Why is Frank Lloyd Wright so interesting?
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) seems to be as popular now as at any time during his life. The phenomenon interests me, and I wonder why. One obvious answer is that he had a flamboyant life which makes for titillating biography, but what about the essence of his work and ideas?
If you like architecture or Wright, what would you say are the reasons for this broad interest in him?
What is a Room?
The room. What is a room? I temporarily occupy the pink room of the Lewis’s house at 54 rue Renan in Tréguier. I know this is a room. It has space for many activities. The furnishings contribute to the life of the room. A comfortable double bed and two side tables, each with a lamp, are located on the north wall, which has a locking entry door. Behind each lamp hangs a small framed painting. This ensemble allows lounging and reading in bed. A small sofa sits at the foot of the bed. Crimson-raspberry in color, it faces a fireplace with a simple mantle. Between the fireplace and the bed lie a rug and a camphor chest that has brass corners. On the chest is a pile of books. This grouping provides a place to read and watch the fire. A desk with ceramic lamp and fabric shade extends perpendicular to the south wall. A drawer in the desk contains pencils, pens, cords, and a change purse. This is a place for writing.
Frank Lloyd Wright: Spoiled by Success?
Frank Lloyd Wright: A Golden Anniversary?
Anthony Alofsin © 2010
“…Wright still stands alone as the American modern Architect in relation to the achievements of his own generation abroad, and even of most of the next except for Le Corbusier. A hundred years after his birth, however, we may most properly see him as belonging now to the past, if in a rank to which only the greatest have ever attained. No longer is he a contemporary figure, no longer the subject of controversy as he was as regards the Guggenheim Museum down to the day of his death, but an architect for the ages.”
The Taliesin Murders in 1914: Wright and Borthwick, a Double Tragedy
These days it is difficult to think of Frank Lloyd Wright as other than a star architect and commercial box office hit. The Guggenheim museum broke some of its own attendance records with its recent exhibition, and an endless supply of books cater to the public’s interest in pictures of his work and sensational accounts of his life. This review looks at a manifestations of the phenomenon, two books that focus on a tragic moment in Wright’s life.
