Time Lapse Open House Chicago
#OpenHouseChicago2022 is here! Join us at the Murphy Auditorium and enjoy a performance from Access Contemporary Music starting at 1:00 pm!
Thursday, September 29, one night only! Imagine if Richard Nickel and Louis Sullivan had met....The original team behind Lookingglass Theatre’s 2001 play, “They All Fall Down: The Richard Nickel Story” will perform select readings and share how they made the story of Sullivan and Nickel come alive and why it still resonates. Featuring director Jessica Thebus, actors Andrew White and Alfred Wilson, author Richard Cahan, and photographer Michael Brosilow. Reserve tickets here: http://ow.ly/fPm150KO9cf
A Look Back: Theodora Allen: Saturnine
As we head into the installation of our next exhibition, opening on August 26th, we take one last look with a fond farewell to Theodora Allen: Saturnine which closes today. Thanks to everyone who made it possible and to all those who came to enjoy it.
Capturing Louis Sullivan: What Richard Nickel Saw
Opening Friday, August 26
"I am on earth in [Sullivan's] behalf, and I have only begun to fight." --Richard Nickel
He was only 22, fresh out of the Institute of Design at IIT, when Richard Nickel decided to take on a project that would both define and tragically end his life: Document all of Louis Sullivan's architecture. It was 1952 and Sullivan's buildings were facing an uncertain future, some in various states of ruin, others being demolished in the name of urban renewal, and others yet simply forgotten or overlooked. His project became an avocation and he, Sullivan's champion. For the next 20 years, Nickel dedicated himself to preserving the architect's legacy, not only photographing the buildings and their ornamentation, but protesting against their demolition and preserving that ornamentation when those battles were lost.
Focusing on Sullivan's residential and commercial buildings in Chicago, this exhibition will demonstrate the breadth of Nickel's devotion with his photographs and the fragments he rescued. And through his eyes, visitors will experience what he saw: Sullivan's architectural genius and a philosophy of design that imbued architecture with the powerful and vibrant energy of nature.
Theodora Allen’s Wildfire, No. 4. evokes the wildfires that regularly sweep the western parts of the United States—a reality of life the southern Californian herself has seen and experienced. But the wildflowers that spring up on the canvas remind us that fire has the power to fuel growth and regeneration. Listen to curator Stephanie Cristello discuss how Allen’s work process follows a similar cycle of destruction and regeneration, and visit with Cristello here on Wednesday, June 8th at 5:30 pm for a tour and cocktail event. You may reserve tickets here: https://driehausmuseum.org/programs/detail/saturnine-gallery-talk
Video credit: Pushkin Studio
Short #3 - Anxiete.mov
In the late 19th century, flowers became a language unto themselves. In literature, art, and even love notes, they were used to communicate silent messages. For example, in Eugène Grasset's Anxieté, he uses the hellbore to signify a state of mind. Theodora Allen has created her own ‘language of flowers’ in Saturnine, referencing the Narcissus flower, jimson weed and other botanicals. Discover them for yourself this weekend.
Video credit: Pushkin Studio
Image credit: Theodora Allen, Shield (Jimson Weed), 2018. Oil on linen. Collection of Yanyan Huang.
A Gilded Age Fashion Primer
We celebrate the art, architecture, and design of the Gilded Age every day and today we're rolling out the red carpet for Gilded Age fashion.
Visitors to our PAN: Prints of Avant-Garde Europe 1895-1900 exhibition will experience the graphic arts and literary journal as a series of prints hung on the wall.
But that’s not how PAN was designed to be viewed. According to PAN scholar Max Koss, PAN’s editors had great ambitions for their publication, starting with their client base. In Koss’ words, it “aimed at not the high end, but at the very high end.” The editors wanted PAN to be an objet d’art. Evidence for this includes the bespoke, custom finish for some of its folios, including one made of snake leather and one embossed in gold detail. PAN’s audience included the wealthy collectors whose sitting rooms were ‘filled to the rim’ with carpets, furniture, decorative and visual arts, and PAN was designed to fit right in. It was published in large folio-sized sheets of paper, which necessitated specific viewing circumstances, such as from a table or a desk.
Experience PAN for yourself! We are open Friday and Saturday, 10:00 AM-5:00 PM, and Sunday 12:00-5:00 PM.
How Do You Experience the Driehaus Museum?
The unique, immersive experience available to you at the Driehaus Museum begins immediately as you walk in the door. Because of generous supporters like you, we provide a mesmerizing tour of late 19th and early 20th century arts and culture, inviting our community into deeper civic engagement.
As we look to 2022, we are eager to do even more. We want to develop more dynamic programming, curate new exhibitions, conserve our collection, and enhance our facilities. But we can’t do it alone. Your support is essential to expand our reach and impact.
Please give today to the Driehaus Museum.
https://driehausmuseum.org/support/donate
As Edith Wharton wrote, “There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” This year, we endeavored to do both. With 2021 almost in the books, we would like to thank everyone who led and participated in our programs, who filled our Nickerson Mansion with art, joy, laughter, ideas, and music, and who ignited the flames of creativity and curiosity. 🕯️
Celebrate the spirit of the season and join us today, the 18th of December, until 6:00 pm, for caroling, cocoa, and chestnuts on the front steps of the Museum.☃️⛄️❄️❄️
‘Twas the weekend before Christmas, and all through the 'Haus….the Museum was bringing holiday cheer (and playing composers like Strauss). We've got something for everyone:
Caroling?
✔️Join us Saturday from 3:00-6:00 pm CST for caroling and holiday cheer on the steps of the Nickerson Mansion. It's free!
Music?
✔️Sounds of the Season continues from 2:30-4:30 pm this Saturday, with Patrick Donley and Stephanie Pielok on piano and violin. On Sunday, Trio Scuotere will play Beethoven and Mozart. Both are free with admission.
Shopping?
✔️ Pick up a #Tiffany-inspired ornament, or a print or catalogue from our "Eternal Light: The Sacred Stained-Glass Windows of Louis Comfort Tiffany" exhibition.
#holidays #christmas #naughtyornice #caroling #carols #smallbusiness #museumstore #gildedage #chicago #choosechicago #decorativearts #tiffanyglass #beethoven #mozart #piano #violin
Many of the prints in both our PAN: Prints of Avant-Garde Europe, 1895-1900 and William H. Bradley and The Chap-Book exhibitions are lithographs. This video begins with a lithograph published in PAN in 1896. The artist is Gustav Kampmann, who has created an evocative landscape familiar to many of us at this time of year: dramatic and atmospheric. He has convinced us of the presence of the sea, the mountains, and the veils of fog moving across the composition, although none of these elements is clearly defined or detailed. Following Kampmann’s print is a brief explanation of what makes lithography a challenging medium. As you will hear
Deborah Maris Lader of Chicago Printmakers Collaborative explain, it’s not in the design of the work itself, it’s in the making.
Credit:
Gustav Kampmann
Steigende Nebel/Rising Fog
Lithograph
Published in PAN
Volume II, Issue 3, 1896
This video, recorded at Chicago Printmakers Collaborative during a recent program, gives a brief glimpse of the technique of drypoint. The stylus glides onto a soft metal plate with tremendous ease but makes a lasting mark. The technique was used frequently by artists like Dürer and Rembrandt, and once you’ve tried it, it’s easy to see why: it closely mimics the feeling of a pencil on paper. It, along with color etching, was used in the 1895 work, Mädchenkopf/Head of a Girl, by Ernst Klotz, which appears at the end of the video. It's now on view in our exhibition, PAN: Prints of Avant-Garde Europe, 1895-1900. There’s just one month left to catch the exhibition, which closes on January 9th.
Credit:
Ernst Klotz
Mädchenkopf/Head of a Girl
Color Etching and Drypoint
Published in PAN Volume I, Issue 3, 1895.
On this #GivingTuesday, please consider supporting the work of the Museum and making a gift. You may click on this link to make a donation:
http://ow.ly/lUzi50GZ03J
Transcript: I am Anna Musci, Executive Director of the Driehaus Museum. 2021 marks a pivotal year in the Museum’s history--the building adjacent to us, The John B. Murphy Memorial Auditorium which I am standing in front of, represents the next exciting chapter for the Driehaus Museum.
It was our late founder Richard H. Driehaus’ dream to join these properties back together as they once were in 1883 as the Nickerson residence and in 1919 as the headquarters of the American College of Surgeons
This year we were presented with the opportunity to do just that. The Murphy Auditorium is becoming part of the Driehaus Museum and plans will commence next year to create an educational and cultural center in this building. Here we will offer programs designed to carry on the legacy of inspiration and innovation that has been the cornerstone of these two important Chicago spaces since they were erected.
Thank you for supporting our plans, through visits, membership, and additional generosity on this Giving Tuesday. We’re excited to reveal more to you in 2022. Be prepared to be moved at your core through the beauty and grace of great art and architecture, and design at the Driehaus Museum.
Let's get to work!
[Knocks on door.]
Jakeem: Hey, thanks for coming!
On this #GivingTuesday, please consider supporting the work of the Museum with a gift. You may click this link to make a donation:
http://ow.ly/rkLU50GYZ5z
Transcript: Hello my name is Valerie. I’m a Guest Services Coordinator here at the Museum. One of my jobs is to help manage the guides here at the Museum. I actually started here as a Guide and I really enjoyed giving tours of the space.
One of my favorite things to point in the space is the tile here in the Reception Room. The tile here is done in a very rich glaze that is my favorite color, so I always like to point out and talk about this tile on the group tours. And we hope to see you soon at the Museum taking a guided tour.
On this #GivingTuesday, please consider supporting the work of the Museum with a gift. You may click this link to make a donation:
http://ow.ly/GLAG50GYYVN
Transcript: Hi, my name is Greg Shutters and I’m the Associate Director of Branding here at the Driehaus Museum. I’m really excited for the new programs and events that we’re planning for 2022, both in person and virtual, new ways to experience the beauty of the Nickerson Mansion. We hope you’ll support us this #givingTuesday, and we hope to see you in the Museum in the new year.
On this #GivingTuesday, please consider a gift to the Museum to support our work. Click this link to make a donation:
http://ow.ly/U0BN50GYYl7
Transcript: Hello, my name is Sally-Ann and I’m the Collections and Exhibitions Manager here at the Driehaus Museum in Chicago. We are currently in one of my favorite rooms in the Mansion, the Sitting Room.
And I wanted to share with you a new installation, this beautiful altar cross designed by Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company.
What I admire most about this piece is the craftsmanship and intricate detail and seeing the beautiful inset gemstones which reflect the gold surface of this piece. There is actually a hidden gem to it which will only be revealed in 2022. So please come and visit!
On this #GivingTuesday, please consider supporting the work of the Museum by making a gift. You may click this link:
http://ow.ly/fF6u50GYRqb
Transcript: Hi, my name is Ryan McKibben. I’m a Guest Services Coordinator here at the Driehaus Museum. I just wanted to share with you my favorite part of the Museum here in the Drawing Room. This gorgeous Chickering & Sons piano made of satinwood circa 1895, it’s also got those beautiful painted designs on there.
It’s particularly special for me seeing this piano as someone who has played the piano for more than a decade and a half.
I hope you enjoy it as well and I can’t wait for you to see what we have in store for 2022
On this #GivingTuesday, please consider supporting our work by making a gift to the Museum. You may click this link:
http://ow.ly/fF6u50GYRqb
Transcript:
Hi, I’m Julie. I’m the Director of Marketing and Communications at the Driehaus Museum. I’m standing in front of our building. We’re all decked out for the holidays and just as importantly, we have just restored our façade, which is the first work that’s been done on the building since the initial restoration in 2008. You may have also noticed we’ve got some new banners up and this is part of new branding that we’re going to be unveiling over the next couple of months.
We’re very excited about 2022, we have a lot of surprises in store, but we can’t do any of it without you. So please consider a gift to the Driehaus Museum on this #givingTuesday.
Like other tile work in the Nickerson Mansion, this depiction of a soldier, with his crossbow drawn, is attributed to the Mintons Art Pottery Studio in England. The style is Pre-Raphaelite, an artistic movement founded in England in the mid-19th century to celebrate the rich colors and subject matter that characterized art from the Middle Ages. These tiles embellished the hearth of one of the Mansion’s guest rooms.
Today they are a bit hard to see because this room is now our Museum Store, and our counter and cash register sit right in front of the hearth. In honor of #blackfriday, drop by in person to the Museum Store with promo code PRERAPHAELITE and get 10% off.
In case you missed it: Our exploration of our exhibition, PAN: Prints of Avant-Garde Europe, 1895-1900, continued last Saturday with a demonstration of printmaking techniques by Deborah Maris Lader, the founder and director of Chicago Printmakers Collaborative. Here she is, revealing the final print after an almost 90 minute, multi-step process of inking. Called "Wings and a Prayer," the work is comprised of blue, yellow, and black ink *and* collage (called chin collé). Thank you, Deborah, for a mesmerizing workshop that made us look anew at the art of printmaking.
It’s #facesfriday! These charming carvings can be found on the door that connects Roland Nickerson’s bedroom to his bathroom. The Nickerson Mansion is unusual in that the family members had their own private bathrooms—a luxury even among the most luxurious homes in the Gilded Age.
These figures evoke classical caryatids-- part female sculpture, part architectural support-- prevalent throughout Ancient Greece and in late 19th century décor and design. (We have a couple of examples here at the Museum, including an exact match on the closet door in Roland Nickerson’s bedroom.) Notice there’s even a column and an Ionic capital which serve absolutely no structural purpose.
There’s a great German word, Gesamtkunstwerk, which means (roughly) a total work of art. The journal, PAN, published from 1895-1900 in Berlin, Germany was just that: It featured etchings, lithographs, and woodcuts, in addition to poetry, art criticism, and drama. It also inspired a century of art publications, including another Gesamtkunstwerk, Chicago’s own Bridge Journal. On Thursday, September 23rd, Bridge’s editor-in-chief, Michael Workman, joins us for a virtual lecture about the international and very local history of such publications.
For tickets, please click here:
http://ow.ly/Jjfc50GaAyA
You can buy Bridge Journal here: http://ow.ly/Or2550GaAyB
La Valse des Lilas (The Waltz of the Lilacs) at the Driehaus Museum
A Toast to the Gilded Age: Baltimore Eggnog
From the Hearth: The Fireplaces of the Driehaus Museum
A Tale of Today: Nate Young and Mika Horibuchi
