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Louis Sullivan

File:Louis_Sullivan_circa_1895.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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Louis Sullivan

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Also known as Louis Henry Sullivan, Louis Henri Sullivan, Louis H. Sullivan, Henry Sullivan, Louis. Sullivan, Louis-Henry Sullivan

American architect (1856-1924)

OverviewAI-generated

Louis Sullivan (1856–1924) was an American architect and designer associated with the Chicago School movement. Born in Boston and educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Beaux-Arts de Paris, he was a student of Frank Furness. Sullivan taught Frank Lloyd Wright and produced notable works including Holy Trinity Cathedral. His designs are held in the collections of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Musée d’Orsay.

Sullivan spoke English and is buried in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, where he died on April 14, 1924. He is the subject of a Wikipedia vital article and has been referenced by 901 other encyclopedia articles. A quote attributed to him states, “High ideals make a people strong. … decay comes when ideals wane.”

Synthesized by Vinony from 36 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Crossref, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, Wikiquote, Open Library, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Works
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Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
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Total plays
39

<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Louis+Sullivan">Read more on Last.fm</a>

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Quotes

  • How strange it seems that education, in practice, so often means suppression: that instead of leading the mind outward to the light of day it crowds things in upon it that darken and weary it. Yet evidently the true object of education, now as ever, is to develop the capabilities of the head and of the heart.
  • An architect, to be a true exponent of his time, must possess first, last and always the sympathy, the intuition of a poet … this is the one real, vital principle that survives through all places and all times.
  • It has, alas, for centuries been taught that the intellect and the emotions were two separate and antagonistic things. This teaching has been firmly believed, cruelly lived up to. How depressing it is to realize that it might have been taught that they are two beautifully congenial and harmonious phases of that single and integral essence that we call the soul. That no nature in which the development of either is wanting can be called a completely rounded nature.
  • The tyranny alike of church and state has been curbed, and true power is now known to reside where forever it must remain — in the people.
  • An art of expression should begin with childhood, and the lucid use of one's mother tongue should be typical of that art. The sense of reality should be strengthened from the beginning, yet by no means at the cost of those lofty illusions we call patriotism, veneration, love.
  • High ideals make a people strong. … decay comes when ideals wane.

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

~31 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Louis Henry Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924) was an American architect, and has been called a "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism". He was an influential architect of the Chicago School, a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an inspiration to the Chicago group of architects who have come to be known as the Prairie School. Along with Wright and Henry Hobson Richardson, Sullivan is one of "the recognized trinity of American architecture." The phrase "form follows function" is attributed to him; it encapsulated earlier theories of architecture and he applied them to the modern age of the skyscraper. In 1944, Sullivan was the second architect to posthumously receive the AIA Gold Medal.

Early life and career

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Louis Sullivan” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (12)