Discussing The Feminine Works Of Wright
Everyone in Buffalo has heard about the Martin House Restoration Corporation, but how many of you know about the Graycliff Conservancy in Derby, NY? The Conservancy operates the Graycliff Estate, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built on the edge of a cliff on Lake Erie for Isabelle R. Martin and Darwin D. Martin, the same couple who commissioned the Martin House here in Buffalo, as their summer home. The Graycliff Conservancy wants to examine what it meant for Wright to design a house specifically for a woman client.
To do so, they are holding a series of lectures, the next one being tomorrow at Babeville at 7 PM. For those who follow the works of Wright, maybe you’re aware of the plight of the Dana-Thomas House in Illinois, slated to close October 15th due to state budget cuts. The house was a work by Wright commissioned by Susan Lawrence Dana and is considered to be one of the most intact works by Wright. It was specifically built to allow Dana to easily entertain guests.
The long-time curator or the Dana-Thomas House, Donald Hallmark, will be giving a lecture about the origins of the house as well as trying to answer some of the questions regarding how Wright handled his female clients. At a time when far more men than women commissioned dwellings, several of Wright’s clients were women. The Graycliff Conservancy wants to discover the differences between male and female commissioned works as well as establish the impact the commissions by women clients had on Wright’s career.
Hallmark will help examine these questions as well as go into detail about the design of the Dana-Thomas house, showcasing how Wright tailored his design to fit the needs of his client. Later this month on October 23rd at 7 PM, Mary Jane Hamilton will further the discussion on these questions. Hamilton has written four books on Wright and will speak on Wright's first commission, the Hillside School.
Tickets to Hallmark’s and Hamilton's lectures are just $10 for each and no reservation is needed. If you’re a member of the Graycliff Conservancy, you can attend the lecture for free. If you’d like more information about the Graycliff Conservancy, visit their website. To learn more about the Dana-Thomas House before the lecture, you can check out their website.
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Buffalo21stcentury
Its a rather odd discussion because the straight lines and cruciform design of FLW is purely masculine. Infact, FLW can be considered the birth of modern/contemporary and modern/contemporary is considered the pinnacle of masculinity.
Just as the art nuveau architectural style with its long flowing curvilinear lines was the pinnacle of femininity.
It would only be an interesting lecture of incorporating the tastes of women with regard to asthetic details within the overall design.
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LightoftheMoon
Buffalo21stcentury, I agree that certain design movements as a whole take on feminine/masculine characteristics... but that doesn't mean every woman only likes Art Nouveau and every man only likes Contempoary art.
The article explains that the lecture's focus is on Wright's feminine clients, and how their needs dictated his design. This to me sounds like an interesting social commentary about the impact feminine clients had on this architectural movement, rather than noting that a lace doily or pink lamp might have been added to soften up the hard, angular lines.
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Buffalo21stcentury
its just hard to see that because the genius of FLW was that his architecture and his asthetic were the same...thats why his houses required so little furniture. FLWs asthetic had the majority of the furniture built in.
So, sorry to say, but its not a discussion I would attend because it seems like just another one of those "subject for women" lectures.
The only thing feminine about FLWs design is the seemless continuity and flow, the natural materials borrowed from arts&crafts make it very organic and calming but FLWs designs are graceful...but their gracefull like a naked statue of michalangelos david. There is no doubt that its masculine...but the naked male body and its strong lines are graceful...they posess a calm strength...and they are certainly magnetic to women of those that appreciate the male form....but they are masculine in nature.
One cannot look at roccoco or art nuveau and see anything masculine in that style.
If you look at the Beaux Arts period and the various revival styles, then you can see a melding of masculine clean lines and feminine curved lines balanced with symmetry.
nuf sed..
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PaulBuffalo
^^ What?
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