Edgar Miller and the Hand-Made Home: Chicago’s Forgotten Renaissance Man
Product Description
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… More >>
#1 by JazBing on March 4, 2010 - 12:22 am
Although I usually wonder about what kinds of strange people write reviews of products or books they have not even received yet, in this instance, my enthusiasm for one of the authors propels me into this category. I have, however, read Richard Cahan’s book about Richard Nickel, “They All Fall Down,” and also have “Richard Nickel’s Chicago,” that he co-authored. Cahan is a thoughtful and thorough researcher and writer who makes any subject/person he writes about come alive. I was truly sad when I knew I was coming to the end of “They All Fall Down,” as I felt immersed in the story of Nickel while reading it. So, I can say with confidence, even before laying eyes on this book, that this must be a quality publication if Cahan is even a co-author. I am going to order it for just this reason. (And, no, I am not a family member or friend!)
Rating: 5 / 5
#2 by Green 60 on March 4, 2010 - 2:59 am
This is outstanding in every way. the photographs, the narrative, and the subject matter. Edgar Miller is little known artist who renovated residences and combined art, architecture, and craftmanship in one package.
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by Kenan Heise on March 4, 2010 - 3:38 am
Wow! Edgar Miller and the Handmade House: Chicago’s Forgotten Renaissance Man is really something! Page after page and picture after picture took me into Xanadus in Chicago’s midst, sites “where Kubla Kahn (real name, Edgar Miller) did a pleasure dome decree.”
Miller’s ingenious imagination in redecorating a series of houses in Chicago went so far beyond the ordinary that my mind needed to take a journey to get there. His ideas were and are big, interesting and charming, the kind that shape our thinking and ultimately affect who we are.
Authors Richard Cahan and Michael Williams as well as photographer Alexander Vertikoff proved as able in recreating his efforts as he was in making them. The photos throughout the book are every bit as great as the text in expressing the central idea that life becomes transformed when unbounded imagination adorns common settings.
Miller did his extraordinary house decorating and designing during the 1920s and 1930s. Little known even in Chicago architectural and design circles, he transformed any number of homes in the city (the more prominent in the Old Town neighborhood.) Without this book, it would be difficult to conceive how far he was able to stretch the limits of home decoration and room design and how artistic, imaginative and different from any others in the city the Miller-redesigned dwellings remain.
The first response I felt toward this 400-page books varnished with artistic and colorful photos was a sense of enormous jealousy that real live human beings get to live their days in such surroundings.
We bought gift copies and put ours standing up on our living room mantle in the firm belief that if we cannot be part of the magic that is within, the books cover and presence can add some of its extraordinariness to our home.
Kenan Heise
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by Fred in NYC on March 4, 2010 - 4:39 am
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)
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by David M. on March 4, 2010 - 5:45 am
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.
Rating: 5 / 5