Art Deco Chicago: Designing Modern America

Frank Lloyd Wright’s lost Midway Gardens, the iconic Sunbeam Mixmaster, and Marshall Field’s famed window displays: despite the differences in scale and medium, each belongs to the broad current of Art Deco style that developed in Chicago in the first half of the twentieth century.

Join us at the Oak Park Public Library for a presentation by a panel of editors and contributors to the new book Art Deco Chicago: Designing Modern America, an expansive take on American Art Deco that explores Chicago’s pivotal role in developing the architecture, graphic design, and product design that came to define middle-class style in the twentieth century.

Appearing will be editor Robert Bruegmann, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of architecture, art history, and urban planning at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He will be joined by contributors to the book, including: Keith Bringe; Art Historian Ruth K. Meyer, who will speak about the contributions of Oak Park’s Mills Family to art deco design; Vicki Matranga; Joe Loundy president of the Chicago Art Deco Society, publishers of the book; and OPRF Museum Executive Director Frank Lipo who will talk about the importance of preservation in light of the building boom our village is experiencing.

This event is cosponsored by the Oak Park Public Library and Oak Park River Forest Museum and is free to all. Visit the library's website for more information.