Frank Lloyd Wright was born in 1967 in Richland Center, Wisconsin. His father was a preacher and musician and his mother was a teacher. Wrights parents divorced when he was eighteen and for a time he worked while studying at the University of Wisconsin. But Wright wanted to be an architect so he left Wisconsin and began working in Chicago eventually finding employment with the renowned architectural firm, Adler and Sullivan.
Wright married Catherine Lee Tobin in 1899 and built his own home in Chicago's Oak Park. Soon his spiralling expenses resulted in Wright accepting work designing residential houses which was in violation with his contract with Louis Sullivan from Adler and Sullivan. This led to Wright leaving the firm and opening his own office to design residential homes. Over the next few years, Wright began to develop his own unique style, referred to as the Pairie Style.In 1909, Wright abandoned his wife and family and left for Europe with his mistress, Mamah Borthwick. During his stay in Europe he wrote several publications that were to have a great influence on his peers. In 1911 he returned to the United States and built a new home, Taliesin near the village of Spring Green, Wisconsin. Wright settled into Taliesin with his mistress and her two children but tragedy struck when they were murdered in a fire deliberately set by an unhappy employee.
Wright's personal life was plagued by further disorder and catastrophe; he married two more times after the death of his mistress and at times he struggled financially. However, professionally he continued to create and design amazing buildings for clients in Tokyo and Los Angeles. His professional career waxed and waned. He went through periods with few commissions and turned to writing and teaching. In 1943, Wright received a commission from Baroness Hilla von Rebay to design a building to house the modern art collection of Solomon Guggenheim. It would take sixteen years to complete. He continued to design, write and teach into his eighties and nineties. Wright died somewhat suddenly on April 9, 1959 after an unexpected illness.
Wright is most famous for changing how architects view buildings in their surrounding landscape. He sought to design buildings that fit in with their surroundings. When he began the practice of architecture, buildings in the United States were often designed like those in the Old World. But Wright wanted to design buildings that fit with the landscape in America and created a long box style with many windows. Wright called his architecture "organic" meaning that it should fit in where it was located. Wright believed in affordable architecture that created a beautiful living space and he believed that everything connected to the building should be integrated, the architecture, the furnishings and artwork. Perhaps the building that most reflects Wright's view of architecture is the Kaufmann Residence (Fallingwater) in Mill Run, PA.
The Shape of the World focuses on the influences in Frank Lloyd Wright's youth that led him to develop his vision of architecture. Frank's mother believed he would one day build beautiful things and so she set before him blocks in many shapes; cubes, cones, cylinders and spheres. Working on his uncle's farm exposed Frank to the beauty of the natural world. Going portrays how these influences led Wright to develop his style of architecture.
The illustrations by Lauren Stringer were rendered in acrylic, gouache, watercolour and coloured pencil on Arches oil paper. Stringer visited Taliesin where Frank Lloyd Wright spent so much time designing. There she gained an appreciation for the influence of nature on Wright's architecture. To better portray this influence Stringer's illustrations are filled with vibrant colours that bring to life the story of Frank Lloyd Wright. There are deep blues, rich greens and reds, muted greys and soft browns in the illustrations.
There are both an author and illustrator notes at the back along with a key to the illustrations in the book. This is a lovely and well-done introduction to an architect who is probably not that well known by younger readers.
Book Details:
The Shape of the World by K.L. Going
New York: Beach Lane Books 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment