Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994
All photographs and text are copyright of the Press and may not be reproduced without permission, in writing.
Images of Chicago's Downtown Loop from the late '70s to the early '90s
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Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994 All photographs and text are copyright of the Press and may not be reproduced without permission, in writing. |
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One of the more remarkably sustained efforts at
interpreting Chicago's built environment has been the decades-long photography
of Bob Thall. After studying architecture in the '60s, Thall moved into photography,
where he has been recognized as a major figure in documentary for some time.
His large-format view camera photography of Chicago and its environs has been
extensively exhibited, most recently in a one-person show at the Art Institute
of Chicago in 1994.
The Perfect City
is his first major monograph; it assembles photographs he has made of the downtown
area since the late '70s. In these pictures can be found not only the evidence
of rapid change, the accelerated process of tear-down and redevelop that characterized
the building booms of the Reagan years. The photographs are also the result
of an engaged commentator on the urban environment-- they are polemics.
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Wacker Drive, view east from Wabash, 1978. (55K)
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Chicago River at Randolph Street, 1982. (49K)
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Sherman Avenue at Jackson Street, view north, 1973. (74K)
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Lake Street east of Michigan Avenue, view north through Illinois Center construction, 1985. (72K)
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Lake Street at State Street, view east, 1981. (64K)
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Columbus Drive near East Wacker Drive, view northeast, 1987. (70K)
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Randolph Street near State Street, view north, 1980. (66K)
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Clark Street at Lake Street, view south, 1983. (95K)
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Demolition of Chicago and North Western Railway Terminal, 1984. (66K)
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Canal Street at Van Buren Street, view north, 1982. (93K)
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Dearborn Street near Lake Street, view northeast, 1983. (76K)
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Clark Street near Randolph Street, view west through State of Illinois Building construction site,1980. (66K)
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East bank of Chicago River between Monroe Street and Madison Street, view south, 1981. (67K)
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Lake Shore Drive at Chicago River, view south, 1982. (69K)
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