Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright's genius covered many aspects of design, but one which has not been examined in great depth in its own independent right is his work with glass. This book concentrates solely on this one area. The majority of the designs are powerful two-dimensional graphic designs with a few three dimensional units to which no single photograph can do justice. Wright understood the limits of the materials and extended those limits further than any other glass designer before or since. An essay discussing the history of residential stained glass in the United States includes sections on the two major architects who had a profound influence upon Wright: Louis Sullivan and HH Richardson. Wright absorbed the work of these two masters and then struck out independently. The majority of his work in glass was concentrated into the first decade of the 20th century and the book closely reflects this with nearly 400 illustrations of distinct designs In the early 1920s Wright abandoned old fashioned stained glass windows and began experimenting with light screens of concrete which later developed into an interest in wood fretwork and glass block and tubing.