Addis Osborne, 97, architect who studied with Mies van der Rohe

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Addis Osborne

Updated: October 19, 2011 7:23AM

From Uncle Mistletoe to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, artist and architect Addis Osborne was connected to some of the things people love most about Chicago.

With his wife, Johanna, he helped create Uncle Mistletoe, the beloved Marshall Field’s Christmas icon still in rotation at Macy’s.

He was linked with two giants of 20th-century design. He studied with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and worked on Frank Lloyd Wright’s Pennsylvania masterpiece, Fallingwater.

From the 1950s into the 1970s, he contributed to some stunning exhibits at the Chicago Historical Society (now the Chicago History Museum), including the Great Fire of 1871; city leaders and builders, and First Ladies’ gowns.

He even had a hand in the design of the baby chick hatchery at the Museum of Science and Industry, according to his former business partner, Marlene Gray.

Mr. Osborne, 97, whose gift for color and design jazzed up countless museum exhibits across the country, died last month at Reeds Landing retirement community in Springfield, Mass.

He was raised in the town of Moose Jaw in Saskatchewan, Canada. His family moved to Chicago, and he studied with van der Rohe at the Illinois Institute of Technology. “He just called him ‘Mies,’— and apparently, he was quite a taskmaster,’’ said John Hamilton, Mr. Osborne’s friend and former colleague at the National Heritage Museum of Lexington, Mass.

Mr. Osborne was “astounded” by Mies — who is credited with the philosophy of “Less is More’’ — for his “ability to edit,” said Ed Wade, former assistant director of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University.

During World War II, Hamilton said, Mr. Osborne was assigned to draw training manuals in a military arts unit that included a man named Ted Geisel. Geisel would later become known as Dr. Seuss.

Mr. Osborne received his master’s degree in fine arts, Gray said, from the School of the Art Institute.

He taught there for many years. Lynne Galvin studied with him in 1948 when she was a child. “I thought that this man was magic,” she said. “When I saw what he was drawing — when it took shape, it was so exciting, and the colors and the shapes. I couldn’t wait until the next Saturday” for class.

Around 1946 he sketched out Uncle Mistletoe, based on an idea from his wife, Johanna, who helped design Field’s sumptuous windows, according to friends and historical documents. “Macy’s appreciates the contributions of Mr. Osborne’s design of Uncle Mistletoe, and customers may still see Uncle Mistletoe on display during the holidays,” said Macy’s spokeswoman Andrea Schwartz.

Mr. Osborne also helped fix some problems at Wright’s Fallingwater, John Hamilton said. The Depression-era building materials used in the cantilevered design weren’t always top-quality, and “That was one of the things Addis was called in on, I think through one of the design firms in Chicago.”

He did stints at design firms including Holabird & Root; Shaw, Metz & Dolio, and Metz, Train, Olson & Youngren, Marlene Gray said. He worked on the Harper Memorial Library at the University of Chicago and on designs for banks, offices and private homes, she said.

He was president of the Cliff Dwellers Club from 1965-1969 and a member of the Arts Club of Chicago and the Chicago Literary Club.

From 1975 to 1988 he was assistant director and exhibit designer at the National Heritage Museum begun by Scottish Rite Freemasons in Lexington, Mass. Mr. Osborne jettisoned the old museum tradition of boxy exhibits. He was known for his use of flowing, curved walls, seamless plexiglass and color.

Ed Wade said he had an intuitive gift for sketching what other people had in mind. When Wade was assistant director of the Peabody, “Addis would be sitting across from us, and would draw — upside down — what we were saying.”

Mr. Osborne and his wife of more than 70 years were a love story at their retirement community. “He would comb her hair,” said Lynne Galvin. “They would sit together — they would never share their dining table — and just stare at each other and tell each other how much they loved each other, and how lucky they were to have each other.”

He never stopped drawing, said longtime friend Martha Hamilton. “Everyday, even at the nursing home, after lunch he would draw a little picture and the staff was always vying for who would get it, about a current event, or the way he drew somebody at the table nearby.”

Galvin plans to exhibit some of Mr. Osborne’s pen-and-ink drawings at his July 6 memorial at Reeds Landing in Springfield, Mass.

Survivors include Mr. Osborne’s wife, Johanna.