Wright and New York : the making of America's architect / Anthony Alofsin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Alofsin, Anthony, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wright, Frank Lloyd, 1867-1959.

Wright, Frank Lloyd.

Wright, Frank Lloyd, 1867-1959--Homes and haunts--New York (State)--New York.

New York (State)--New York.

Physical Description:

343 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, [2019]

Summary:

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) took his first major trip to New York in 1909, fleeing a failed marriage and artistic stagnation. He returned a decade later, his personal life and architectural career again in crisis. Booming 1920s New York served as a refuge, but it also challenged him and resurrected his career. The city connected Wright with important clients and commissions that would harness his creative energy and define his role in modern architecture, even as the stock market crash took its toll on his benefactors. Wright denounced New York as an "unlivable prison" even as he reveled in its culture. The city became an urban foil for Wright's work in the desert and in the "organic architecture" he promoted as an alternative to American Art Deco and the International Style. New York became a major protagonist at the end of Wright's life, as he spent his final years at the Plaza Hotel working on the Guggenheim Museum, the building that would cement his legacy. Anthony Alofsin has broken new ground by mining the recently opened Wright archives held by Columbia University and the Museum of Modern Art. His foundational research provides a crucial and innovative understanding of Wright's life, his career, and the conditions that enabled his success. The result is at once a stunning biography and a glittering portrait of early twentieth-century Manhattan.

Contents:

Points of departure

Fleeting glances

Nadir

Refuge

Urban visions

Desert dialogue

Spinning tower

Command performance

Pivot point

Wright as writer

Phoenix rising

Zenith.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Albert M. Greenfield Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

0300238851

9780300238853

OCLC:

1055263691