After the expiration of Rudolf Diesel’s American license in 1912, Fairbanks Morse entered the large engine business. Introduced in 1914, the company’s large Model Y semi-diesel stationary engine became a standard workhorse used by sugar, rice, and timber mills; mines, and other applications. This is a colored pencil rendering by Alfonso Iannelli of an engine exhibit for a show in 1936.
Alfonso Iannelli
Born in 1888 in Andretta, Italy. Iannelli immigrated to Newark, New Jersey with his mother and siblings in 1898. His general education ended at age 13, when he became an apprentice to a local jewelry maker. He received a scholarship to attend the Art Students League in New York in 1906; there, he studied sculpture with Gutzon Borglum. Subsequent short-term positions included preparing illustrations for magazines and lettering in New York, and then as an illustrator for the U.S. Lithograph Company in Cincinnati. Continuing his westward progress, he arrived in Los Angeles, where he produced one of his first renowned bodies of work, approximately 100 posters for the Orpheum Theater 1912-1915.
The posters attracted the attention of John Lloyd Wright, who hired Iannelli to work on several sculpture programs for Wright’s buildings in Southern California. Wright introduced Iannelli to his father, Frank Lloyd Wright, leading to the commission to develop the extensive sculptural program of Wright’s Midway Gardens in Chicago, 1914-15. This project was the beginning of a greater involvement in architectural projects, as Iannelli also collaborated on several buildings with the Chicago architect Barry Byrne.
In 1919 Iannelli and his second wife Margaret, an accomplished sculptor and illustrator, moved to Park Ridge, Illinois and established Iannelli Studios. The Studios added industrial design services to their repertoire, serving clients such as Parker Pen Company, U.S. Gypsum, Sunbeam, and Oster Manufacturing Co. Iannelli also served as faculty for the Design Department at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1923-24 and again in 1928-1930. Until his death in 1965, Iannelli continued his multi-faceted career as a sculptor, illustrator, building and interior designer, and industrial designer.
Charles Francis Pope, Jr. (1900-1987), was born in Madison, Wisconsin, and attended Armour Institute of Technology, Chicago. Establishing his home and practice in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge, he made the acquaintance of Alphonso Iannelli. Pope often served as the architect of record when Alfonso Iannelli’s projects required a licensed professional. Along with Bruce Goff, he also developed product and industrial designs for Iannelli’s studio, particularly in the 1930s. Pope’s independent projects consisted of rather traditional residences and small commercial structures.
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