Elevator Grille

William B. Mundie; Attributed to William Le Baron Jenney

1 of 4

Object Label

Although the Prairie School style was distinctly American, it did have some European sources. The flat, highly stylized depiction of nature seen in this grille, for instance, is indebted to the English design reform movement of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, in particular the well-known designs of Owen Jones and Christopher Dresser (see illustration below left). The strong curvilinear quality of the central part of the design betrays an incipient knowledge of the French Art Nouveau style.

Caption

William B. Mundie American, 1863–1939; Attributed to William Le Baron Jenney American, 1832–1907. Elevator Grille, 1889. Cast iron, sheet metal, 78 3/4 x 12 1/4 x 1/2 in. (200 x 31.1 x 1.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Manhattan Associates through the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 2013.45. Creative Commons-BY

Gallery

Not on view

Title

Elevator Grille

Date

1889

Geography

Place manufactured: Chicago, Illinois, United States

Medium

Cast iron, sheet metal

Classification

Architectural Element

Dimensions

78 3/4 x 12 1/4 x 1/2 in. (200 x 31.1 x 1.3 cm)

Markings

Unmarked

Credit Line

Gift of Manhattan Associates through the High Museum of Art, Atlanta

Accession Number

2013.45

Rights

Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

Have information?

Have information about an artwork? Contact us at

bkmcollections@brooklynmuseum.org.