Studies and Executed Buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright

A facsimile of the treatise that secured Wright's reputation in Europe, this elegant volume includes plans and drawings of all his projects up to 1910. In the "Prairie houses," vaguely preColumbian forms, adaptations of Japan's light-paneled architecture and intricate wooden moldings are fused into the style Wright termed "organic," even though his buildings of this period seldom made direct references to nature. The monumental Larkin Building and Unity Temple, at once abstract and classical, were experiments in what he called a "democratic" vernacular. In the introductory essay, Wright proclaims his contempt for the recent past and embraces the International Style. Europeans were entranced by his abstraction, yet it is his wayward individualism that shines through in the sketches. Printed on cream stock in sepia inks, the album is for connoisseurs and serious students.