Ways of Looking at Frank Lloyd Wright

A Nazi sympathizer creating "degenerate art?" The world is full of contradictions.

MoMA put on its first Wright exhibit in 1940. The book related to that exhibit, In the Nature of Materials, was first published in 1942 and written by Hitchkock (the other author/curator of The International Style). The Wright book was republished as a paperback and printed at least through the 1980's and sold through mass market bookstores. It's ubiquity on bookshelves is reflected in its $1.99 availability on Amazon today.

Historically, it's worth noting that the decade preceding The International Style at MoMA was not a particularly high point of Wright's career. Partially because of the personal drama he created led to limited commissions. Partially because his architectural vision was mostly manifested in textile block structures. His most interesting earlier works were twenty years old and his most interesting later works were a few years down the road.

None of which is to defend Johnson. I'm not a fan of Van der Rohe either. He led the Bauhaus after the Nazi's kicked out Gropius (of whom I am a fan). The other connection between Johnson and Van der Rohe is both built glass houses. Johnson first and lived in it, Van der Rohe did a knockoff for a client a few years later.

Anyway the political affiliations of architects is always problematic, e.g. Imhotep or Vitruvius or anyone I've ever heard of from the Italian Renaissance. Heck, HOK designed Enron Field.