Awarded
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, EnglandAwarded Freedom of the City of London (2013)Adjunct Associate Professor, emeritus, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago Advisor on heritage preservation of interiorsPersonally secured grants,
more than $1,000,000.00, for art history andpreservation worldwide.Founding Curator: Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows, 1999-2014.Developed www.visithistoricillinois.comDeveloped and
maintians www. germanairbrushedceramics.com Developed
and maintains www.rolfachilles.comDeveloped and maintains ChicagoHistoryTimeLine
on www.rolfachilles.comDeveloped 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 intovarious
aspects of art history and heritage Board Membership/Prof. Organizations:Chicago-Hamburg
Committee Sister City, chair emeritusDriehaus Museum in the Nickerson Mansion, boardHegeler Carus Mansion, board Worshipful Company
of Glaziers and Painters of Glass, London, honorary FreemanFounding member of the
Henry van de Velde GesellschaftStained Glass Association of AmericaFounding member of H-Net Stained Glass Window advisory boardFounder of historic
homes and sites web based consortium,visithistoricillinois.com historichomesofillinois.comContributing member, Czechoslovakian Collectors
Association NewsletterContributing member, Chicago Art Deco SocietyContributing member SGAA, Stained Glass MagazineInternational 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, 2019Form
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, 2017York, 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 2021Zoom conference on American Stained Glass, Worshipful Company of Glaziers, May 15, 2021Various publications of Harry Clarke window iinstallation,
Dublin. April-October, 2020.Zoom narrative on Decorators Supply for
ICAA Acanthus awards, Nov. 19, 2020Zoom London Glaziers discussion,
Pugin or Tiffany, London., Nov. 13, 2020Various publications of Harry
Clarke window iinstallation, Dublin. April-October, 2020.Zoom discussion with SGAA on American Glass, September 20, 2019Art in the Bonham Hotel, Edinburgh, October 2019Harry 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 GlassWindows 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
forSacred 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 QuarterlyMagazine 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 thePresent 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, 2015Treasured Legacy, Alphonse Mucha & Jarmila
Mucha Plockova in Chicago: Essay, Alphonse Mucha in
Chicago. Prague Days in Chicago, June 12 - July 31, 2015Review 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 2013Eva
Zeisel designs for Carstens Hirschau chapter, Chronicle Books, San Francisco. October, 2013Hands 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 2012Tiles 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, 2010ChicagoHistoryTimeLine. 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, 2010Photographs, 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 2000The 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. TravelingDavid 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 imagesDennis
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 AlfredSmart
Gallery, the University of Chicago. March 1977. Catalogue. Over 2700 photographs published in books, journals,
magazines,exhibition
catalogues, internet.
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