About Wright: An Album of Recollections by Those Who Knew Frank Lloyd Wright - Hardcover

The publishing world has rediscovered Wright's life and architecture with a vengeance; more than a dozen new books on the venerated master have been published in just the past few years. These new volumes by former Wright apprentices tread over familiar ground, but each does so with its own individual style and spirit. Tafel has assembled an appealing collection of personal reminiscences from, letters by, and interviews with celebrities such as Philip Johnson, Arthur Miller, and Andy Rooney. Supplemented by previously unpublished photographs, this album provides a personal look at Wright's highly publicized life and his modus operandi. Pfeiffer's book, on the other hand, is more visually oriented: It focuses on some 275 new color photographs of 38 Wright-designed buildings. Although each building is accompanied by a descriptive essay, conceptual sketches, plans, and drawings, the beautiful photographic images stand out. Of particular interest are several lesser known residences that are reproduced in color for the first time. While neither book provides many new insights into Wright's colorful life and prolific career, each provides ample evidence of Wright's genius and showmanship--and of why, more than 30 years after his death, we remain fascinated by this remarkable individual.
- H. Ward Jandl, National Park Service, Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In this nostalgic scrapbook, associates of Frank Lloyd Wright describe the architect as a constant stream of energy, a virtuoso draftsman, a man of theatrical presence and hubris with a supreme belief in the importance of his own work. Tafel, an architect and author of Apprentice to Genius, supervised the construction of several of Wright's most famous buildings. Here he stitches together letters, photos, news clips and interviews with Wright's apprentices, clients, contractors, friends, acquaintances, his third wife Olgivanna, their daughter Iovanna, his sons David and Lloyd, plus comments by notables such as Arthur Miller, Robert Moses, Philip Johnson and Andy Rooney. We eavesdrop on ego clashes among apprentices and come to appreciate how Wright's rapport with clients translated into the grammar of the houses he designed for them. This is an intimate, humanizing portrait of a towering figure.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.