Against the Day and fictitiousness

[jochen stremmel]

I can recommend a wonderful book by the late photo curator of the MOMA
about Sullivan: The Idea of Louis Sullivan. Obviously you can have it
for less than 15$:

http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st=sl&ref=bf_s2_a1_t1_1&qi=1HyG,YwThBkWIBzT67Rag1VadAE_6782413089_2:15:179&bq=author%3Djohn%2520szarkowski%26title%3Didea%2520of%2520louis%2520sullivan

2012/2/13 David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>:
> The Chicago Fair was literally a fantasy city, made of paper mache
> with Beaux-Arts designs portraying dreams of an Aristocratic past.  It
> was a perfect vehicle for displaying a world teetering on the edge of
> Modernity.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan
>
> In 1890 Sullivan was one of the ten architects, five from the Eastern
> U.S. and five from the Western U.S., chosen to build a major structure
> for the "White City", the World's Columbian Exposition, held in
> Chicago in 1893. Sullivan's massive Transportation Building and huge
> arched "Golden Door" stood out as the only forward-looking design in a
> sea of Beaux-Arts historical copies, and the only multicolored facade
> in the White City. Sullivan and fair director Daniel Burnham were
> vocal about their displeasure with each other. Sullivan was later
> (1922) to claim that the fair set the course of American architecture
> back "for half a century from its date, if not longer."[6] His was the
> only building to receive extensive recognition outside America,
> receiving three medals from the Union Centrale des Arts Decoratifs the
> following year.
>
> On Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 4:18 AM, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> On bullshit in America: "the Chicago Fair, as the great national celebration [it WAS that] possessed the exact degree of fictitiousness to permit the boys access and agency." p. 36
>>
>> Pretty clear merging of irreal adventure fiction with irreal American self-celebration.
>>
>> Leaving groundedness as the counterweight: Reality as it can be seen. The edges of the Exhibition where the marginal are, etc. The crowd on page 49....tired women 'bearing the insults of the day"....etc.
>>
>> Ray Ipsow, whose name means 'the thing itself' in Latin is another grounding
>> figure against the guy he assists, ole Prof Vanderjuice.
>> Ray who says straightforwardly to Vibe: anyone who looks around would see
>> that socialism is right. "As anyone not insulated by
>> wealth from the cares of the day is obliged to be, sir." p.32
>>