Description
Who was Alfonso Iannelli? You will be amazed to learn the breadth and depth of this man’s contributions to 20th century American art, architecture and design, spanning as he did the Arts and Crafts, Art Deco, and Mid-Century Modernist periods . As an eighteen year-old, this Italian-American immigrant apprenticed to Gutzon Borglun working on NYC’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine. In 1914 Frank Lloyd Wright asked Iannelli, then twenty-six, to sculpt the striking geometric “sprites” for Wright’s landmark Chicago masterpiece, Midway Gardens. Iannelli went on to have a fascinating career that extended well into the 1960s, from groundbreaking modernist posters for Los Angeles’ Orpheum Theater to his zodiac figures at the twelve corners of Chicago’s Adler Planetarium to iconic industrial designs that found their way into most American households (remember the Oster Drink Mixer and the Sunbeam Coffeemaster?) This book is exhaustively researched and beautifully illustrated with over 470 illustrations and photographs, many in stunning color.
