Louis Millet

{{Short description|American educator and interior designer}}

File:Window from the James A. Patton House MET DP214422.jpg and now at the James A. Patten House]]

File:Window from the James A. Patton House MET DP207452.jpg

Louis J. Millet was an educator, industrial art school founder, and interior designer in the United States. He was a celebrated stained glass artist.{{cite web|url=https://www.thegazette.com/2013/01/09/former-churchs-stained-glass-windows-to-be-relocated-to-public-spaces|title=Former church's stained glass windows to be relocated to public spaces|website=Thegazette.com}} He worked on Louis Sullivan and George W. Maher{{cite web|url=https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/thistle-window-490384|title="Thistle" window|date=2 December 2017|website=Mfa.org}}{{cite web|url=https://decorativeartstrust.org/windy-city-blows-spring-symposium-attendees-away/|title=Windy City Blows Spring Symposium Attendees Away - THE DECORATIVE ARTS TRUST|website=Decorativeartstrust.org|date=9 March 2015}} projects and went into business with portraitist George Healy at the interior design firm Healy & Millet offering services including interior decoration, floor tiling, and wood mantels. Millet was nationally known for his decorative work, frescoes, and stained glass.

File:WLA lacma Fireplace Surround from the Patrick J King House Chicago.jpg, now at LACMA]]

Millet and Healy were friends who studied in Paris together during the 1870s and became business partners after moving to Chicago in 1879.

Millet taught at the Art Institute of Chicago’s school from 1886 until 1918 and directed its department of decorative design.{{cite web|url=http://www.themagazineantiques.com/article/chicago-and-the-arts-and-crafts-movement/|title=Chicago and the arts and crafts movement - The Magazine Antiques|date=21 October 2009|website=Themagazineantiques.com|accessdate=7 October 2018}} He founded the Chicago School of Architecture in 1893, where multidisciplinary studies in industrial arts were offered with coursework at the Art Institute of Chicago and Armour Institute of Technology. Millet held academic posts at both institutions. Millet was the school's dean.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mhLFZH4bsXUC&q=chicago+school+of+architecture+millet&pg=PA78|title=Sullivan's City: The Meaning of Ornament for Louis Sullivan|first1=A. J. Van|last1=Zanten|first2=David Van|last2=Zanten|date=7 October 2018|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|via=Google Books|isbn=9780393730388}}

File:GAR Rotunda, Chicago Cultural Center.jpg at the Chicago Cultural Center The building also has one by Louis Comfort Tiffany]]

Millet patented a design for a prism light.{{cite web|url=http://glassian.org/Prism/Patent/D28909/page1.html|title=D28,909 · Millet · "Design for a Prism-Light" · Page 1 - glassian|website=glassian.org|accessdate=7 October 2018}}

Millet made a thistle window for the Patrick J. King House's great room{{Cite web|url=https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/thistle-window-490384|title="Thistle" window}} aa well as a similarly themed mosaic fireplace surround with thistle design.

Work

  • Stained glass for Sullivan's Auditorium Building and theater. Exhibited at the Paris World's Fair of 1889 and now part of the Musée d'Orsay's permanent collection. According to one source "changed the way Europe looked at ataijed glass."{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AxLDCwAAQBAJ&q=healy+%26+millet&pg=PA36 | title=The Chicago School of Architecture: Building the Modern City, 1880–1910| isbn=9780747813828| last1=Achilles| first1=Rolf| date=2013-06-10}}
  • Thistle window from the James A. Patten house

File:Dome of Glory (5420509668).jpg]]

  • Watkins Incorporated headquarters building entrance windows
  • Hackley Library stained glass windows in Muskegon, Michigan
  • Healy-Millet dome in Grand Army of the Republic hall at the Chicago Cultural Center (formerly the central library of Chicago) with George Healy. The building also has a dome with Louis Comfort Tiffany stained glass{{cite web|url=https://www.mindfulwalker.com/beyond-gotham/stained-glass-glory-in-chicago|title=Stained-Glass Glory in Chicago|date=12 July 2011|website=Mindfulwalker.com}}
  • Friezes at Union Station (St. Louis) in St. Louis, Missouri.{{cite web|url=https://www.urbanremainschicago.com/news-and-events/2016/05/03/louis-j-millet-designed-st-louis-union-station-polychromatic-canvas-frieze-panel-joins-bldg-51-museum-collection/|title=louis j. millet-designed st. louis union station polychromatic canvas frieze panel joins bldg. 51 museum collection / Urban Remains Chicago News and Events|website=Urbanremainschicago.com|date=3 May 2016}}
  • Stained glass windows at First Christian Church (1913) 840 3rd Ave. SE. Cedar Rapids. Windows were distributed by preservations when the church was demolished.{{cite web|url=https://www.thegazette.com/2012/09/03/applications-being-accepted-for-louis-millet-stained-glass-windows|title=Applications being accepted for Louis Millet stained glass windows|website=Thegazette.com}}
  • Frescoes at the National Farmer's Bank of Owatonna in Owatonna, Minnesota with Louis Sullivan{{cite web|url=http://www.prairieschooltraveler.com/html/mn/owatonna/sullivan.html|title=The Prairie School Traveler|website=Prairieschooltraveler.com}}
  • Oil on canvas stenciled decoration designed by Louis H. Sullivan at the Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room. Now in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.{{cite web|url=https://collections.artsmia.org/art/55590/stencil-louis-henri-sullivan|title=Stencil, Louis Henri Sullivan; Designer: Louis J. Millet; Maker: Healy and Millet ^ Minneapolis Institute of Art|website=Collections.artsmia.org|accessdate=7 October 2018}}
  • Stained glass windows at Stained Glass Manor-Oak Hall 2430 Drummon Street in Vicksburg, Mississippi. A Maher project.
  • Stencil decorations in the interior of Schiller Building's theater for Louis H. Sullivan
  • Stained glass window Louis J. Millet designed for James J. Hill’s house on Canada Street in Lowertown and later installed in Louis W. Hill’s house at 260 Summit Avenue
  • Fireplace surround (1901) for the Patrick J. King House in Chicago. Now at LACMA{{Cite web|url=https://collections.lacma.org/node/160356|title = Louis Millet (Of Healy and Millet) | LACMA Collections}} A Maher project.
  • 931 Lake Street church windows, Oak Park, Chicago Illinois
  • McVickers Theatre that opened March 30th, 1891 was designed by Adler & Sullivan and had decorating and painting by Healy & Millet as well as decor, terra cotta, plaster, curtains and steelwork by other firms.
  • Stained glass window at Forrestville School on Forty-fifth street in Chicago memorializing teachers and students lost in the 1903 Iroquois Theater fire. Located on third-floor landing, window included victim's names: Minnie Schaffner, Walter Bissinger, Dora Reynolds, William Hennessy, Ernest and Erma Reynolds and Leon Frady. Pictured a young girl bearing a lamp, shading the flame with her hand. Dedicated May,1905.

References