American architects and the mechanics of fame / Roxanne Kuter Williamson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Williamson, Roxanne, 1928- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Architects--Selection and appointment--United States.

Architects.

Architects and patrons--United States.

Architects and patrons.

Architectural services marketing--United States.

Architectural services marketing.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (299 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 1991.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Why does one talented individual win lasting recognition in a particular field, while another equally talented person does not? While there are many possible reasons, one obvious answer is that something more than talent is requisite to produce fame. The "something more" in the field of architecture, asserts Roxanne Williamson, is the association with a "famous" architect at the moment he or she first receives major publicity or designs the building for which he or she will eventually be celebrated. In this study of more than six hundred American architects who have achieved a place in architectural histories, Williamson finds that only a small minority do not fit the "right person–right time" pattern. She traces the apprenticeship connection in case studies of Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Henry Hobson Richardson, the firm of McKim, Mead & White, Latrobe and his descendants, the Bulfinch and Renwick Lines, the European immigrant masters, and Louis Kahn. Although she acknowledges and discusses the importance of family connections, the right schools, self-promotion, scholarships, design competition awards, and promotion by important journals, Williamson maintains that the apprenticeship connection is the single most important predictor of architectural fame. She offers the intriguing hypothesis that what is transferred in the relationship is not a particular style or approach but rather the courage and self-confidence to be true to one's own vision. Perhaps, she says, this is the case in all the arts. American Architects and the Mechanics of Fame is sure to provoke thought and comment in architecture and other creative fields.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Plates

Charts

Tables

Acknowledgments

ONE A Network of Connections

TWO The Time as Well as the Place

THREE A Consensus of Who Is Famous and Who Is Not: The Index of Fame

PART I Case Studies: The Apprenticeship Connection

FOUR Louis Sullivan

FIVE Frank Lloyd Wright

SIX Henry Hobson Richardson

SEVEN McKim, Mead & White

EIGHT Latrobe and His Descendants

NINE The Bulfinch and Renwick Lines

TEN The European Immigrant Masters in the Twentieth Century

ELEVEN Louis Kahn

TWELVE The Loners

PART II Conventional Wisdom about Architects9 Predispositions for Fame

THIRTEEN Connections: Family, Friends, Schools

FOURTEEN Self-promotion and Publicity

FIFTEEN Other, Weaker Patterns

SIXTEEN The Historians as Fame Makers

SEVENTEEN Afterword on the Fame-Making System

Notes

Bibliography

Index of Architects

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-292-76289-5

OCLC:

1280945516