current calendar, books, photography
Richard Nickel's Chicago, Photographs Of A Lost City, a newly published book containing over 200 unknown photographs by the esteemed architectural photographer should make a perfect Valentine for someone you know (or yourself).
The authors, Richard Cahan and Michael Williams will be at the Cultural Center for a presentation on Thursday, February 15 at 12:15PM. Books 
will be available for purchase and a book signing will follow. If you need an advance copy you can find one at Prairie Avenue Bookshop, 418 S. Wabash, a fine resource, particularly for architectural books.
Although today Chicago is renowned for its' architecture and attracts many visitors as a result, it wasn't always that way. During the 50's and 60's many inner city neighborhoods had become slums and many fine loop buildings were demolished in the name of progress.
Richard Nickel and others tried to call attention to this travesty; Nickel began taking pictures while a student at the Institute of Design which became a center for the New Bauhaus. There the Chicago photographer Harry Callahan became Nickel's teacher and mentor. As a student he began a project to photograph architect Louis Sullivan's buildings. Despite the efforts of Nickel and others, the Garrick Theater and the Chicago Stock Exchange, both fine examples of Sullivan's work were razed.
Tragically Nickel was killed while photographing the partially demolished Stock Exchange. Perhaps this helped to focus public attention on the progressive devastation of the city. Nickel's photographs are classic reminders of fine architecture. Some are permanently displayed in the corridors of the Cultural Center. The Richard Nickel Commitee and Photographic Archive www.richardnickelcommittee.org is a non-profit devoted to preserving his work.
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