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MW Editions has published 820 Ebony/Jet: Visions of the Johnson Publishing Company, an American Icon, a 240-page book documenting the former Chicago headquarters of Ebony and Jet. It brings together Barbara Karant’s photographs, archival images, employee recollections and essays to record interiors that remained largely intact after the company left in 2012.
MW Editions has published 820 Ebony/Jet: Visions of the Johnson Publishing Company, an American Icon, a book documenting the former Ebony and Jet headquarters at 820 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago. The 240-page volume centers on photographer Barbara Karant’s images of the building’s distinctive interiors, preserving a record of a media institution and workplace that no longer exists in that form.
Karant began photographing the vacant headquarters in 2013, a year after Johnson Publishing Company left the building, and continued through 2018. Her pictures focus on rooms and surfaces left behind, including geometric wallpaper, mirrored dressing rooms and the Test Kitchen’s patterned laminate cabinetry. The executive floor’s windows also frame views of Lake Michigan and Grant Park.
The book combines 142 color images and eight black-and-white images across 240 pages. Its material also includes documentary photographs of the original interiors and Ebony’s in-house photo studio, images of Richard Hunt’s lobby sculpture Expansive Construction (1972), and recollections from former employees. Artist Deborah Willis wrote the foreword; essays are by Aaron Bryant, Cheryl Finley, Carla Williams, Jon Ott, Brenna Wynn Greer and E. James West.
MW Editions lists the book at $65, with publication on Oct. 13. The source report does not give the publication year, so the date alone does not establish whether the release is forthcoming or already past.
Recording a Black Media Landmark
The book records more than an unusual corporate interior. The Johnson Publishing Company headquarters gave a prominent physical home to the publisher of Ebony and Jet, magazines that documented Black American life and culture for decades. By preserving photographs of the rooms alongside archival material and workers’ recollections, the volume connects the building’s design to the institution and people who used it.
That record also matters for architecture and design history. The headquarters was designed by John Moutoussamy, identified in the source report as the first Black architect to design a downtown Chicago high-rise. The book makes the building’s expressive interiors accessible through images, even as the original workplace has changed and the company has departed.
photography coffee table book Ebony Jet Chicago headquarters
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From 1972 Offices to Empty Rooms
The headquarters was completed in 1972. Publisher John H. Johnson commissioned Moutoussamy after encountering resistance from real estate agents and bankers wary of financing a Black-owned company, according to the source report. The building’s exterior was clad in travertine marble, while its interiors took a markedly more colorful approach.
Palm Springs designers Arthur Elrod and William Raiser gave each of the building’s 11 floors its own mix of color and pattern. The cafeteria used orange, purple and gold chevrons; the report describes co-founder Eunice Johnson’s office in cream and honey tones, with pieces from the couple’s art collection. Much of the design reportedly remained unchanged until the company left in 2012. Karant photographed the empty building from 2013 to 2018, after its furnishings had been removed.
““The building’s emptiness is part of what gives the photographs their power.””
— Design Milk report
architectural interior photography book
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Publication Details and Building Status
The source identifies Oct. 13 as the book’s availability date but does not state the year. It also does not provide current information about the building’s ownership, condition, public access or future use. The account says the interiors remained largely unchanged until Johnson Publishing Company left in 2012, but does not establish what has happened to the building or its contents since Karant’s photography ended in 2018.
The book’s inclusion of former employees’ recollections and the named essays is reported, but the source does not provide excerpts from those contributions. Readers therefore cannot assess their specific accounts or conclusions from the available description alone.
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Book Release and Further Access
The immediate next step for readers is the book’s listed release on Oct. 13 at a price of $65; the publication year is not stated in the source. The book brings the photographs, archival material and written contributions together in one volume. No further release events, public exhibitions or plans for the former headquarters are identified in the report.
archival interior design photography
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Key Questions
What is 820 Ebony/Jet?
It is a 240-page book from MW Editions documenting the former Johnson Publishing Company headquarters in Chicago through photographs, archival material, employee recollections and essays.
Who photographed the empty headquarters?
Barbara Karant photographed the building from 2013 through 2018, beginning the year after Johnson Publishing Company left in 2012.
What is included in the book?
The volume contains 142 color and eight black-and-white images, documentary images of the original interiors and Ebony’s photo studio, material on Richard Hunt’s lobby sculpture, employee recollections, a foreword by Deborah Willis and essays by six contributors.
When was the book published, and how much does it cost?
The source lists an availability date of Oct. 13 and a price of $65, but does not specify the year.
What happened to the former headquarters after 2018?
The source does not provide an update on the building’s current ownership, condition, access or future use. Karant’s documented photography ran through 2018.
Source: rss
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