Rare Form

A new show at the Art Institute of Chicago spotlights the bold buildings and personal pastimes of American iconoclast Bruce Goff

-  —SAM COCHRAN

1. THE SUNKEN LIVING ROOM OF BRUCE GOFF'S PRICE HOUSE IN BARTLESVILLE, OKLAHOMA, PHOTOGRAPHED BY HORST P. HORST FOR VOGUE'S FEBRUARY 1972 ISSUE. 2. A 1950 ELEVATION OF THE BAVINGER HOUSE IN NORMAN, OKLAHOMA. 3. THE CIRCA 1970 HARDER HOUSE IN MOUNTAIN LAKE, MINNESOTA. 4. AN UNTITLED PAINTING BY THE ARCHITECT. 5. GOFF IN HIS UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA OFFICE IN THE 1950s.

Ashtrays, sequins, Astroturf, cake pans—the everyday became extraordinary in the work of Bruce Goff, a self-taught architect who boldly reenvisioned postwar American domesticity.