Frank Lloyd Wright; 1867-1959 Building for Democracy

New York: Barnes & Noble Books [This edition published by arrangement with TASCHEN GmbH], 2004. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. The format is approximately 7.5 inches by 9.25 inches. 96 pages. Illustrations (some in color). Map. Bibliography. Illustrated DJ (Falllingwater on front, standing figure of Wright on the back). Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer was the founding director of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives. Pfeiffer joined the Taliesin Fellowship in 1949, where he worked as an apprentice of Wright. Bruce became a vital component to Fellowship life due to the nearly immediate bond he formed with the Wrights. From organizing the formal evenings, to playing the piano in performances, to cooking for the Fellowship, to working in the Studio, Bruce was trusted as a social facilitator and significant part of the community. After Wright's death, Pfeiffer established the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives, where he catalogued the collections of Wright's drawings, manuscripts, letters, and other documents. Pfeiffer became the consummate resource for information on Wright's body of work. As a scholar himself, Pfeiffer drew on this material for numerous publications and for the creation of such critical works as the five-volume series Frank Lloyd Wright: Collected Writings (1992); the massive three volume Frank Lloyd Wright: The Complete Works (2009); and his most recent book, The Life of Olgivanna Lloyd Wright (2017). Through his work with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives, and as an author and editor of more than 50 works about Wright and his architecture, Pfeiffer was a sustaining force in ensuring that the legacy of Wright's work and words are available to all of us, and to future generations. 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. Widely thought to be the greatest American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) was a true pioneer, both artistically and technically. At a time when reinforced concrete and steel were considered industrial building materials, Wright boldly made use of them to build private homes. His prairie house concept was the driving force behind some of his most famous houses and became a model for rural architecture across America. Wright's designs for office and public buildings were equally groundbreaking and unique. From Fallingwater to New York's Guggenheim Museum, his works are among the most famous in the history of architecture. This volume shows clearly that Wright saw manas the focal point for an architecture closely bound up with nature. This view of the world was a common factor throughout the rich diversity of his oeuvre. The quintessentially American icon Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) was an architect of aspiration. He believed in giving cultivated American life its fitting architectural equivalent and applied his idealism to structures across the continent, from suburban homes to churches, offices, skyscrapers, and the celebrated Guggenheim Museum. Wright's work is distinguished by its harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture, and which found its paradigm at Fallingwater, a house in rural Pennsylvania, cited by the American Institute of Architects as "the best all-time work of American architecture." Wright also made a particular mark with his use of industrial materials, and by the simple L or T plan of his Prairie House. Wright was also often involved in many of the interior elements of his buildings, such as the furniture and stained glass, paying particular attention to the balance between individual needs and community activity. Exploring Wright's aspirations to augment American society through architecture, this book offers a concise introduction to his at once technological and Romantic response to the practical challenges of middle-class Americans.