Customer Reviews

Frank Lloyd Wright

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

 

 

This is an excellent book by Meryle Secrest on Frank Lloyd Wright. It traces the career of America's foremost builder from his days in Chicago as a resident in fashionable Oak Park to his final days on the Arizona desert. Ms. Secrest does not specialize in architecture, but this appears to be an asset. While there are plenty of books that can go on (and on and on) about building techniques, this is intended for the lay person who is interested in Frank Lloyd Wright in general terms. This book provides an excellent introduction to both the man and his work.

Wright the man is chronicled here, in one of the two best biographies of the architectural superstar. One would also want to read Brendan Gill's "Many Masks" as a companion to Ms Secrest's treatment of F Ll W - just to get the harmonizing flavors of opinion.

Ms Secrest does magnificent research and shares it in a narrative that flows easily and keeps one's attention. Her information about Wright's family tree, as well as the family background of his wives and Mrs. Cheney, is more thoroughly presented than I have seen elsewhere.

One must not expect a thorough critique of Wright's buildings here -- there are too many works to be considered and there are many other resources, old and new, for such explorations. "In the Nature of Materials" leaps to mind. However, this book does flesh out the man and in some ways dispels some of the outlandish tales and outright fabrications about his life, toward which Wright was oft inclined.

It should be noted that Secrest is one of the Wright biographers who mistakenly limit the contributions of Isabel Roberts, who was a draughtsman/architect in her own right. She defines Roberts' roll simply as: "Isabel Roberts, secretary ". She cannot be faulted too much, having swallowed the red herring presented by Frank Lloyd Wright himself when writing about the Oak Park "...studio adjoining my home, where the work I had then to do enabled me to take in several draughtsmen and a faithful secretary, Isabel Roberts..." In future, Wright biographers would be wise to consult research done by John A. Dalles presented in his article, "The Pathbreaking Legacy of Ryan and Roberts", in "Reflections", the journal of the Historical Society of Central Florida, Summer 2009; pages 8 and 9.

You may wish to read Wright's disingenuous "An Autobiography" (1943) as well as some of the family books - "The Valley of the God-Almighty Joneses: Reminiscences of Frank Lloyd Wright's Sister, by Maginel Wright Barney, 1986, and his son, John Lloyd Wright's "My Father Who Is On Earth", G P Putnam Sons, NY, 1946. But consider this a mostly reliable guide to Mr. Wright's long and theatrical life.

Beautifully researched, well-crafted, highly readable biography of Frank Lloyd Wright. Ms. Secrest understands her subject and his work and presents both to us with clarity and empathy. Many photographs add to the enjoyment of the reader. Unconditionally recommended.

Secrest's "biography" focuses exclusively on the personal life of Wright, and to that end it seems fairly complete. Secrest attempts to explain Wright's inflated sense of self, his drive to succeed and his willingess to use others as means to his ends by reflecting on his Welsh background, his family's history in Wisconsin and his relationships with his immediate family, particularly his mother. My complaint is that Secrest does not carry this analysis over to his architecture - most of his works receive a paragraph or less. I was hoping for a biography of Wright that placed his work in an socio-historical framework as well as accounting for his personality. Secrest briefly mentions how Wright bristled at being called a pre-modernist and how much of a romanticist he was, but she only mentions this to elucidate Wright's personal interactions with others. If you're looking for more info that places Wright's work in a historical or theoretical framework, look somewhere else.

The above review doesn't take into account that Wright himself in his own autobiography stretches the truth on several occaisons for reasons known only to him. As we all know, Wright has said he intended to be the greatest architect of all time. If his own voice were heard, it would undoubtedly reinforce that fact. It is better to have an outside view, or a recounting of events by someone other than wright that happened to be present at that time. Anyone who has read his autobiography (or has any knowledge of history, for that matter) knows Wright was a notorious self-promoter and a grain of salt should be taken to anything he said. Wright is my favorite architect and a man of un paralleled geinus, so no- I'm not biased.

This biography is chock full of FLLW information and reveals the details of Wright's most outrageous life events, but it lacks a common story or thread. The book is a re-telling of Wright's life through primary sources and interviews with the many people who worked and lived with him. The major drawback of the book is I never heard the voice of Wright himself come through the pages.

Biography is very thorough, but the writing is somewhat difficult to read due to organization.

FLW is certainly the great man of architecture in the USA,
but as a human being he had few redeeming qualities. He
charmed his way through life, unable to ever live within
his means. Who needs two grand pianos? How many buddas
do you have to have? He lived life on a grand scale because
he acquainted it with a neccesity for a happy life. He was a
driven man. I think Meryle Secrest recounts all this and more
in her wonderful biography.

It was a gift for someone (most of my purchases are), but the person said it was a wonderful book.

It's often pointed out that autobiographies are to a considerable extent works of fiction. It's less often pointed out, but equally true, that biographies are also to a considerable extent works of fiction. "Frank LLoyd Wright: A Biography" is a case in point. Now, it just so happens that the author of Frank Lloyd Wright's AUTObiography was a great artist, and it shows not only in his archecture, but also in his stylish, accomplished and original handling of English prose. This BIOGRAPHY, on the other hand, is dull, drab, and perfunctory, and its information is second-hand (at best). If you're going to read fiction, I say read GOOD fiction.

Also: I've read a number of biographies of composers, and I find that they are almost always written by professional musicians. It seems to me that a biography of Frank Lloyd Wright ought to have been undertaken only by someone with a professional knowledge of architecture.