Character Expression
"The seed-germ may thus be considered also as a container of energy, forming of its own will sub-centers of energy in the course of its functioning development toward the finality of its characteristic form -- the expression of its identity."
-Louis Sullivan
Sullivan believed that the artist is a force that draws inspiration from nature and gives formless things a form. This process transforms rigid geometries into awakened shapes that bring the vitality of nature into human environments.
This awakening process is based on the growth of a plant. Sullivan referenced books like Gray's School and Field Book of Botany, which described plant growth as a linear process beginning at the sprouting of a seed. The image to the left shows Sullivan's drawing of the seed germ motif. This sprouting motion became the basis for how Sullivan drew the awakening motion of shape.
The final step for Sullivan in creating form was to give the form identity. He viewed his creative process as similar to God's creative process, where the culmination of creation was creating something in the creator's image. For Sullivan, this meant giving the form character and expression in a way unique to that particular form, so it was like that form was its own individual.
​
This form, however, could not be something incredibly deliberate on the part of the artist. Sullivan claimed "the greatest art is that which incorporates at once the greatest and the smallest amount of thought; that is to say, within which logic and intuition blend in miraculous union."
The final form then should be a union between logic and intuition, man and nature, geometry and organic growth. To Sullivan, this was the full expression of Democracy because it showed people where they stood in society and in the natural world. Sullivan claimed "The moments in which the soul loses consciousness of individuality and thus freed struggles toward infinity, are moments of inspiration." Sullivan wanted his buildings and ornament to give people the same sense of awe and inspiration they might feel in a forest, on a beach, or beside a mountain. This was his gift to society.