Leonardo

Wright saw first-hand the destruction of Louis Sullivan and understood the impact of fashion, scandal and the need for self-protection. He followed the trend and became a public personality. This was not lost on all those famous post-modernists and their public relations consultants. Wright didsurvive, much to the annoyance of criticswhosuspect that his death did not prove fatal. Man About Town begins with a sketch of Wright’s first 55years. Muschamp feelsthereis much to debunk and repeats day-to-day gossip with a sly hint of sex. He attacks Wright’s own identification with early abstract art, starting with Wright’s essay on meaning in abstract forms, published in 1913 in a book on Japanese prints, at the same time as Kandinsky’s On the Spiritual In Art. This was the time of Cubism, Futurism, Constructivism and Orphism, when the painting image was being geometrized. Kandinsky and Wright were influenced by their early experiences in a Froebel Kindergarten, where they began to compose patterns and forms from blocks in basic shapes. The Fenellosa-Dow system of art education, rooted in Japanese Notan and geometry, had been taught for over ten years. This early system was similarto the foundation course Itten would develop for the Bauhaus 20 years later. Wright’s Unity Temple used forms and window patterns that De Stijl would also apply to painting and building. Griffin’s 1916 Library at Anna, Illinois, used windows and light fixtures patterned like Mondrian’s 1930 work. Their linear themes, proportions and color choices were alike. Wright was fascinated by light, in shadow, in color, and in motion. The Midway Gardens used moving light machines, as well as geometric murals and sculpture that anticipated Art Deco. Wright always had darkrooms in his homes, and his daughter Catherine said that if he hadn’t been an architect he would have become a photographer . Twombly is quoted as dismissing the Imperial Hotel as a dead end, a lack of insight into the unique kinetic basis of the building. The building rested on fingerlike plates that were in motion to catch and absorb the earth tremors. As one walked through the building, the ever-changing scale, line, mass, materials, light and forms also seemed in motion, achieving what the Futurists theorized but never actually realized. This successful example of the planned use of forces-in-motion later allowed Fuller to build extremely light-weight domes, in which forces were dispelled in motion. A major shortcomingof Muschamp’s study is that events and works are not understood in the context of their time. The Imperial Hotel was truly imperial, owned by the Emperor’s Household corporation, just as the Royal families of Britain and Holland now own buildings in Manhattan. There were facilities forthe soleuseoftheEmperor,anduntilitwas demolished the Imperial was the place for fashionable society weddings. When hesaid he had helped Japan get on its feet, Wright meant that Japan’s most influential hotel used Western-style chairs and beds instead of tatami mats. This is hardly Wright’s ego talking, as the author indicates, but rather reflects Japan’s rush towards westernization 61 years ago. The full story of the building of the Guggenheim Museum will not be revealed until the Museum declassifies the correspondence now hidden away. To the chagrin of some architectural historians, Wright may well appear flexible. The Guggenheim is far from what Wright first proposed, and he did not live to see it completed. The building program itself changed with each new director. The original design called for a space to hold a permanent exhibition, as in the nearby Frick Museum. A conventional rectangular wing would be used for changing exhibitions. The main ramp would be broken by frequent smaller spaces, sit-down meditational spaces with one or two objects. The angled walls followed Herbert Bayer’s idea for balancing the angle of the viewer’s vision with the angle of the natural light source above. This shocked the famous new director, who put the paintings on thin rods that wiggled and converted every painting into a piece of Surrealism. Wright’s frequent problems with the New York City zoning department damaged the design. The building had to...