Description
Book SynopsisPresents a study of the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, beginning with his work in Oak Park in the late 1880s and culminating in the construction of the Guggenheim museum in New York and the Marin County Civic Center in the 1950s. This book provides an introduction to Wright's remarkable accomplishments.
Trade ReviewWinner of the 1997 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Architecture and Urban Planning, Association of American Publishers One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1996 "Scrupulously researched, elegantly written (with a refreshing lack of jargon), beautifully illustrated and designed ... the book is a feast for eye and mind, challenging assumptions and deepening understanding on almost every page... Wright's ability to translate the poetic essence of a place into form was unrivaled, and no one has explored it with more insight than Levine."--The Architects' Journal "A major publication, a benchmark study not only of Wright's career but of architectural history as well... A magnum opus by one of the most highly regarded architectural historians of our day."--Choice "He [Wright] created beauty, a serene beauty of space--new, undemocratic and unapologetic--a beauty springing from the deepest resonance of man and nature. The strength of Levine's book is that he explains exactly how and why he did it, with a wealth of illustration."--Joe Berridge, Toronto Globe & Mail "A monumental project... This book, rather than any extant Wright biography, is the source for those who want to know about the immensity and worth of the accomplishments of Frank Lloyd Wright."--Library Journal "Wright's personal history was extraordinary by any standards, and it is the great strength of Neil Levine's book that he manages to correlate the developments in Wright's architecture with the events in his life, without being sentimental or over-reverent."--Andrew Ballantyne, The Times Literary Supplement
Table of ContentsPreface and AcknowledgmentsIntroductionCh. IBeginnings of the Prairie House1Ch. IIAbstraction and Analysis in the Architecture of the Oak Park Years23Ch. IIIVoluntary Exile in Fiesole59Ch. IVThe Story of Taliesin75Ch. VBuilding against Nature on the Pacific Rim113Ch. VIFrom Los Angeles to Lake Tahoe and Death Valley149Ch. VIIWriting An Autobiography, Reading the Arizona Desert191Ch. VIIIThe Temporal Dimension of Fallingwater217Ch. IXThe Traces of Prehistory at Taliesin West255Ch. XThe Guggenheim Museum's Logic of Inversion299Ch. XISigns of Identity in an Increasingly One-Dimensional World365Conclusion: Wright and His/story419Notes435Bibliographical Note505List of Illustrations507Index515
