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Frank
Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward by Richard
Cleary
Rizzoli, 2009
Hardcover, 360 pages
Frank
Lloyd Wright: Essential Texts edited by Robert
Twombly
W.W. Norton, 2009
Paperback, 288 pages
This year marks the 50th anniversary
of not only the Solomon
R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City but also the passing
of its architect, Frank
Lloyd Wright. Commemorating the former is the museum's
exhibition Frank
Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward, on display until
August 23. Occupying the signature sloping ramp and a couple
annex galleries, the 64 projects, 200 drawings, and numerous
models and digital animations celebrate the architect's
contributions to architecture in America and beyond.
The accompanying catalog features
"a selection of imagery intended to represent some
of the projects featured in the exhibition." By aiming
to have the catalog for sale to museum-goers on opening
day, the catalog suffers from not being able to share images
of the specially commissioned models and animations that
aimed to present "a fresh approach to Wright's work."
It is particularly the models that stay fresh in one's mind
after a stroll through the exhibition. They help explain
Wright's projects, both built and unbuilt. But it is the
latter, the unbuilt projects found in the exhibition and
the pages of the catalog, that make up for this deficiency
in imagery. With so many books focusing on Wright's residential
architecture and iconic buildings like the still influential
Guggenheim, the inclusion of projects like the Gordon
Strong Automobile Objective and Planetarium (1925) and
the Pittsburgh
Point Park Civic Center (1947) is refreshing to say
the least.
The catalog's essays and plates are
insightful and generous, clearly geared to those not steeped
in Wright. And while there is still much to be gleaned (Neil
Levin's essay on the architect's quadruple block plan is
especially rewarding), the documentation of the projects
has room for improvement. In particular, dates of individual
drawings are not indicated, so with the four schemes for
the Guggenheim that make up one spread it is not clear which
came first and when. For the academic this makes the book
incomplete, but for the armchair enthusiast there is much
eye candy to behold and even more to be learned about last
century's greatest architect.
For those desiring an understanding
of the architect and his intentions, the kind that only
comes from primary texts, the well-timed Essential Texts
edited by Robert Twombly is a great place to start. Certainly
other multi-volume books collect the complete writings of
Wright, but Twombly aims to provide a condensed selection
of his most enduring and influential writings. Spanning
nearly 50 years the essays and transcripts are diverse in
subject -- Louis Sullivan, Japanese prints, the machine,
nature, his own buildings, critical rants -- but infused
with Wright's consistent confidence, arrogance and meandering
voice that makes the words on paper read like a journey
through the architect's mind. For this reviewer the texts
are far from readable, as is contended, with a certain anachronistic
style (in early texts more than later ones) distancing Wright's
language from today but also requiring a patience from the
reader to distill the main ideas. But it is worth it, particularly
for students and historians, to spend time with these essays
one at a time. This book should not be tackled cover to
cover, though the chronological order does give a progression
to the evolution of Wright's thinking throughout much of
his career. Twombly's introductory notes to each essay are
particularly helpful, though the limited illustrations point
to a book like the recent catalog above as a fitting companion
to the architect's words.
for From Within Outward
or 
for Essential Texts
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