The Idea of Louis Sullivan

Abstract

Louis Sullivan (1856-1924) is one of America's most famous and influential architects -- an American Master in the words of John Szarkowski. In 1956, before Szarkowski gained fame as the Director of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, he was the author/photographer of a book on Sullivan. Published by the University of Minnesota Press. The Idea of Louis Sullivan has long been out-of-print.Bulfinch Press has decided to bring this classic book back in print. The photographs have been declared by no less an authority than Frank Lloyd Wright, a protege of Sullivan's, as the best ever taken of Sullivan's work. This edition, with a new, elegant design and duotone reproductions using today's print technology, promises to be a beautiful photography book and a much welcomed architectural book about this pivotal Chicago architect.The text is composed of excerpts from contemporary sources, mostly from Louis Sullivan's own distinguished and charming commentaries on architecture and modern society, and a foreword by Szarkowski, as well as a preface to the new edition. Terence Riley will contribute an introduction on Sullivan's significance to modern architecture from today's perspective.