Frank Lloyd Wright; The Interactive Portfolio: Rare removable treasures, hand-drawn sketches, original letters, and more from the official archives
Philadelphia: Running Press, 2004. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover in decorative slipcase. The format of the book is approximately 11 inches by 11 inches. The format of the slipcase is approximately 11.25 inches by 11.25 inches. 92 pages. Illustrations (many in color). Fold-outs. Page captions and notations. Artifacts (believed to be complete). Ink notation inside the front cover. An audio CD is in a pocket inside the front cover. The contents include Foreword by Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, Director of Archives, Taliesin West; Introduction; The Early Years; Chicago; The Closed Road; Japan as Inspiration; A Prophet Without Honor; The Celebrated Return; War and Beyond; The Crowning Decade; The Legacy; Notes; Transcriptions; Credits; About the Author; and Acknowledgments. Margo Stipe is curator and registrar of collections at the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Taliesin West. She is responsible for the care of the Foundation’s fine art and design collections (maintenance, conservation, cataloging, inventory and storage); exhibition planning and coordination; Archives publications editing. Preparation of lectures and articles as time and circumstances allow. Packed with removable facsimiles of exceptional quality and interest, this collection documenting great American architect Wright (1867–1959) was put together by the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives registrar and art collections administrator, whose work makes her deeply familiar with Wright's legacy. Taking readers from Wright's modest Wisconsin beginnings to a terrific 1940s colored-pencil sketch of the Guggenheim Museum (and Baroness Hilla von Rebay's handwritten letter commissioning it) and beyond, Stipe tells the story of the work and the life with an organic clarity, economy and specificity that is completely in keeping with Wright's spirit, down to the simple but thoughtful layout, sans serif main font and deco-like block caption font. The never-finished, WWI-era Midway Gardens (destroyed in 1929), the famed 1930s Fallingwater house in Pennsylvania and even a 1957 "Plan for Greater Baghdad" are all here, along with numerous other projects familiar and unfamiliar. While it surpasses most Wright books in its plain forthrightness about Wright's turbulent personal life, this 11"×11" collection's 100 illustrations and 25 interactive elements form the book's intimate core. A 17-track CD presents short question-and-answer exchanges with Wright from various interviews recorded in the 1950s. Fortunately for the many admirers of his architecture, theories, and designs, Frank Lloyd Wright was not only a lover of space and a man of vision-he was also a man who liked to save things. Since he opened his first office in Chicago in 1893, Wright held on to drawings, sketches, notes, photographs, manuscripts, and correspondence. Many of those artifacts survive today in his official archive at Taliesin West in Arizona. Produced in conjunction with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, this extraordinary book offers a fresh presentation of the documents of one of the world's most famous architects. It is, in effect, a museum in a book. The unique book experience contains 25 interactive, three-dimensional features, removable facsimiles of original documents, never-before-published architectural sketches, and an audio CD containing excerpts from Wright's weekly addresses at his architectural compound, as well as television interviews. Following the proven success of other Wright titles, this is an engaging journey into the life and work of the iconic American architect through words, pictures, and artifacts. Condition: Very good.
Keywords: Frank Lloyd Wright, Architecture, Prairie School, Interior Design, Usonian, Fallingwater, Inspiration, Building Materials, Exterior Design, Art, Creativity, Taliesin
ISBN: 0762419350
[Book #87019]
Price: $225.00