Highlights Archives
Frank Lloyd Wright Exhibit at the Museum
Wisconsin's Frank Lloyd Wright
is considered one of the most important of American architects. The Wisconsin Historical Society has been collecting materials related to Wright for decades, and the Wisconsin Historical Museum is pleased to present a display of recently acquired objects and images related to one of the state's most accomplished citizens. The display runs from October 25 through November 26 at the museum on Madison's Capitol Square.
A highlight of the display is a 1938 cardboard model of a home Wright designed for a Life magazine promotion. He recycled the plan the following year for the Bernard Schwartz House, built in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. It is likely that many of the models were sold, but this is the only known example of its kind, and this is its first public display.
University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Virginia Boyd learned of the model while conducting research for her upcoming exhibition, Frank Lloyd Wright and the House Beautiful, a traveling show arranged by International Arts and Artists. Dr. Boyd put the Society in contact with model's owner, Claire Barnett of Baraboo, Wisconsin. The Historical Society acquired the model and a wealth of documentary materials through a donation by Jerome and Gail Fox in memory of Bernard and Fern Schwartz. After its Madison debut, the model will travel the country in Boyd's show beginning in 2006.
Before the model could be displayed, though, it needed a little "TLC." Robin Carlson, the Society's paper conservator, disassembled the model and cleaned each of the 31 pieces. She then strengthened many of the pieces and tabs before reassembling the house on a new, archival-grade base.
Terry Boyd will give a lecture on the Life cardboard house model at the Museum on November 1 at 12:15 PM.
See this Frank Lloyd Wright model, one of the many objects in our Museum's collections. Images of other Wright models and drawings can be found as well.
Other items in the museum display include an original bench from the Unitarian Meeting House in Madison, an original chair from Taliesin West and an end table from Wright's partnership with Heritage-Henredon Furniture Industries.
The museum is also displaying 33 rare images of Wright's first Spring Green residence and studio, Taliesin I (1911/1912). These images are from a photograph album the Historical Society purchased on eBay in January with the assistance of 45 donors. They shed new light on the nature of the building and the property in the absence of many other visual documents. The structure stood for only a couple of years. An arsonist burned down the residential wing of Taliesin I on August 15, 1914, and murdered seven people inside.
The Wisconsin Historical Society, home to many photographs of Frank Lloyd Wright's Wisconsin structures, is pleased to have this photograph album available for consultation by scholars and the general public.
:: Posted October 18, 2005
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