Not currently on display at the V&A

Cresting

1893-1894 (designed)
Artist/Maker
Winslow Brothers Company (manufacturer)
Sullivan, Louis Henry (designer)
Place of origin
Chicago (designed and made)

Cresting from a lift grille, painted iron and patinated bronze, organic motifs.


Object details

Categories
Metalwork
Architectural Fittings
Object type
Cresting
Materials and techniques
Cast iron with a Bower-Barff finish
Cast Iron
Casting
Brief description
Cresting from a lift grille, painted iron and patinated bronze, Chicago, made by Winslow Brothers, designed by Louis Henry Sullivan, Chicago, 1893-4
Physical description
Cresting from a lift grille, painted iron and patinated bronze, organic motifs.
Dimensions
  • Height: 38cm
  • Length: 172.7cm
  • Depth: 3.8cm
Style
Art Nouveau
Object history
Influenced by the theories and 'Art Botany' of Christopher Dresser and Owen Jones. Louis Sullivan developed natural forms into rich but stylised ornament which he described as 'organic'. His work would in its turn influence Frank Lloyd Wright, who worked in his office from 1888 to 1893. This grille is from the Chicago Stock Exchange Building, designed and built by the firm of Adler and Sullivan.
Subject depicted
Organic Architecture
Associated objects
Bibliographic references
  • John Vinci, The Trading Room: Louis Sullivan and the Chicago Stock Exchange, Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, 1989, pp.21-23. ill.
  • Martha Goodway, `The patination of iron by bower-barffing,' in Susan La Niece and Paul Craddock, eds., Metal Plating and Patination, Cultural, technical and historical developments, Oxford, Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd., 1993, pp.155-160. ISBN. 0750616113
Collection
Metalwork Collection
Accession number
M.9B-1985

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Record createdJune 29, 2005
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O113555/cresting-sullivan-louis-henry/
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