Auditorium Building, Chicago, Illinois, Lobby Details c. 1887

Editor: This is "Auditorium Building, Chicago, Illinois, Lobby Details" from around 1887, by Adler and Sullivan. It's a graphite and pencil drawing on paper, held here at the Art Institute. It feels…fragmentary, like looking at the ghost of a grand plan. What catches your eye when you look at this? Curator: Ah, a ghost indeed! Or perhaps the DNA, the intricate code that birthed a Chicago icon. It whispers of a bygone era, doesn't it? I'm immediately drawn to the contrast between the sharp geometric lines and the organic, almost whimsical detailing. Do you see how the cool precision gives way to bursts of floral ornamentation? It's as if Sullivan, particularly, was fighting to keep nature alive within the machine age. Editor: I see it! Like the rigid structure is trying to contain this wild explosion of nature. Curator: Precisely! Think about what Chicago was at that time – a booming metropolis, rapidly industrializing. Sullivan, in many ways, was a revolutionary. He wasn’t content with simply erecting boxes; he wanted to imbue them with feeling, with beauty, with a uniquely American spirit. Does this almost defiant act of creation change how you perceive it now? Editor: Absolutely. It makes me think about what we lose when everything becomes too streamlined and functional. All this detail—it's about humanity. Looking at it now, there’s so much love and intention. Curator: It's a reminder, perhaps, that even in the midst of progress, there's always room to celebrate the poetry of existence. Sullivan's sketches feel like a little rebellion, a gentle but persistent urging to find the sacred within the secular. What a legacy, right? Editor: Definitely food for thought. It's changed how I look at architectural drawings, too. I thought they were just blueprints, but this feels so much more…alive.