c. 1894 museum quality chicago stock exchange trading room polychromatic stenciled canvas fragment – executed by healy & millet

About This Item

original c. 1894 museum quality polychromatic stenciled canvas fragment salvaged from the chicago stock exchange trading room prior to demolition in 1971-2. the mounted panel contains twenty-one distinctive oil-based colors applied to the canvas. originally located on the bottom of the upper ceiling beams positioned directly above the main trading room floor. unsurpassed in richness and complexity, the stenciled fragment was designed by louis sullivan and executed by the prominent chicago-based decorating firm of healy and millet. sullivan’s creative energy and experimentation resulted in a dense assemblage of intricate geometric botanical abstractions played out in a harmonious manner among the other decorative elements found throughout the trading room. the canvas was professionally restored (i.e., cleaned, lined, restretched,) and later treated with a maimeri retouch and winton varnish finish. one of the chicago’s most important early architects was louis sullivan, who, with his partner, dankmar adler, designed the chicago stock exchange building, built between1893–94. when the stock exchange was demolished in 1972, sections of sullivan’s elaborate stenciled decorations, molded plaster capitals, and art glass were preserved from the trading room, the magnificent centerpiece of this 13-story structure. with the use of these fragments, the art institute was able to reconstruct the trading room in its new rubloff building, constructed between 1976 and 1977. measures 72 x 23 inches.