Customer Reviews

Frank Lloyd Wright Complete Works, Vol. 3: 1943-1959 (v. 3)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I highly anticipated this book but the reality of it is somewhat disappointing. Starting with the cover. Woodgrain? Wright would have hated it! But the content is what matters. On that score, it's a mixed bag. On the plus side, the generous dimensions of the book are appreciated. The book is well-illustrated with Wright's conceptual sketches, floor plans, elevations and perspectives. However, the photography is often less than mediocre. The best-known buildings are mostly represented with professional photographs and interesting vintage shots, including some construction photos. But far too many houses are shown with subpar and small photos by the likes of Thomas Heinz, etc. That is inexcusable when so many excellent images are available of ALL Wright buildings! Did the editors even do a search on Flickr and other websites for available images? When I spend $125.00 for a book, I expect top-notch photography throughout. A book of this kind, which claims to be definitive, should have been produced with a commitment to excellence.

I didn't mind the oversize shape of the book to terribly. Nor does using a magnifying glass to view the drawings bother me enough to bestow a negative review. These are compromises I'm willing to accept in order to have a complete overview of Wright's work. However, I could do without the tri-lingual text. I suspect that is/was a mandate of the publisher, but it does nothing for me but add needless pages and cost. And actually, I'd be more than happy with the extra pages (and cost) if they contained more or larger photos/drawings instead of the other languages.

My wife and I have made a hobby of studying Frank Lloyd Wright's residential architecture. We've visited Wright designed homes throughout the country and hope to build a Wright inspired Usonian-type retirement home. We have collected 20+ books depicting Wright's work to better inform ourselves of the proportions and details required to create "the look" we want to achieve. We purchased this volume and the companion volume Frank Lloyd Wright, Complete Works 1917-1942 because they contain Wright's original drawings (which are in and of themselves works of art) and because they are so comprehensive--including projects that were never built. The drawings are reproduced from Wright's original works so they are authentic. They are beautifully printed. The downside is that reproducing detailed images of large drawings requires spacious pages so the volumes are large and heavy. This makes them difficult to shelve and tiring to use. Even though the format is over-sized for a book, it is not large enough to reproduce Wright's original drawings without significant reduction so a magnifying glass is required to see finer details. (I suspect the finest lines in Wright's original work have been lost altogether.) Every public library should probably have this set and we will probably add Volume I to our collection when it is released. But we are pretty fanatical. For most home libraries it is probably overkill.

There have been many books on America's greatest architect. I have not seen any that are so carefully and sumptuously produced as this. Because it is trilingual, the texts are necessarily concise. I wonder though (even as a former teacher of architectural history who likes to gab about it) whether a lot of text is necessary. One can just submerge oneself in the work! The price is most advantageous, even though one should commit to buying the other two in the set when they come out. The only competition is a lavish Japanese set now selling for more than four thousand dollars.

Don't deny yourself the pleasure of this book!

It is interesting that Taschen chose to work backward in this ambitious series, starting with FLW's most robust period of architecture, but not his best. The drawings are what really make this book. Scores of illustrations that came from the Taliesin studios, but most likely not in his own hand. The photos are a mixed bag as one reviewer noted. I think the publishers were aiming for a vintage feel but somehow this book doesn't quite make it. What you get is probably the most juicy monograph to date on Frank Lloyd Wright but one that could have been better edited.

I hear that working with Taliesin is a real bitch, and that may have had something to do with it. They maintain the original Wisconsin studio as a mecca to FLW. I visited it some years ago and was rather disappointed. The real creative period of Taliesin was much earlier when young architects like Neutra and Schindler passed through. By the end, it was pretty much confined to devotees of Wright dutifully carrying out his intructions and listening to his lectures. Still, some good work came out of the studio, notably the The Guggenheim, which is amply illustrated in this volume. But, many of his other exercises in circles were utter failures, notably the Marin County Civic Center, which was completed after his death.

One can only assume this series will get better as it reaches into the more fertile periods of Wright's imagination.

Great subject. But I find the drawings could have been laid out to better effect.