The Gardens of Frank Lloyd Wright [Hardcover]

Derek Fell (Author), James Van Sweden (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2009

Best known for his strikingly modern structures, Frank Lloyd Wright was also a highly influential landscape designer. The Gardens of Frank Lloyd Wright is the first book in full color to focus on Wright’s four most famous residential landscapes: his first home and studio in Oak Park, Illinois; his magnificent 3,000-acre summer home Taliesin, in Wisconsin; his 600-acre winter home Taliesin West, in Arizona; and Fallingwater, in Pennsylvania, the commission that made him world famous. The product of extended visits to properties associated with Wright, as well as extensive interviews with surviving colleagues and students, the book also explores the Japanese and Mayan landscapes that inspired Wright and his appreciation of the stone meeting circles and naturalistic prairie plantings of the great landscape architect Jens Jensen. Planting plans allow readers to create prairie- and desert-style gardens of their very own.

Editorial Reviews

Review

From Elle Decor
The Gardens of Frank Lloyd Wright gives the prolific architect his due as an inventive landscape designer, from Fallingwater to Taliesin.

From Garden Design
Designed with many large (only a handful are archival) photos, the book focuses on eight residential and public gardens that Wright had a hand in. Whatever and wherever he designed, it’s clear that his thinking was way ahead of his time—particularly his ideas on organic design, which ring even more true today. Among his many sound-bite dictums, he said: “learn from nature” and “organic b buildings are bred by native character to environment, married to the ground.”
This marriage between building and site is what the book celebrates. They are partners, they are one—the landscape is not just a backdrop to showcase the building.

From Newark (NJ) Star Ledger

Fifty years after his death, Frank Lloyd Wright still is celebrated as a visionary architect. A cottage industry of books examines his achievements, controversial life and legacy. Yet little is written about Wright’s attention to landscapes, which preoccupied him as much as his designs for homes and commercial buildings.
Derek Fell illuminates this aspect of Wright’s career in a handsome, oversize book that touts Wright as a master landscaper-garden designer with crisp commentary and compelling photos that almost pop off the pages.

Review

The text of The Gardens of Frank Lloyd Wright is both engaging and informative - and the pictures are excellent. ... a book dedicated to his gardens and landscapes is most welcome and there is a brilliant guide at the end with information on visiting them. It is also nice to have the text on the plants he used and to have them identified throughout in the photographs.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Frances Lincoln (March 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0711229678
• ISBN-13: 978-0711229679
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 10.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #166,420 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Large Gorgeous Photos Throughout Entire Book, October 10, 2009

By 

Woodlandtrails - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gardens of Frank Lloyd Wright (Hardcover)

There are so many LARGE, beautiful and colorful photos of Wright's various homes and gardens throughout this book it is worth the book price just to view them over and over. Looking at them gives ideas for your own home. Frank Lloyd Wright's work is phenomenal and this book explains why in pictures and words.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Organic Landscaping, December 2, 2010

By 

Patrick Curren "The no self" (The Happy Dream) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Gardens of Frank Lloyd Wright (Hardcover)

I have mixed opinions of this book. First of all the photographs are in themselves works of art. Forget FLW; forget architecture. The photographs are of an extremely high resolution and very clear/bright. Then as you look at FLW architecture and FLW landscaping, one realizes that they are taken from amazing viewpoints which are in themselves works of art. I own a small library of FLW books but none of them come close to the quality of the photos and the paper they are printed on. I was never really impressed with FLW's Falling Water even when I made the journey to tour the house, but the photo of Falling Water "frozen" in winter is breathtaking.

Now for what I was disappointed in; the text....... The book starts off with a very brief history of FLW and some of it is wrong. Actually, the author could have just taken more pictures instead of creating chapter one. The quotes are quite annoying. "'Taliesin lives...the desert blooms.' PHILIP JOHNSON, GRADUATE OF TALIESIN FELLOWSHIP". Not sure where the author came up with this piece of information since there were no footnotes. There is no way that Philip Johnson graduated from the Taliesin Fellowship. I am not sure anyone graduated from the Taliesin Fellowship but that is another book with a very sad story with footnotes. Claiming Philip Johnson graduated from the Taliesin Fellowship is like saying FLW was an architect that built in the international style....NOT! This book starts off like a FLW sales brochure with multiple statements touting that FLW was not only the greatest architect but was the greatest landscape architect that ever lived...NOT! The author references FLW quotes about landscape architecture continuously throughout this book. If you want to find out about FLW's personal or professional life, don't waste your time with reading anything FLW wrote. They are lies.

As you get further into the book, the text gains ground when the author applies his knowledge to the interpretation of FLW's landscaping. While I hate the text, the photos are of the highest quality; for that alone, I will keep this book as part of my FLW library.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Creative Beauty of a Master, September 13, 2009

By 

E. Abadia "maitreya" (New Bern, NC United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Gardens of Frank Lloyd Wright (Hardcover)

Frank Lloyd Wright is a bank of inspiration for all interested in art, architecture and gardening. One of the best architects of our times (a genius), past and future. This book by reknowned writer (also master gardener) and photographer Derek Fell captures and describes beautifully with incredible sensitivity the art, connection and respect that Write had for nature and the natural beauty of his country.
Even if you are not interested in gardening you must read and enjoy this well worth having treasure book. Great publishing and bainding. Check out Glen Fell's other garden books!
Edgard Abadia.