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Untitled (The Rookery, staircase)

A work made of gelatin silver print.

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  • A work made of gelatin silver print.

Date:

1950/72, printed 1973

Artist:

Richard Nickel (American, 1928–1972)
printed by Patrice Grimbert (French, 1947–1974)

About this artwork

While studying photography at the Institute of Design in Chicago, Richard Nickel joined the Sullivan Project, a photographic survey, led by photographer Aaron Siskind, that documented the architecture of Louis Sullivan. The project was completed in 1954, but Nickel continued photographing Sullivan’s work on his own, finding his calling in the identification, documentation, and preservation of these endangered works of art. Sullivan was revered as the father of the skyscraper and renowned for his use of architectural ornament. His firm, Adler and Sullivan, was based in Chicago, and the city was home to many examples of his work. But by the 1950s urban renewal projects prompted the demolition of his most celebrated structures, including the Garrick Theater and the Stock Exchange Building.

For nearly two decades, Nickel campaigned to save Sullivan’s works, and when those efforts failed, he worked to rescue their ornament—the elaborate, nature-inspired decoration that adorned both the interiors and exteriors of Sullivan’s buildings. Nickel mourned the disappearance of a city he admired, warning that Chicago could move toward anonymity or, worse, become “a city of contrasts: The superficial glitter of the new mixed with the slum of the old.” Nickel’s photographs let the architecture take center stage, even if his documentation was later overshadowed by his efforts to rescue surviving structures and fragments. In 1972, one such attempt, in the Chicago Stock Exchange Building, cost him his life. The Sun-Times wrote: “Richard Nickel has become a true martyr to the cause of architectural preservation. He is irreplaceable, and Chicago architecture has lost its truest champion.”

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Photography and Media

Artist

Richard Nickel

Title

Untitled (The Rookery, staircase)

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1950–1972

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Inscriptions

Unmarked recto; inscribed verso, on mount, upper left, in graphite: "21 [encircled]"; verso, on mount, lower left, in graphite: "E-24/24"

Dimensions

Image: 45.4 × 35.4 cm (17 7/8 × 13 15/16 in.); Paper: 50.3 × 40 cm (19 13/16 × 15 3/4 in.); Mount: 71.3 × 55.9 cm (28 1/8 × 22 1/16 in.)

Credit Line

Photography Department Exhibition funds

Reference Number

1975.405

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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