AT CHICAGO’S WORLD’S FAIR OF 1892 “Movements and Movers”
Classicism Definition: Aesthetic attitudes and principles based on the culture, art, and literature of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Characterized by emphasis on form, simplicity, proportion, and restrained emotion.
Neoclassicism Defined as: A regard for tradition and reverence of the classics, with an accompanying distrust for innovation. A concern for social reality and the communal commonplaces of thought that hold it together. A concern for nature, how things are= the way they should remain.
Modernism Defined as: Forward-looking artists including architects, designers, and artisans from the 1880s that forged a new and diverse vocabulary to escape the tyranny of past historical movements.
Modernist Examples
“The Chicago School of Architecture” refers to a group of forward-thinking architects who felt that the architects broader contribution was to city and regional planning. The groups most prominent members were Daniel Burnham, Louis Sullivan, and Dankmar Adler.
“The City Beautiful” This was a “movement” in which its advocates sought to improve their city via beautification. They aimed to rid the city of social ills and inspire civic loyalty and moral rectitude among the impoverished. Cities would be in “cultural parity” with their European counterparts through the use of the “beaux-arts idiom”, and inviting city centers would appear to draw the upper classes to work and spend money in urban areas.
Key Terms Staff: derived from the German word, staffiren, is: A building material with a plaster of paris base used as the exterior wall covering of temporary buildings, such as those at the World’s Columbian Exposition.
Midway Plaisance The site of the amusement portion of the Fair. Connected to, but separate from, the main fairgrounds.
White City The nickname of the main fairgrounds at the World’s Fair in 1893 Given this name because of all of the white plaster.
IMPORTANT PEOPLE FROM THE WORLD’S FAIR “Movers”
Daniel Burnham A chief architect in the Chicago School Came to Chicago in 1873 Named Chief Planner of the Columbian Expo in 1891
Burnham’s designs “the Plan of Chicago” This is a a view looking north from the South Branch of the Chicago River
The man His work John W. Root Partner of Burnham’s. Noted for architectural genius for such works as the Rookery building (right) Died before the world’s fair
Louis H. Sullivan ( ) an important member of the Chicago School of Architecture and partner with Dankmar Adler. Sullivan coined the phrase “form follows function.” Most experts consider the Auditorium Theatre to be his most important building. After he and Adler dissolved their partnership in 1895, he had few solo commissions and died penniless.
Sullivan & Adler’s Auditorium Theatre Built in 1889 First home to the Chicago Civic Opera and Chicago Symphony Orchestra Declared a National Historic Landmark in 1975
Dankmar Adler ( ) Civil Engineer and partner of Sullivan Designed both the Chicago Stock Exchange and Auditorium Theatre An expert in acoustics Their firm was instrumental in the rebuilding of Chicago after the “Fire” Was a leader of the Chicago School of Architecture
Adler & Sullivan’s Chicago Stock Exchange Building
Daniel Chester French ( ) One of America’s most famous sculptors Most famous for designing the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. Designed sculptures for the World’s Fair
Augustus Saint Gaudens ( ) Famous American sculptor. He created sculptures in a simple, naturalistic style, and reduced details to express the essential character of the subject. He created standing and seated statues of Lincoln for Chicago parks in 1887 and 1906.
Saint-Gaudens’ Work One of his Abraham Lincoln sculptures in a Chicago park
Frederick Law Olmstead ( ) Famous American landscape architect, city planner, and writer on social issues. Through his landscape designs and writings, he tried to recast the form of America’s cities and suburbs and promote the refinement and culture he thought the citizens of a republic could attain. He was responsible, in large part, for the layout of the World’s Columbian Exposition and the design of New York City’s Central Park. He also designed the suburban community of Riverside, Illinois
Agricultural Building in Chicago New York’s Central Park Olmstead’s Work
McKim, Mead, and White Chicago Architecture Firm Charles F. McKim ( )- American architect who popularized the building styles of the Renaissance and of classical Greece and Rome. William R. Mead ( )- Partner Stanford White ( )- leading innovator in American architecture, Partner in McKim, Mead, and White. Famous for his rich texture and ornamentation.
The work of McKim, Mead, and White Notice the ornamentation
Who was she? The Women’s Building First female graduate of MIT Architectural Program. She designed the Women’s Building for the Fair and its design was influenced by the Italian Renaissance and beaux-art found elsewhere in the White City. Sophia Hayden ( )