Exhibit: “Looking After Louis Sullivan,” Art Institute of Chicago

John Szarkowski, Aaron Siskind, and Richard Nickel photographed Louis Sullivan’s work for different reasons, but their images were instrumental in midcentury efforts to save the architect’s Chicago buildings from the wrecking ball. More than 60 of their photos are on view at the Art Institute of Chicago show Looking After Louis Sullivan. Szarkowski and Siskind would go on to have distinguished careers—the former as the Museum of Modern Art’s photography director, the latter as an artist and educator—but Nickel did not. A passionate advocate for preserving Sullivan’s designs, including the Garrick Theater (left), Nickel was killed in 1972 by a collapsing stairwell during an unauthorized visit to Adler & Sullivan’s Stock Exchange Building. He was salvaging pieces of ornamentation from the soon-to-be demolished structure. Through Dec. 12. www.artic.edu