In this picture Roland is actually saying, "Do not take a picture of me. Don't. Don't take it."
The only other Frank Lloyd Wright building I have been in is the Guggenheim Museum of Art in NYC. I was pretty excited to see where the man, who built this, lived.Taliesin West is Frank Lloyd Wright's personal home in Scottsdale. He called it a camp. It is a working campus for architects and they are slowly restoring it. It is not a museum so we were allowed to sit on his furniture and touch his things and use his bathrooms and take pictures. Pretty cool.
They used to swim in this 3 foot deep triangle pool.The following 3 pictures are forbidden. I didn't know that they were forbidden until some tattle tail asked the tour guide, "Why are we NOT (glares at me) suppose to take pictures in here?" So, of course I had to publish my law breaking pictures. The tour guide said you are not suppose to take pictures because this room is filled with his designs and artifacts.
FLW designed these wing back chairs from plywood - an exciting new building material.
Check out the legs on the coffee table. FLW loved red and all the rooms were filled with lots of red and yellow and blue. You can't really tell in this picture but the carpet is bright neon green. Roland and I didn't want to leave this room. We loved it! Roland started day dreaming about how we could build this at the cabin.
This picture has quite a few neat things to notice: The cool roof line on the upper right side, the neato water feature that echoed falling water throughout the entire area, the super cool fire breathing dragon over my head, and that man, John Rattenbury. When he was 21 he served as an apprentice to 81 year old Frank Lloyd Wright for 8 years. He told us stories about FLW (who was, as all great artists are, under-appreciated in his time and a womanizer). John has designed over 200 architectural projects world wide. He lives, with other original apprentices, on site at Taliesin West. He was very happy to pose with me.
I loved this statue in the sculpture garden. Winged Angel - I think that is what it was called.I could totally get into the whole architectural thing. ( One of my favorite travel memories was an architectural walking tour of Charleston. ) Later, we drove around Phoenix and Scottsdale and noticed what an impact FLW had on the buildings there. If you have the chance - go see one of his buildings!
8 comments:
His architecture is great. Love the angel.. I noticed she only has one arm... poor thing.
BUT, the color of blue is gorgeous!
Di
The Blue Ridge Gal
Our 25th is in Oct. We have a lot in common. What a fabulous tour. Thanks for sharing. I feel like I am on a cyber vaca. Love it. That apprentice likes having his picture taken with a hot young thing like you!
I feel like you have just taken me on a tour! Thank you for sharing. The sunshine looks good on you:)
Under-appreciated? His early designs may have been laughed at, but by the age of about 35 or 40 he had a waiting list a mile long of nat'l. & intern'l contractors, foundations, & governments begging for his designs, several honorary degrees, a half dozen or more homes, at least 2 campuses of students begging to be taught,& probably more than dozens of women begging to be bedded by him. He lived into his 90's & was considered the father of modern architecture while he was still a relatively young man. It is true that like many narcissistic & obsessed artists, he felt unappreciated in spite of his wealth & fame.
Your Grandpa S. loved FLW & tried to incorporate many of his ideas in designing the Vista house (remember the fireplace in the l.rm, the front entrance pond with the "floating" concrete pads, the practical floor plan, recessed lighting). Your Grandma was a traditionalist (esp. Fr Provincial which he hated) so they compromised with what I dub soft modern. FLW had some awesome (architectural)ideas. I think it would be hard for me to live with his interior decor. I've always wanted to see his Fallingwater home in Pennsylvania.
btw: the connection between Ayn Rand & FLW is interesting. Fountainhead was influenced largely by his life and correspondence with her.
Mom - I didn't know you knew so much about FLW. Maybe the reason I loved his house so much is that it reminded me of Grandpa's house. Grandpa's house was cool.
I loved this post. I'm very interested in FLW and I would love to see all of the buildings he's designed. I'm with mom, I'm not crazy about the interior decor, but I love love love the architecture. So cool!
You look super cute in the picture.
robin you look beautiful! i so glad you got to go and have a great time!
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