Frank Lloyd Wright at New York's Guggenheim
Great Exhibition About a Major Architect in his Outstanding Building
Jun 27, 2009
There is a certain irony to it. The Guggenheim Museum among the most iconic of buildings, hosting a major exhibition on Frank Lloyd Wright who not only designed it but whose iconoclasty saw him redefine architecture. And all this just short of the Museum's 50th birthday.
Celebration of Frank Lloyd Wright's Work and Vision in One of his Major Buildings
Actually its more than an exhibition, its a celebration of the life and work of one of the twentieth century's major talents and the museum which was his last realised building. And what a place it is too.
White Temple of Culture and Learning
Even today it still stands out. The soft, flowing almost feminine lines of this white temple of culture and learning surrounded by the up and at 'em perpendicular lines of the Upper East Side's apartment buildings. Inside the gallery is one continuous, circular ramp using natural light from a transparent roof.
True it is the kind of building where sound carries but with the audiocasette included in the admission fee thats a small, temporary concern. And what a treat that audio tour is as it explains so well and is enhanced by lengthier archive recordings that the super-keen but not in New York can access via the Museum's website.
What Frank Lloyd Wright:From Within Outward recounts is not so much the struggle to build the Guggenheim but the development of FLW and his unique style from his early days to the point where he was able to undertake such a project. (The exhibition runs till August 23 before heading to the Guggenheim Bilbao in October.)
Start of Abstract Expression Theatre Curtains
The first exhibit is the Hillside Theater Curtain an abstract expression of FLW's Wisconsin home. It seems unusual for a major modernist architect to start with curtains - even though they are big - which represent the green pastures of Wisconsin the birds and red barns in a way which all these years later still captures the eye.
It is though an aberration for both man and museum as the rest of the exhibition is given over to more standard architectural fare: models, drawings and photos of the buidlings which show the new way of designing and living that Frank Lloyd Wright created. There are even a couple of slideshows to supplement all this.
Whatever else is said or written this is an exhibition that neither lacks nor makes available impressive resources.
Prairie Houses
Looking at the Donahue Triptych, the Prairie Houses and the Usonian Houses the earlier more detailed and in some ways more practical part of the exhibition, what he pioneered it seems in a way familiar. If it is its because of the influence of FLW and the architecture he wanted to create. Then, it must have seemed revolutionary, now because his ideas have spread and become pervasive it seems more ordinary and predictable.
Real Aplomb and Finesse
Not so for some of his later designs. A number of these, the Steel Cathedral, the 175 storey skyscraper, the Mile High Office, Crystal City still have a touch of science fiction to them and underscore his visionary nature. Some of them and the urban redesign of Baghdad is a good example of this have an 'Oh what could have been' aura. One of the strengths of this exhibition is that it shows that as well as what got built with real aplomb and finesse.
