Architectural Excursions: Frank Lloyd Wright, Holland and Europe (CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STUDY OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE)

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.

About the Author

DONALD LANGMEAD is Professor of Architectural History at the University of South Australia. His previous books concerning modern architecture include Makers of 20th Century Modern Architecture (Greenwood, 1997), coauthored with Donald Leslie Johnson, Willem Marinus Dudok, A Dutch Modernist (Greenwood, 1996), Dutch Modernism (Greenwood, 1996), and J.J.P. Oud and the International Style (Greenwood, 1999). DONALD LESLIE JOHNSON is an American scholar who studied in the masters class of Louis Kahn. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of South Australia. He founded the Architectural Studies Program at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia and the Architecture Archives, of which he is Director, at the University of South Australia. Along with Donald Langmead he coauthored Makers of 20th Century Modern Architecture (Greenwood, 1997). His other works on Wright include Frank Lloyd Wright Versus America: The 1930s (1990).