Wright Chat

stldesign · Joined: 07 Mar 2012 Posts: 4

Looking for a list of books by Taliesin Apprentices. Prefer Autobiographic or similar books from Apprentices that worked under Wright.

I've tried looking for titles via Google and Amazon with no luck.

Wrightgeek · Joined: 07 Jan 2005 Posts: 1548 Location: Westerville, Ohio

We have made such a list here before on Wright Chat, but it did not turn up in the searches I just attempted, so here is a new, updated list:

Apprentice To Genius by Edgar Tafel

About Wright by Edgar Tafel

Working With Mr. Wright by Curtis Besinger

Tales Of Taliesin by Cornelia Brierley

A Way Of Life by Lois Gottlieb

Reflections From The Shining Brow by Kamal Amin

Taliesin Reflections by Earl Nisbet

Frank Lloyd Wright And Taliesin by Frances Nemtin

Picturing Wright by Pedro Guerrero

I've updated this list, and will encourage others to add to it or edit it as needed. Hope this is what you were looking for, and welcome to Wright Chat, stldesign.

Wrightgeek · Joined: 07 Jan 2005 Posts: 1548 Location: Westerville, Ohio

Here is a link to a previous thread that includes several books not on the list I posted above.

http://www.savewright.org/wright_chat/viewtopic.php?t=3912&highlight=cornelia+brierly

Roderick Grant · Joined: 29 Mar 2006 Posts: 3954

Pedro Guerrero has written a new book, "A Photographer's Journey," which includes Alexander Calder and Louise Nevelson, as well as Wright.

stldesign · Joined: 07 Mar 2012 Posts: 4

Great thanks! Having just read The Fellowship I wanted to get the perspective of the people that knew Wright firsthand.

vrd · Joined: 08 Jan 2012 Posts: 12

"Frank Lloyd Wright Remembered" by Patrick J. Meehan is a collection of anecdotes/interviews that includes a section on Apprentices.

Notable chapters from John Howe and Aaron Green; perhaps somewhat rose-colored, but personally, I always enjoy the lift.

(longtime lurker timidly venturing into the light… who thanks you all not only for this great educational opportunity, but for carrying on with a twinkle...)

Wrightgeek · Joined: 07 Jan 2005 Posts: 1548 Location: Westerville, Ohio

vrd-

Welcome to the coversation. Now that you've put your toe in the water, so to speak, why not just go ahead and take the plunge? Hopefully we'll continue to hear more from you.

SpringGreen · Joined: 31 Mar 2006 Posts: 332

I advocate this one: At Taliesin: Newspaper Columns by Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Fellowship, 1934-1937, selected & edited by Randolph Henning.

If I've not written it before, I think it's a fantastic book. Since they were writing the articles at the time, you get a sense of what life was like for the apprentices in the mid-1930s (and how blown away they were in the desert). It made me start to understand what these kids were doing in the middle of nowhere with a man old enough to be their grandfather.

It also has some neat photographs, and made me completely appreciate Wright's secretary, Gene Masselink.
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"The building as architecture is born out of the heart of man, permanent consort to the ground, comrade to the trees, true reflection of man in the realm of his own spirit." FLLW, "Two Lectures in Architecture: in the Realm of Ideas".

george nichols · Joined: 10 Jan 2005 Posts: 89 Location: Huntington Beach,Ca

I don't think this one has been mentioned: "Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin Fellowship" by Myron and Shirley Marty. Although not members of the Fellowship,but historians, the Martys have given an interesting view of the Fellowship.

G.N.

kellendorner · Joined: 21 Jul 2012 Posts: 4

I know that senior fellow Francis Nemtin has written roughly 10 books on the subject. A few are published by larger firms, but most look "self-published" with ring binding. Nearly all of them are available at the Taliesin Bookstore in Spring Green, WI.

I've read many of them (most are only 20 pages) and they're usually short anecdotes centered around a main theme. Nothing earth-shattering, but some very good moments (i.e. her story about FLLW using Nescafe to color the curtain in the Hillside Theater in her book "Three by FLLW").

hypnoraygun · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 540 Location: Missouri

I would highly recommend these two that Wrightgeek suggested. They are very good books with a lot of in depth informaiton.

kellendorner · Joined: 21 Jul 2012 Posts: 4

John Geiger was an apprentice from about 1946-1954. He has a website (listed below) that looked like the beginnings of a book that was posted online. Unfortunately, it looks like he didn't finish it before he died. Some interesting reading in here as well.

I'm sure I found out about John's site through the forum, so some of you have probably already read the stuff. Still, I thought I would add it to the "book" list since its more of a book format than a typical website.

http://jgonwright.com/contents.html

Roderick Grant · Joined: 29 Mar 2006 Posts: 3954

John Geiger (1948-1954) was involved in the "60 Years" exhibition at both the NYC site and Olive Hill in LA. His intention was to do a book about the exhibition house, which I encouraged him to do. But writers have to write; planning to write doesn't do it. I could never quite get him off the stick.

Other ideas included the importance of the roof plan in FLW's work (from the top down, instead of from the ground up) and the importance of the exterior design (from outside in, instead of from inside out) starting with the Oak Park Home, for which he had developed a very sophisticated and convincing argument. Also he claimed that it was the Charles Ross Cottage rather than the Gale House that served as the progenitor of Fallingwater.

I don't know how much of his writing has yet to be posted, but it's a shame he never quite got it all together in book form.

Craig · Joined: 04 May 2005 Posts: 247 Location: Connecticut

Here's a new one due out in the fall:

http://www.amazon.com/Taliesin-Diary-Frank-Lloyd-Wright/dp/0393733807/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344348843&sr=1-1&keywords=Taliesin+Diary%3A+A+Year+With+Frank+Lloyd+Wright
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ch

SpringGreen · Joined: 31 Mar 2006 Posts: 332

I'm so excited for Taliesin Diary. 1942-43 - maybe we can get a sense of how things were at Taliesin in Wisconsin before FLW had made those changes before Guggenheim's visit (4 if you read Besinger's book). It will also be interesting to read Priscilla Henken's impressions at the time & compare them to what Besinger wrote (Working With Mr. Wright, p. 140-141).

By the way, the photo on the cover was taken from one of the oak trees at the Tea Circle. The tree in the background was there for awhile, but I've never figured out when it disappeared. I'm really excited to see the rest of the photos!
_________________
"The building as architecture is born out of the heart of man, permanent consort to the ground, comrade to the trees, true reflection of man in the realm of his own spirit." FLLW, "Two Lectures in Architecture: in the Realm of Ideas".