Frank Lloyd Wright in Special Collections

Curated by Greer Christensen-Gibbons

There is no shortage of material related to Frank Lloyd Wright’s work available on this campus. Wright, born and raised in Wisconsin and a former UW-Madison student, is lauded as one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century. Fittingly, the majority of available literature and artifacts related to Wright, on this campus, are housed at the Wisconsin Historical Society or Kohler Art Library. However, some overlooked gems on the topic can be found here in Special Collections. These pieces are a collection of items in Special Collections that provide unexpected insight into Wright’s connection to campus, Madison, and beyond.

"A book cover featuring an architectural rendering of the Madison Civic Center at night. The illustration showcases illuminated spires and radiating pathways set against a dark background." — Wright, Frank Lloyd. *Frank Lloyd Wright and Madison: Eight Decades of Artistic and Social Interaction.* Madison, Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1990. Gift of Jill Rosenshield. Image originally from: Cover: Monona Terrace 1955, Copyright 1962, Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

Wright, Frank Lloyd. Frank Lloyd Wright and Madison: Eight Decades of Artistic and Social Interaction.

Exhibition held at the Elvehjem Museum of Art, Sept. 2 to Nov. 6, 1988. This cover is a reprint of one of Wright’s original sketch designs for the Madison Civic Center (Monona Terrace), which he first proposed in 1938.

Hamilton, Mary Jane. Frank Lloyd Wright and the Book Arts: an Exhibition in the Department of Special Collections, Memorial Library, Fall 1992.

Chapter 3, Wright and Chauncey Williams, Jr.: Their Ties to Madison. Wright, who attended UW-Madison for two semesters and was awarded an honorary doctorate of fine arts in 1955, posted an ad for the Taliesin Fellowship in the 1933 edition of The Badger, highlighting the fellowship’s advantages over attending the university for potential candidates.

"A book cover featuring an intricate black-and-white illustration with geometric borders and stylized human figures. Red title text is set within the ornate, architectural-inspired design on a cream-colored background."

"An open book displays a page of black text titled "3.6 The Badger," describing Frank Lloyd Wright's contribution to the 1933 University of Wisconsin yearbook. The text sits on a cream-colored page." — Hamilton, Mary Jane. *Frank Lloyd Wright and the Book Arts: an Exhibition in the Department of Special Collections, Memorial Library, Fall 1992.* Madison, Friends of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries, 1993.

"A black-and-white photograph in an open book shows the exterior of Frank Lloyd Wright's First Unitarian Meeting House, featuring its iconic triangular roofline and stone base." — *Landmarks in the life of the First Unitarian Society of Madison, selected and edited by Max Gaebler.* Madison, Friends of the Meeting House, First Unitarian Society, 1999. From the ellsworth snyder Papers Collection.

Landmarks in the life of the First Unitarian Society of Madison, selected and edited by Max Gaebler.

Wright, a member of the First Unitarian Society of Madison, designed the First Unitarian Meeting House in Shorewood Hills, completed in 1951. His parents were founding members of the congregation. Wright’s spiritual beliefs were frequently incorporated into his design visions, which is reflected in the innovative design of the Unitarian Meeting House. This book was a gift to Ellsworth Snyder, former music director at the First Unitarian Society, from Max Gaebler.

Thomson, Iain. Frank Lloyd Wright in Pop-Up.

The Johnson Administration Building and Research Tower in Racine, completed in 1939 and 1950, is one of Wright’s best known commercial designs. Featuring the tower’s cantilevered central core structure and the administration building’s “lily pad” dendriform columns, it is one of only two existing high-rise buildings designed by Wright.

"An aerial photograph in a book shows the SC Johnson Administration Building and Research Tower, featuring its distinctive organic architecture and a tall, tiered tower."

"An open book displays a photograph of the brick SC Johnson Research Tower, a multi-story architectural landmark designed by Frank Lloyd Wright." — Thomson, Iain. *Frank Lloyd Wright in Pop-Up.* London, PRC Pub., 2002.

"An open book features two black-and-white photographs of Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright's estate, showcasing low-slung stone and wood architecture integrated into the landscape." — Wijdeveld, H. Th. The life-work of the American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, with contributions by Frank Lloyd Wright, an introduction by architect H. Th. Wijdeveld and many articles by famous European architects and American writers. Santpoort, C. A. Mees, 1925.

Wijdeveld, H. Th. The life-work of the American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, with contributions by Frank Lloyd Wright…

Consisting of seven special issues of the art magazine Wendigen, this volume contains articles by and concerning Wright’s architectural influence in the early twentieth century. The text shown here is the final page of Wright’s article “In the Cause of Architecture, Second Paper” (1914). Taliesin, Wright’s Spring Green estate pictured here, is a prime example of the Prairie School movement.

Gannett, William C. The House Beautiful.

One of Wright’s non-architectural design projects, the text of The House Beautiful was a sermon written by William Gannett, a Unitarian minister, in 1895. Wright designed the intricate patterns framing the text and worked with William Herman Winslow, a former client who owned an independent press, to hand print 90 copies of the work. This copy, signed by Wright and Winslow, is number thirty of the original ninety copies printed.

"An open book featuring highly intricate, geometric black-and-white borders surrounding two pages of text. A stylized red graphic accents the bottom left margin." — Gannett, William C. *The House Beautiful.* River Forest, Auvergne Press, 1896-98.