Prestel, cat. no. 255-A.

Zukowsky, John, and Martha Thorne. 2004. Masterpieces of Chicago Architecture. Art Institute of Chicago/Rizzoli. (p. 64)


See also: Essential Guide to the Art Institute

Also printed as a poster for the Art Institute of Chicago