Rethinking Frank Lloyd Wright: History, Reception, Preservation

by Neil Levine (Editor), Richard Longstreth (Editor)

Overview

Among the general public, Frank Lloyd Wright remains the best-known American architect of the twentieth century. And yet his larger-than-life profile in the popular realm contrasts sharply with his near invisibility in academic and professional circles. In Rethinking Frank Lloyd Wright, Neil Levine and Richard Longstreth have assembled a group of eminent scholars to address this most puzzling paradox of the great architect’s career.

In a series of engaging and well-illustrated essays, the contributors draw on their wide-ranging understanding of modern architecture to reveal the ways in which Wright continues to play an instrumental role in domestic and international spheres, making the case for reevaluating his popular and professional reputations. Prompted by the transfer of the architect’s archive from its home at Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona, to the Avery Library at Columbia University and the Museum of Modern Art, this volume revisits Wright’s relevance for a contemporary audience.

ContributorsBarry Bergdoll, Columbia University · Daniel Bluestone, Boston University · Jean-Louis Cohen, New York University · Cammie McAtee, independent scholar · Neil Levine, Harvard University · Dietrich Neumann, Brown University · Timothy M. Rohan, University of Massachusetts Amherst · Richard Longstreth, George Washington University · Jack Quinan, University at Buffalo · Alice Thomine-Berrada, École des Beaux-Arts

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813947693
Publisher:	University of Virginia Press
Publication date:	03/03/2023
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.25(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Neil Levine, Emmet Blakeney Gleason Research Professor of History of Art and Architecture Emeritus at Harvard University, has focused much of his work on Frank Lloyd Wright, including two standard-bearing volumes, The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright and The Urbanism of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Richard Longstreth, Professor of American Studies Emeritus at George Washington University, is the author and editor of more than a dozen books, including Frank Lloyd Wright: Preservation, Design, and Adding to Iconic Buildings (Virginia).

Table of Contents

Preface
Neil Levine—Introduction: Thoughts on Rethinking Frank Lloyd Wright
Dietrich Neumann—Wright, Mies, and the German and Dutch Contexts
Jean-Louis Cohen—Wright on the Scene in France, Russia, and Italy: Observation and Instrumentalization
Cammie McAtee—Wright: The Postwar Form Giver
Timothy M. Rohan—The Meaning of an Anecdote: Wright, Rudolph, and Johnson at the Glass House
Jack Quinan—Frank Lloyd Wright under the Sign of Phenomenology
Richard Longstreth - The Impact of the Work of Frank Lloyd Wright (and Louis Sullivan) on Historic Preservation Practice in the United States, 1950-1980
Daniel Bluestone—Wright Saving Wright: Preserving the Robie House, 1957
Alice Thomine-Berrada—The Masieri Memorial Controversy in the Context of Venice’s Cultural Heritage
Barry Bergdoll—Afterword
Notes on Contributors
Index

What People are Saying About This

Dale Allen Gyure

Rethinking Frank Lloyd Wright reappraises previous Wright studies and introduces fruitful new avenues of investigation into his life and career. It fulfills the editors’ mission of generating fresh interpretations of Wright’s work—the essays are by leading Wright scholars and recognized twentieth-century experts, the topics provide new information on Wright, and the illustrations support the text. This book will have a wide audience among lay people, professionals in art and architecture, historians, and designers.

Editorial Reviews

Rethinking Frank Lloyd Wright reappraises previous Wright studies and introduces fruitful new avenues of investigation into his life and career. It fulfills the editors’ mission of generating fresh interpretations of Wright’s work—the essays are by leading Wright scholars and recognized twentieth-century experts, the topics provide new information on Wright, and the illustrations support the text. This book will have a wide audience among lay people, professionals in art and architecture, historians, and designers.

Dale Allen Gyure