Embracing old-world skills in a technological age, Edgar Miller was Chicago’s last Renaissance artist. He was a fine painter, a master wood carver, and one of the nation’s foremost stained glass designers. He could sculpt, draw hunting portraits, and was considered a pioneer in the use of graphic art in modern advertising. His artistic genius came together in four artistic studios he built on Chicago’s north side in the 1920s and 1930s. He touched almost every inch of the studios with daring and surprise. He took rustic brick, crude stone, salvaged tile, found glass, steel, and wood, then “Edgarized” the homes with stained glass windows, frescos, murals, tile work, and wood carving. This collection contains over 400 images of the homes, which remarkably remain intact today.
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Edgar Miller (1899–1993) was an innovative master of “dozens of disciplines and multiple styles.” Believing that humankind “should respect and learn from nature,” he created supple animal and plant motifs, as well as human figures, for his intricate bas-reliefs, wood carvings, ceramics, stained-glass windows, murals, and tiles. He decried waste and so used recycled materials and transformed old buildings into exuberantly decorated architectural marvels. Phenomenally gifted and prolific, Miller was renowned, even legendary, and then he was forgotten, except by those who dwell in his wildly original homes. Cahan and Williams, the team who resurrected the life and work of architectural photographer Richard Nickel, vividly recount Miller’s story of genius and audacity, from his Idaho youth to his meteoric rise in Chicago. Architectural photographer AlexanderVertikoff’s sharp and lustrous images elegantly capture the extraordinary details, rich colors, and profound connectivity of Miller’s spectacular creations. Miller’s fecund imagination, virtuosity, and epic energy produced vibrant architecture in which every element from ceiling to floor is alive with arabesque imagery, entwined patterns, and an aura of aspiration. Miller intended for each space to be a “total work of art,” the perfect description for this unique book. --Donna Seaman
Review
"A place to live is a place to live. Walls, ceiling, stairway, kitchen, porch—mankind has to have them if he is to continue his ordered habits. Sometimes it makes no difference whether they are beautiful or not. There is a kind of decent comeliness that suffices very well for many homes—the clean cheap rug, the comfortable chairs, the uninspired covering of a wall with loopings or bedraggled flowers. If you feel that a home should be only this, and a springboard to leap lightly toward movie or baseball game, stay away from the Edgar Miller studios on Carl Street and Wells Street. For they will fill you with the haunting surety that you are missing something remarkable and lovely in this world." —Alice McKinstry, written in 1930
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gorgeous book, astonishing craftsmanship.,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Edgar Miller and the Hand-Made Home: Chicago's Forgotten Renaissance Man (Hardcover)
Chicago is known for its modern functional elegance, but take a look at Edgar Miller and you will come away with a completely different impression of what Chicago could produce. Miller drew on ideas from other eras, including the medieval period. "Renaissance man" understates Miller's accomplishments and his mastery of some two dozen crafts. The photographs are gorgeous, as they need to be in order to do justice to the color, variety and texture of Miller's work in every medium. Most of the shots are from private homes, so even experts on Chicago buildings will find new material. Scholars will welcome that the book is comprehensive and definitive, but everyone will be astonished by the warmth and variety of Miller's creations. This is a great book for anyone who loves Chicago and anyone who cares about true craftsmanship.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Most beautiful book of the year!,
By David M. (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Edgar Miller and the Hand-Made Home: Chicago's Forgotten Renaissance Man (Hardcover)
Chicago is a great architectural city know for the some of the most creative and groundbreaking design. It is nice to see a book that delves into the life and work of one of the lesser known. Anyone who has wandered the streets of "Old Town" knows these buildings and has wondered who designed them and what they look like inside. The mystery is solved. The team of Richard Cahan, Micheal Williams, and Alexander Verikoff have created a book that brings these building to life. Not only have they written a compelling snapshot of the life of Edgar Miller and Chicago but they have captured the exterior and interior of the buildings with such passion and detail. I don't know of any other book that gives us a shot of an interior and then gives us another few pages of full-bleed details of the room. The high resolution photos are the best I have seen in years. It is by far the most superior book on architecture/design in 2009.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Can not put it down, and so heavy can hardly pick it up!,
By Fred in NYC (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Edgar Miller and the Hand-Made Home: Chicago's Forgotten Renaissance Man (Hardcover)
Just delivered today. Saw the review in The New York Times and the review convinced me to buy. AMAZING BOOK. The extent of photos, the thought into what was shot, and the care of printing the book so that the colors lived up to the subject is beyond words! So often with books like this, you look at a photo and see a tiny section of something of interest off to a side and think: WHAT'S THAT!?!?! But the editor has no intention of letting you know. Not here. You see everything.
Or sometimes in other books, there's a photo of a wonderful piece of work, but the picture is only 2 inches square. Not here! Large, perfectly printed to exquisite focus and color, every shot makes you wonder why you haven't seen Miller's work before. Truly a labor of love and it shows in every page. And SURE to be a collectible book. My only qualm is that the photo captions don't always tell me what some art is made FROM. Is this piece wood or stone? Is that one canvas or plaster? Miller worked in so MANY mediums, you can't tell. But that problem is minor compared to the combination of beauty and outright surprise that hits you with each page you turn. (When you're not reading it, you can use it for weightlifting)
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
