OSHER 264 - Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright is described by many (including himself) as "America's greatest architect." From classical training, he moved to a style that valued, above all, how a building fit into the natural landscape. Although his houses were sometimes criticized as being structurally flawed, they were also eminently livable. Over his 70-year career, he went through several artistic phases, from Shingle Style to Abstract Modernism. Most of his work was residential but his personal favorites were often projects that were not built or ubiquitously admired. Along the way, we will try to trace the inspiration for a particular structure, although Wright often denied inspiration from anything other than his own artistic process. The class will present the various stages of his broad career from 1887 through his death in 1959.