Victor Falkenau House, Chicago, Illinois, Stringcourse Element 1888 - 1889

Editor: So this is a stringcourse element from the Victor Falkenau House in Chicago, dating from 1888 or '89, by Adler & Sullivan. It's a carved relief sculpture... and it feels very serene, almost a bit haunting, to be honest. What do you make of it? Curator: Haunting, you say? I love that. Yes, it's like a memory unearthed, isn’t it? Look at how the angel emerges from the stone, those powerful wings pushing it forward into our space. It's caught between the earthly and the ethereal, the solid building, and the limitless sky. Sullivan was a genius, obsessed with ornament as a manifestation of organic growth – almost a rebellion against cold, industrial geometry. What about the face itself, what does that expression say to you? Editor: It's...gentle? Almost knowing. I guess I didn't expect such a personalized figure on a building facade. Curator: Exactly! That’s the charm of Sullivan's work. He humanizes architecture, imbuing these rigid structures with a soul, almost a heartbeat. The angel's gaze connects us to the building's history and its aspiration. This single carving hints at the much larger drama of life being played out within those walls, which have vanished! Incredible to think that a face like that once greeted countless people and is still speaking to us now, isn’t it? Does this piece makes you want to touch the stone? Editor: It really does. I'm also intrigued now to look at more of Sullivan's work to understand his ideas on ornamentation and organic forms. It's interesting to see that angle in a sculptural carving. Curator: See! It's alive, that little fragment. Art connecting across time, triggering a thought, sparking an action! That, my friend, is a good day at the museum.