Frank Lloyd Wright; Art Glass of the Martin House Complex
Bill Henrich (Photographer) San Francisco: Pomegranate, 2009. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Format is approximately 9.25 inches by 9.25 inches. 96 pages. Illustrations (most in color). Contents include: Foreword by Jack Walsh, Introduction by Julie Sloan, The Fabric of Experience: Frank Lloyd Wright's Darwin D. Martin House by Robert McCarter; Overview of the Art Glass of the Martin House Complex by Theodore Lownie, The Martin House Art Glass: Documents and Insights by Jack Quinan, The Martins and the Martin House by Jack Quinan, Reconsidering Wright's "Tree of Life", Primary Art Glass Patterns, Variations and rarities, Craftsmanship Behind the Light Screens: An interview with Paul Phelps, A Martin House Chronology, Selected Bibliography, and Contributors. Window Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements of the twentieth century, influencing architects worldwide through his works and hundreds of apprentices in his Taliesin Fellowship. Wright believed in designing in harmony with humanity and the environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture. This philosophy was exemplified in Fallingwater, which has been called "the best all-time work of American architecture." Wright was the pioneer of what came to be called the Prairie School movement of architecture and also developed the concept of the Usonian home, his vision for urban planning. He also designed original and innovative offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels, museums, and other commercial projects. When Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) designed the Darwin D. Martin House complex (1903-1905), he filled the windows, doors, skylights, and laylights with nearly four hundred pieces of his signature art glass. The spectacular designs, abstractions of the architecture and surrounding environment, are among some of Wright's finest. These "light screens," as Wright called them, were fundamental to his principle of "bringing the outside in" by blurring the line between enclosed and open spaces. Despite the site-specific nature of Wright's art glass, nearly three-quarters of the pieces at the Martin House complex have been removed--many of them distributed to museums and private collections throughout the world. Today, due to the tremendous reconstruction efforts by the Martin House Restoration Corporation, the art glass designs are being restored to their original home. Only now, in their original context, is it possible to fully appreciate the importance of these "light screens" to Wright's overall composition for the Martin House complex. Edited by Martin House curator Eric Jackson-Forsberg, with additional text by Theodore Lownie, Robert McCarter, and Jack Quinan and an introduction by art glass expert Julie Sloan, Frank Lloyd Wright: Art Glass of the Martin House Complex explores the breadth of Wright's iconic iridescent creations for the Martin House. Full-color images accompany Jackson-Forsberg's insightful text to provide examples of the major patterns and motifs represented in the Martin House, in addition to an assortment of rare variations and outlying designs. Original drawings, historic photographs, floor plans, and excerpts from Wright's personal correspondence add to this comprehensive survey of the exquisite art glass designs found at Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House complex. In 1900 Edward Bok of the Curtis Publishing Company, bent on improving American homes, invited architects to publish designs in the Ladies' Home Journal, the plans of which readers could purchase for five dollars Subsequently, the Wright design "A Home in a Prairie Town" was published in February 1901 and first introduced the term "Prairie Home".[15] The Martin House, designed in 1903, bears a striking resemblance to that design. Of particular significance are the fifteen distinctive patterns of 394 stained glass windows that Wright designed for the entire complex, some of which contain over 750 individual pieces of jewel-like iridescent glass, that act as "light screens" to visually connect exterior views with the spaces within. More patterns of art glass were designed for the Martin House than for any other of Wright's Prairie Houses. Eric Jackson-Forsberg was Curator, collections and exhibitions Castellani Art Museum, Niagara University, New York, 1999—2003. He has been Curator Martin House Restoration Corporation, Buffalo, since 2003. He has also been an Adjunct professor Canisius College, Buffalo, since 2003. Condition: Very good / Very good.
Keywords: Frank Lloyd Wright, Architecture, Martin House, Art Class, Skylights, Laylights, Windows, Interior Design, Lighting Design
ISBN: 9780764951503
[Book #85659]
Price: $85.00