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Rolf Achilles: Facts

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Rolf Achilles: Facts
ChicagoHistoryTimeLine
Chicago's Sacred Spaces
Spritzdekor
German Science and the American West: Organizing the Unknown
The Newel

Is an independent Art Historian

rolfachilles@gmail.com

1 773. 477. 8138 

Awarded "Great Charter of Humanism" for contribution to the international affirmation of Ohrid as a center of world humanism, by Ohrid's academy of humanism President of international jury, Jordan Plevnes, Mayor of Ohrid, Kiril Pecakou, Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia 2024. (9 August 2024)
Awarded The Federal Republic of Germany German-American Friendship Award (2017)
Honorary Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass,
London, England
Awarded Freedom of the City of London (2013)
Adjunct Associate Professor, emeritus, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Advisor on heritage preservation of interiors
Personally secured grants, more than $1,000,000.00, for art history and
preservation worldwide.
Founding Curator: Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows, 1999-2014.
Developed www.visithistoricillinois.com
Developed and maintians www. germanairbrushedceramics.com 
Developed and maintains www.rolfachilles.com
Developed and maintains ChicagoHistoryTimeLine on www.rolfachilles.com
Developed and maintains Facebook page: SpritzdekorKeramik

Education:
Northern Illinois University, De Kalb, Illinois, 1965-69, B.A.; 1972-73, M.A.
J.W.v. Goethe Universität, Frankfurt a.M., Germany, 1969-72.
Rijksuniversiteit, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 1973.
Deutsches Archaeologisches Institut, Rome, 1974.
University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 1975-77, ABD(PhD)

Language:
Fluent in German, some French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch

Travel:
Extensive worldwide travel in connection with study and research into
various aspects of art history and heritage

Board Membership/Prof. Organizations:
Chicago-Hamburg Committee Sister City, chair emeritus
Driehaus Museum in the Nickerson Mansion, board
Hegeler Carus Mansion, board
Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass, London, honorary Freeman
Founding member of the Henry van de Velde Gesellschaft
Stained Glass Association of America
Founding member of H-Net Stained Glass Window advisory board
Founder of historic homes and sites web based consortium,
visithistoricillinois.com 
historichomesofillinois.com
Contributing member, Czechoslovakian Collectors Association Newsletter
Contributing member, Chicago Art Deco Society
Contributing member SGAA, Stained Glass Magazine
International member/advisor Keramik-Museum, Berlin
 
Lectures and Tours:
 
Tour of I&M Canal, Reddick House, Ottawa; Hegeler Carus Mansion, La Salle, April 22, 2022.
"Homage to Ricxhard H. Driehaus" video interview Landmarks Illinois, October 22, 2021
"Latvian Art Nouveau and Richard H. Driehaus," ALA talk, October 21, 2021 
"Stained Glass in The Auditorium Build." Mather zoom talk, October 12, 2021
"Great Chicago Fire Tour/Talk," CHM, October 13, 2021 
Sacred Spaces, CHM motocoach tour, Moody Church, Holy Innocents, Our Lady of Lourdes, St. James Lutheran, Dec.14, 2019
Form Shifters, One Purpose: Built for Worship. Talk to Fine Arts Society of Peoria, Dec.12, 2019.
Tour of Tiffany Windows in Milwaukee. September 27, 2019. 
Sacred Spaces, CHM motorcoach tour Holy Trinity, St.Aloysius, Norwegian Lutheran, StJohnBerchmn, Dec1, 2018.
Dallas_FortWorth National Trustm Nov.1-5, 2018 .
Edgar Miller stained glass window in Chicago area, tour for Edgar Miller Foundation, June 10, 2018.
Chicago Architecture Biennial, Janes Walk: Dearborn Street, November 18, 2017.
Chicago School: Authors, Audiences and History, IIT. Symposium, November 18, 2017
York, GB: Festival of Ideas: Tick Tock, 19 June 2016. Chaired Session: Fragile Heritage.
On decorative arts, architecture, preservation, and stained glass windows
 nationally and internationally at Universities in Australia, Switzerland,
Czech Republic, Austria, Belgium, Great Britain and Germany.
Rolf Achilles organizes private tours for individuals and groups, including the
 The National Trust, Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust, Mayor's Office
 (Chicago), The Art Institute of Chicago, The Chicago History Museum,
 Museum of Contemporary Art, JCC, LACMA, Huntington Library's Scott Gallery
 (Pasadena), De Young (San Francisco), The Denver Art Museum, The National
 Gallery of Canada, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Museum of Fine
 Arts, Menil Museum, Rice University and several German museums, banks,
 business associations and architectural organizations. GACC; ICAA and various
 Embassies and Consulates.
 
Rolf Achilles regularly organizes exhibitions and coordinate symposia relating
 to historic art movements, such the Russian Constructivism, the Bauhaus,
 photographs of 19th century Athens and Rome; painters and printmakers
 such as Leon Golub, June Leaf, David Sharpe, and Konrad Juestel
Curated and administered the IIT Centennial Exhibition of Ludwig Mies van
 der Rohe: Architect as Educator. Curated The Newberry Library Centennial
 
Rolf Achilles writes books, pamphlets, articles and essays.

In Process: The European use of Kokomo made glass, 1889-1900.

In Process: Research in Degenerate ceramics in Germany.
 
In Progress: a History of Dearborn Street, Chicago: from Polk to North Avenue. .

ICAA Discussion with Sara Kumar, author of: Classical Influences in Chicago Architecture, April 14, 2022, the Newberry Library.
"Konrad Juestel: Painter, Craftsman," PocoMuse Magazine No.2, 20-23, Summer 2021
"Harry Clark Stained Glass Art Installation, Staintons on the Green, Dublin," Stained Glass, p. 22-27, Spring 2021
"In Memory of Richard H. Driehaus," Stained Glass, p.8-9, Spring 2021
Zoom conference on American Stained Glass, Worshipful Company of Glaziers, May 15, 2021
Various publications of Harry Clarke window iinstallation, Dublin. April-October, 2020.
Zoom narrative on Decorators Supply for ICAA Acanthus awards, Nov. 19, 2020
Zoom London Glaziers discussion, Pugin or Tiffany, London., Nov. 13, 2020
Various publications of Harry Clarke window iinstallation, Dublin. April-October, 2020.
Zoom discussion with SGAA on American Glass, September 20, 2019
Art in the Bonham Hotel, Edinburgh, October 2019
Harry Clarke essay for pamphlet Chicago's Tiffany Trail, in conjunction with the Driehaus Museum Eternal Light Exhibition. September 2019 
"Teaching Classicism in Chicago, 1890-1930," Classicist No. 16. New York. October 2019. 24-32. 
"Richard H. Driehaus, Collector of Tiffany: An Appreciation," Eternal Light. The Sacred Stained Glass
Windows of Louis Comfort Tiffany, Driehaus Museum Exh. Catalog, September 7, 2019.
"Bruno Taut and the Chicago Tribune Competition", essay for Werkbund exh. on Taut, Berlin, December 13, 2018.
MC 2017 ICAA Acanthus Awards, Chicago-Midwest Chapter. November 17, 2018.
"Ka-Bam! Holy Moly!" exhibition essay,Carl Hammer Gallery, Chicago, November 2, 2018.
"A Glorious Masterwork," book review, Sacred Architecture, Journal of the Institute for
Sacred Architecture, Issue 33, 2018, 37.
MC 2017 ICAA Acanthus Awards, Chicago-Midwest Chapter. November 18, 2017.
Organized exhibition at IIT: German Spritzdekor Ceramics, 1928-1936: A Degenerate Art.
 Summer 2017 (April - September). Catalog pending.
Gene Moody's "Conrad Pickel: A Tapestry in Stained Glass," A Book Review in The Quarterly
Magazine of the SGAA, Summer 2017. 54-55.
"Wilhelmina Geddes" The Quarterly Magazine of the SGAA, Summer 2017. 48-53.
Edgar Miller: Rediscovering Chicago's Forgotten Renaissance Man. Talk and dicussion on Edgar
 Miller's stained glass at the Arts Club, Feb. 25, 2017.
MC for 2016 Acanthus Awards, Chicago-Midwest Chapter. November 12, 2016.
Awarded NU-Access external research support for "Kokomo Opalescent Glass Factory: Investigate the
Present to Understand Archaeological and Historical Glass Technologies. Sept. 1, 2016 - Aug. 31, 2017.
"Neugotik: Brick Gothic in Germany, England, and the United States", Sacred Architecture, Journal of the
 Institute for Sacred Architecture, Issue 29, 2016
"1401 N. Dearborn and early Chicago terra cotta.” A privately published essay on Chicago Terra Cotta Co.
 and Isaac Scott’s first terra cotta (March 2016)
Alfonso Carrara:Happenchance. World War II Photographs, Italian Campaign, 1942-1945.
 Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco, June 18-July18, 2015
Treasured Legacy, Alphonse Mucha & Jarmila Mucha Plockova in Chicago: Essay, Alphonse Mucha
 in Chicago. Prague Days in Chicago, June 12 - July 31, 2015
Review of "Alfonso Iannelli:Modern by Design," Stained Glass, Quarterly of the Stained Glass
 Association of America, vol. 110, No.1, Spring 2015
American Movie Palaces, commissioned by Shire Publications, Oxford, GB, October 2013
"Degenerate Ceramics Revisited," CADS Magazine, Fall 2013
Eva Zeisel designs for Carstens Hirschau chapter, Chronicle Books, San Francisco. October, 2013
Hands Together: An Icon Incarnate. Objects from the collection of
 Rolf Achilles and Maral Hashemi with paintings by Roger Brown
 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Roger Brown Study
 Collection, August 26 - December 16, 2013. Essay on the origin
 and meaning of Praying Hands
The Chicago School of Architecture: Building the Modern City, 1880-1910
 commissioned by Shire Publications, Oxford, GB, June 2013
Essay, "DePaul's Music School," ConBrio, Spring 2013 
Review of Milwaukee Art Museum Exhibition, "Grete Marks: When Modern was
 Degenerate," CADS Magazine, Fall 2012
"Eva Zeisel's German Years," CADS Magazine, Fall 2012
Tiles in the Julius Hegeler House, LaSalle IL. Hegeler Carus Foundation, May, 2012.
The Art of the Newel: The Jay W. Christopher Collection, Brauer Museum of Art (2011).
Five Endangered Heritage Monuments, co-authored with Pance Velco (film of
 endangered Byzantine and Ottoman Monuments in the Republic of Macedonia).
 Aired on Macedonian TV and French TV, June 25 and 9 July 2011 (English,
 French and German versions). Shown at the Belgrade Film Festival, 2012.
 Shown in Chicago, Berlin, Paris, Belgrade, 2012 / 2013.
"Hand Made by Machine, Part 2, Identifying BIHL and other Czechoslovakian
 Ceramics Producers and Exporters." Fall Newsletter, Czechoslovakian
 Collectors Association, November 2011.
"Hand Made by Machine, Part 1, Identifying Mass-produced Czechoslovakian
 Ceramics." Czechoslovakian Collectors Association. Spring Newsletter, May, 2010
ChicagoHistoryTimeLine. compiled and updated www.version, rolfachilles.com.
 May, 2010 - (ongoing)
Organizing the Unknown: German Science and the American West. Updated
 and corrected www.rolfachilles.com. May, 2010
Photographs, Franz Mayer of Munich. A Short Historic Survey (private 2010)
Skopje-Seven Monuments of Art and Architecture. Various authors. Edited by
 Rolf Achilles. Skopje, Macedonia. April, 2010.
Lighting in a Lake Geneva Mansion (private printing), 2008.
Pride of Place: The Streeterville Story. (August, 2005)
Spurensuche: Germans in the Midwest. In coordination with the Goethe
 Institute-Chicago, 2004-(ongoing)
Consulting Editor: Dictionary of American History, Charles Scribner’s Sons,
 New York, 2003&08.
The Stained Glass at Temple Sholom, with Norman D. Schwartz, Temple
 Sholom, 2002.
Graceland Cemetery and Crematorium: a Re-assessment. With Charles Kiefer
 and Neal Vogel, for the Trustees of Graceland Cemetery, November 2000.
“Spectacular Lobbies, self guided tour.” Celebrating a Day of Chicago
 Architecture. May 2000.
Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows, February 2000
The People's Palace: The Story of the Chicago Cultural Center. With M.W.
 Newman and Nancy Seeger. November 1999
“Spectacular Lobbies, self guided tour.” Celebrating a Day of Chicago
 Architecture. May 1999.
"Rooms with a View," Chicago Tribune Magazine, 22 March 1998. 22-23.
"A Legacy of Vatican II: The New Iconoclast," Christianity and the Arts,
 November 1997. 16-18.
"Hot Spots and Cleavage," Stephen Powell: Color Matters, October, 1997.
 Catalogue essay.
"New St. Pat's," Chicago Tribune Magazine, 7 September 1997. 20-22.
Blistex Inc.: The First 50 Years, Oak Brook, July 1997.
The Richard H. Driehaus Art Collection at the Corporate Offices, June 1997.
"Splendor in the Glass" Chicago Tribune Magazine, 30 March 1997. 12-16.
"Must See Historical Churches in Middle America," Christianity and the Arts,
 Spring, 1995, 4-9.
Stained  Glass in Houses of Worship. Published with the National Trust and
 Inspired Partnerships. November 1993. Co-authored with Neal Vogel. 2nd
 edition, August, 1994. Revised and updated, 2008.
The Preservation and Repair of Historic Stained and Leaded Glass.
 Preservation Brief No. 33, National Park Service. November 1993.
 Co-authored with Neal Vogel.
Made in Illinois. A Story of Illinois Manufacturing. Published in honor of the
 Illinois Manufacturer's Association Centennial, November 1993.
Werner Buch: A student of Mies van der Rohe reports on his teaching and its
 effect. A conversation with Ines Dresel.  Chicago Architects Oral History
 Project, Department of Architecture, Art Institute of Chicago, 1990.
 German to English translation and editing.
Organizing the Unknown: German Science and the American West. The D’Arcy
 McNickle Center for the Study of the American Indian. The Newberry Library,
 February 1989.
Humanities’ Mirror: Reading at the Newberry Library, 1887 - 1987. Editor of the
 Festschrift, exhibition checklists, September 1987. Part 11, April 1988.
“The Chap-Book and Posters of Stone & Kimball at The Newberry Library,”
 The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts, 14, Fall, 1989, 64-77.
Mies van der Rohe: Architect as Educator. Editor, exhibition catalogue. Illinois
 Institute of Technology, Chicago, 1986. Co-editor of German language edition
  published by Bauhaus Archiv, Berlin.
Guide to the Campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology. with Charlotte
 Myhrum. 1986.
“Baroque Monastic Library Architecture,” The Journal of Library History, XI, 3
 July 1976.
 
A selection of exhibitions I have curated:
Organized exhibition at IIT: German Spritzdekor Ceramics, 1928-1936: A Degenerate Art.
 Summer 2017 (April - September). Catalog pending.
Treasured Legacy, Alphonse Mucha & Jarmila Mucha Plockova in Chicago.
 Prague Days in Chicago, June 12-July31, 2015. Maya Polsky Gallery.
With Maral Hashemi, Hands Together: An Icon Incarnate, Roger Brown Study
 Collection, Chicago (selections from the Collections of Rolf and Maral, checklist
 essay, lecture, video) August - December 2013.
The Art of the Newel: The Jay W. Christopher Collection (catalog essay, lecture,
 August-October, 2011) Brauer Museum of Art.
Windows to Armenia: Armenian Art Today, curated exhibition with catalogue,
 5 - 22 November 1998. Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago. Catalogue.
 Traveling.
June Leaf: Prints 1952-1990, Chicago Cultural Center, 21 October -
 17 December 1995. CD-ROM Catalogue. Traveling
David Sharpe: 20 Years of Painting, The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Art
 Museum, Milwaukee, 20 March - 21 May 1990. Catalogue.
Captured Shadows: 19th Century Photographs of Rome and the Acropolis of
 Athens. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee.
 19 January - 4 March 1990. Essay and loan of images
Dennis Adrian: A Critical Subject. Struve Gallery, Chicago, 13 July - 4 August
 1989. Checklist.
Leon Golub: The First Series. Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, 1988.
 Catalogue. Traveled. 
Humanities’ Mirror: Reading at the Newberry Library, 1887 - 1987. Checklists,
 September 1987; Part 11, April 1988.
The Trained Eye: The Art Historian as Photographer. The David and Alfred
Smart Gallery, the University of Chicago. March 1977. Catalogue.

Over 2700 photographs published in books, journals, magazines,
exhibition catalogues, internet.
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webassets/DSCN3326.JPGRepublic of Macedonia.Marko Monastery
was founded by king Volkashin in 1345 and construction was finished by his son, King Marko about 1366.
The frescoes were painted between 1366 and 1371
 webassets/DSCN3345.JPGwebassets/DSCN3277.JPG Edit Text