{"id":659167,"date":"2026-03-16T07:10:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T07:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/659167\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T07:10:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T07:10:29","slug":"stanley-tigermans-last-book-preserves-traces-of-the-architect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/659167\/","title":{"rendered":"Stanley Tigerman\u2019s last book preserves traces of the architect"},"content":{"rendered":"

At his passing in 2019, Stanley Tigerman<\/a> had been one of the city\u2019s most influential architects for almost 60 years. The Chicago native worked for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and George Fred Keck during the 1950s before nabbing two architecture degrees in as many years from Yale\u2019s School of Architecture and then putting out his own shingle in 1962. A new book recently published by his alma mater, \u201cStanley Tigerman: Drawing on the Ineffable,\u201d presents drawings from every phase of his career chosen from among more than 2,000 items donated by the architect to Yale.\n<\/p>\n

For those of us who knew Stanley \u2014 and he seemed to know everybody \u2014 he could be an exasperating force of nature. But three things were never in doubt: his devotion to Chicago, his dedication to architecture and his sense of humor that extended to all things architectural and otherwise. The book captures this sensibility well.<\/p>\n

\"ArchitectArchitect Stanley Tigerman on Oct. 10, 2007, in the chapel at the then-new Pacific Garden Mission. (Chris Walker\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

In the years following Ludwig Mies van der Rohe\u2019s death in 1969, large offices like Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Perkins & Will dominated the Chicago architectural scene. But Tigerman led a small office revolution during this period, spawning a group of young practitioners including Larry Booth, Jim Nagle, Tom Beeby and Stuart Cohen who transformed architectural culture and practice in the city. While building was always of paramount importance, drawing played a crucial role in this endeavor, shown in galleries and publications that brought attention to these then-young architects and their ideas.\n<\/p>\n

Tigerman began sketching cartoons in his youth and continued this mode of drawing until his final days. Dubbed \u201cArchitoons,\u201d these were a genre uniquely his own, spinning narrative tales about his projects, the places he visited and his philosophical musings. Idiosyncratic and highly personal winged soldier\/angel characters fly through many of his imagined landscapes that often incorporate his varied projects, built and unbuilt.<\/p>\n

Drawing has always had an important role in the creation of architecture \u2014 both as a means for architects to work out their ideas before building and as the conduit between these ideas and the team that realizes them in material form. But the medium has evolved throughout history, never more so than in recent decades with the introduction of digital tools that can rapidly render complex forms. But Tigerman remained a non-digital practitioner until the end.<\/p>\n

But not every drawing in the book is by Tigerman\u2019s hand. Many were produced by employees in his office under his direction, and the variety of styles reflect the ever-changing cast of collaborators. The book doesn\u2019t just rely on the drawings and their academic dissection (it has that, too); it also contains numerous anecdotes from Tigerman associates including Margaret McCurry, his wife and business partner from the late 1970s until the end of his life.\n<\/p>\n