Eve Kahn, New York Times
Homeowners at a few apartment complexes in Chicago often compare notes about the artist Edgar Miller, who designed much of their interiors, but he is little remembered outside those walls. During his 1920s and ’30s heyday, developers hired him to fill four buildings on the North Side with Art Deco murals, woodcarvings, stained glass and metalwork. Dozens of units still have ceilings painted with crimson zigzags, leaping horses carved on staircase railings and mosaic saints inlaid on the walls.
...On 400 varnished pages, pictures by the architectural photographer Alexander Vertikoff reveal multistory planes of windows with diamond-shaped colored panes, smudgy frescoes of jungles and ziggurat-shaped newel posts.
Keith Bringe, Society of Architectural Historians Chicago Chapter newsletter
Long-time fans of the brilliant and versatile artist Edgar Miller (1899 – 1993) could approach the publication of this first-ever monograph with trepidation. Have no fear! Edgar Miller and the Handmade Home is a breathtaking document and a visual feast.
Miller’s virtuosity extended itself to dozens of mediums from painting and printmaking to sculpture and art glass. He integrated some of his best work into major rehabs of Victorian structures like Carl Street Studios at 155 W. Burton (remodeled 1927). This embellishment of an intuitive architecture with jewel–like details forms a synthesis of art deco, moderne and William Morris, who was a major influence.
The authors have assembled a sweeping archive from a complex and fascinating life and Vertikoff’s sublime photography takes us inside all of the major interiors.
It was our great luck that Miller applied his considerable gifts in Chicago. This highly anticipated monograph lives up to its subject in every way.