860-880 North Lake Shore Drive, First Floor Plan

Ludwig Mies van der RoheWW-1949-038957

1949·Graphite on linen·Approx.: 91.5 × 116.4 cm (36 3/16 × 45 13/16 in.)

Catalogue

Year: 1949
Medium: Graphite on linen
Dimensions: Approx.: 91.5 × 116.4 cm (36 3/16 × 45 13/16 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Artist

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Drawing

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a German-American architect and furniture designer whose stripped-down aesthetic defined modernism in the twentieth century. He pioneered the steel-frame glass building and the open-plan interior, reducing architectural form to its essential structural elements. His Barcelona Chair and Brno Chair became canonical pieces of twentieth-century design, their tubular steel frames and leather surfaces exemplifying his dictum 'less is more.' After emigrating to the United States in 1938, he directed the Illinois Institute of Technology and designed the Farnsworth House and the Seagram Building in New York. His influence on post-war architecture and industrial design remains foundational.

Aachen, Germany

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