Richard Nickel's Chicago: Photographs of a Lost City - Release Party
If the Museum of Contemporary Photography hadn't sent me an email that they are hosting a book release party for "Richard Nickel's Chicago: Photographs of a Lost City", I wouldn't have known that the book existed. For some strange reason, Amazon.com isn't carrying it and I've become dependent on their new release recommendations. I guess it's time to broaden my resources. The book is available at Barnes & Noble.
I haven't flipped through "Richard Nickel's Chicago" yet, but the simple fact that it contains 200 previously unreleased Nickel photos is more than enough reason to get excited.
For those unfamiliar with Richard Nickel, he was a Chicago-area photographer (lived in Park Ridge) who championed the cause of preserving historic Chicago buildings, especially those of Louis Sullivan. What couldn't be saved, he photographed extensively and salvaged pieces of ornamentation. Nickel was instrumental in saving large parts of the old Chicago Stock Exchange including the trading room that is now rebuilt at the Art Institute of Chicago. Nickel died on April 13, 1972 in the abandoned Chicago Stock Exchange when part of the interior collapsed while he was in the building alone. WTTW Channel 11 has an excellent documentary of his life and work in "Chicago Stories: The Richard Nickel Story". It's worth keeping an eye on the television listings for.
