Wright Chat

[peterm]

http://archive.org/details/taliesin-west?start=149.5

[dtc]

Thanks for posting this video. Could not help but see all the manufactured terrace furniture. Except for an occasional table or two by Wright all the chairs seemed to have been purchased. They seem oddly out of place and having difficulty belonging to the opus.
Why?
With all the apprentices at his disposal, he could have had any of his designs made in the TW shop. Did Wright realize it was a loosing battle with wood used as a material for furniture in the desert. There was not a coating that would protect the wood from the dry temperatures and damaging UV rays in the 50's. Witnessed by the condition of the buildings exterior wood. Perhaps too many slivers had to be removed from hamstrings and derriares.

[peterm]

The easy portability of metal patio furniture could be another factor. Things would constantly be on the run escaping the harsh rays.

I like the Barwa lounger a lot (2:13...) I'm not as sure about the other white pieces. Could it have been a concessioon to Olgivanna? They create more of the feeling of a typical luxury resort of the time... There are other photos which I have seen showing white metal wire Salterini hoop chairs which look great in the desert environment. The white of the canvas roof helps to connect the color, typically so absent in Wright's work, to the totality of the architecture...

(P.S. I just tried to open the link again, but now it failed.)

Try this instead:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCn9pNy4S4k&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[dtc]

I believe I saw the white swing glider in the mix.

Apprentices moving about...a pair, kind of horsing around...one bending over in the garden?...but no one sitting in any of the chairs.

Guess, apprentices only sat down while dining...never during work hrs.

And what is up with the young lady walking through with the long coat...wonder what time of year the video was created?

[peterm]

It can get quite cold in Arizona in the winter...

[Roderick Grant]

FLW buying manufactured furniture for his own residence isn't new. Look at the living room at Taliesin Wisc., the over-stuffed chairs, some with Queen Ann legs.

[Rood]

Where did you find this film? It's awesome. Though dark shadows and the somewhat off-colour diminish the work, it's great to have this historical gem. I especially loved seeing the marvelous pendants ... up close and intimate. They were a marvelous, playful addition to the opus. Seeing this makes me want to see Alden Dow's colour film of Taliesin West again, the colour of which is much more true.

Of the two men exiting the complex, near Mr. Wright's office, the fellow on the left could easily be mistaken for Dick Carney. The elderly lady on the lawn is Aunt Sophie, Mrs. Wright's sister-in-law, and the two boys playing near the pool could well be Tal Davison and Brandoch Peters.

The BIG dog on the terrace is Klagen, Wes Peters' Irish Wolfhound. "Klagen" ... I never asked Wes where he got the name, but it's probably from the Niebelungenlied ... "Diu Klagen" ... The Nibelung's Lament.

The "lady in the long coat" is undoubtedly Heloise (Christa). How much do you want to bet?

[peterm]

I woke up with a craving for the Arizona desert and Taliesin West. Isn't the Internet wonderful?

How I found it is a mystery to me. Just endless googling... But the fact that you would know some of the people in the film is amazing! Tell us more... We're talking about chairs, and you can name these human beings!

[goffmachine]

There is something I have long wondered about Taliesin West. I hope someone can shed some light.
For example as seen in minutes 5.21 or 6.03
At T West there are the large Checker Board panels on the ends of the building. Does anyone know why such a contrasting pattern is there¿ They have always seemed out of place to me and un related.I imagine it to be very U.S. Air Force-ish. I always supposed it was so that aircraft would not drop any bombs in the area.

Photo Credit-http://www.idyllopuspress.com/meanwhile/8094/taliesin-west-2/

[peterm]

I seriously doubt that the Air Force or bombs were an inspiration

More likely?:

The "dotted line" of the desert:

"The straight line and broad plane should come here- of all places- to become the dotted line, the textured, broken plane, for in all the vast desert there is not one hard undotted line!"-Frank Lloyd Wright from Frank lloyd Wright - An Autobiography, p. 329.

Native American basket design:

http://www.millicentrogers.org/The-Collections/Native-American-Arts.aspx

Hopi ceramics:

http://www.wrightsgallery.com/detail.php?invid=1340487734

Japanese inspiration:

http://chexydecimal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/checkerboard-kimono.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Toufuku-ji_kaizandou3.JPG

Japanese Noren with checkered pattern:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/69229144@N00/3405747762

I personally love his use of the checkerboard. It is festive, bold, and plays well with the scale of the building and its relationship to the site and vastness of the landscape. Another example of Wright's boundless imagination.

[goffmachine]

Thank you Peterm



I knew I was going to be embarrassed to discover the answer.

I appreciate the enlightenment.
Awesome. Thanks

Is this the only case where Mr. Wright has used the checker pattern so boldly/obviously¿

[peterm]

Another desert house in Arizona:

http://www.savewright.org/wright_chat/viewtopic.php?t=3238&start=0

[SDR]

dtc forwards these photos of "A navajo saddle blanket ca. first quarter of the 20 cen."

[pmahoney]

The concrete pavement of the automobile court at the Richard Lloyd Jones house in Tulsa is a checkerboard of a reddish tan/white. It is rather faded now but still visible. Wright proposed a similar pavement for the never built Tydol Filling Station in Buffalo in 1928.

[peterm]

Lloyd Jones Paving:

http://images.wikia.com/franklloydwrightok/images/0/00/Richard-lloyd-jones-house_119.jpg