Architectural Excursions

Frank Lloyd Wright, Holland and Europe

Donald L. Johnson, Donald Langmead

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 2000
• Print ISBN:
  9780313305672
• eBook ISBN:
  9780313096181
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art General

Soon after 1900 in both North America and Europe the evolution from the tradition of Mediterranean and Gallic architectural styles to modernism began. This phenomenon was due, in part, to American industrial architecture and the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright's building and architectural treatises of 1898-1908, with the additional help of Dutch propaganda on his behalf, significantly influenced European practitioners and theorists. European architecture within and outside of Holland reflects an adaptation of Wright's theories along with the structural determinism of American industrial buildings. With new evidence and fresh analysis culled from Dutch and American archives, personal correspondence, and professional material, this study examines the weight of Wright's works and words and those of the Dutchmen H.P. Berlage, Theo van Doesburg, Jan Wils, J.J.P. Oud, William Dudok, and Hendrik Theodor Wijdeveld.

This new insight on the effects of Wright's architectural theories and designs, coupled with an extensive guide for further research, will attract art and architecture scholars and historians on both sides of the Atlantic and will also be of interest to social historians, artists, and architects. Events and new theories, including the assertion that Hendrik Theodor Wijdeveld was the catalytic source behind Wright's Taliesin Fellowship established in 1932, are presented in clear accessible language. Tied to the text are numerous visual presentations of significant designs and buildings.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Illustrations
• Foreword
• Preface
• Chapter 1 Fin de Siècle Turmoil
• Chapter 2 Discovery
• Chapter 3 Immediate Reaction
• Chapter 4 Insights: Jan Wils
• Chapter 5 Serious Looks, Passing Glances
• Chapter 6 Wijdeveld: A Bright Prospect
• Chapter 7 Wijdeveld: Eye to Eye
• Chapter 8 The Show
• Chapter 9 Turnings
• Chapter 10 Fellowship
• Chapter 11 Many Fellowships
• Chapter 12 Wijdeveld in America
• Chapter 13 Sixty Years of Living Architecture
• Chapter 14 Retrospection
• Appendix A Some Wright-Influenced Buildings in The Netherlands
• Appendix B Wright to Wijdeveld, 21 October 1947
• Appendix C Wijdeveld’s An International Guild, Santpoort, 1931
• Appendix D The Taliesin Fellowship Constitution, 1932
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index of Personal Names