Skip to main content

John Warren Moutoussamy

By

John Warren Moutoussamy
John Warren Moutoussamy studied architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology and graduated in 1948, a mere 26 years after McKissack & McKissack became the first black-owned architecture firm in the United States (Fazzare and Olson). Moutoussamy studied under Mies Van Der Rohe, and Mies’ strong exterior style and structural design is evident in his work throughout the Chicago area. After finishing his education, Moutoussamy became a partner in the Chicago Architecture Firm, Dubin Dubin Black & Moutoussamy, making him the first African-American in U.S. history to become part of a major established architecture firm (Goldsborough). Later in his career, Moutoussamy also played prominent positions at the Art Institute of Chicago, Loyola University, and the Chicago Plan Commission

               As an architect, Moutoussamy followed the style of Mies Van Der Rohe in many of his works

Marshall Field Office
his work at Dubin Dubin Black & Moutoussamy involved large scale construction using steel and glass for housing and colleges around Chicago, including the Marshall Field Office. Moutoussamy is most known for his work designing the Johnson Publishing Company’s headquarters. The Johnson Publishing Building remains the only solely Black-designed tower in downtown Chicago, and Moutoussamy’s interior design celebrated black culture and Ebony and Jet magazines – published in the same building. John H Johnson played a huge role in empowering the African-American community through his publishing company, and their Moutoussamy designed headquarters were declared a Chicago landmark to preserve their architectural and cultural impact.

 

Johnson Publishing Building
              While Moutoussamy’s career hasn’t been celebrated to nearly the extent as that of his mentor, Mies Van Der Rohe, he was able to powerfully bridge the gap between a predominantly white, western style of architecture, and oppressed black communities. One of the often overlooked side effects of Mies’s famous Crown Hall was that it was constructed on the site of an apartment complex where Jazz musicians had gathered for years, erasing a cultural site in its’ construction. Despite the negative side of new construction, John Moutoussamy was able to give back through his work and use the same beautiful construction style to create landmarks for people of color. Moutoussamy’s work on the Johnson Publishing Building serves as a powerful symbol of the potential for diversity in design, but also for the work that still needs to be done as the building remains the only black designed downtown Chicago tower nearly 50 years since its’ construction. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Althea McNish, Trinidadian Textile Designer

By
By Katrina Filer Born in Trinidad but living in the foggy, grey world of London in the 50s, Althea McNish brought the colorful inspiration of her birthplace to the British textile scene. She was descended from former Black slaves who had fought for the British in the war of 1812, and she was born while Trinidad was still a colony, 38 years before they gained independence. Her impressionist-style prints based in the Caribbean's natural beauty were groundbreaking, pushing the way that her contemporaries looked at fashion, interior design, or anything else that could hold a pattern. Surrounded by a culture that constantly appropriated the art of its colonies (Trinidad included) and deep in a white male-dominated field, McNish still found her place in the fashion and textile industry, wielding genre-defining abstractions of tropical and floral beauty.  Angela Cobbinah. Althea McNish in 2008. Photography courtesy of the Camden New Journal. McNish's early life in Trinidad was charact...
Post a Comment
Read more

Beverly Loraine Greene (1915-1957)

By
Beverly Loraine Greene was born October 4 th , 1915 in Chicago Illinois. Although she was born during a time where she was not accepted in the professional world she never stopped moving towards her goal of becoming an architect. In 1936, Greene made history by becoming the first African American female to earn a bachelor of science degree in architectural engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Although she was “ amidst a sea of white male faces” at school, Beverly was known for having a calm presence that allowed her to focus on her difficult education (Illinois.edu). After graduating she began to search for a job in the industry, albeit the many obstacles in her way. Although it was difficult to find work at first due to racial discrimination, Greene’s talent and drive landed her a job with the Chicago Housing authority. This made her the first African American to be a part of the Chicago Housing authority, a corporation that oversees the housing in the cit...
Post a Comment
Read more

Archie Boston

By Anonymous
A portrait of Archie Boston. Retrieved from https://www.aiga.org/design-journeys-archie-boston Who is Archie Boston?   During 1943 in the segregated town of Clewiston, Florida, Archie Boston was born, but was raised in St. Petersburg. Boston’s father, a sugarcane sharecropper, and his mother, who took care of their home, instilled the importance of valuing education in the minds of their six children, which played a pivotal role in Boston’s life (2008). Boston’s talented painting and drawing skills led him to be accepted into Chouinard Art Institute, known today as CalArts, which is where his older brother Bradford also graduated from. During his senior year, Boston secured an internship at the Carson/Roberts advertising agency and finished Chouinard Art Institute with a “...BFA degree in Advertising Design with Honors” (Daniel, 2013).    Early in his career, Boston was bouncing between various advertising and design studios before collaborating with Bradford to establish...
Post a Comment
Read more