Home & Interior Design books:
Frank Lloyd Wright Glass

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Really focuses on details you miss in most other large FLW photo books. -
The dust jacket and the hard cover have the same big color cover photo and a smaller color photo on the back. What's key about the photos is that it's not all just pictures of glass designed by Wright. Most of the photos are of glass in the context of where it is in the home, either imbedded in the wall or in furniture or as part of the building. A number of the photos show how the light affects the building.

I love FLW photo books when they're large like this one is. I always hope they'll take full advantage of the size and offer as many full page photos as possible. In this case the majority of the pages have a white paper border with only 14 full page photos, all color except one that is of Wright. I didn't think I'd be interested in a book just of his glass but the way they are photographed, most in the context of the building, it really does give you a detailed view of the impact Wright had on his buildings by designing even the glass. This books reminds you that much of the glass he designed were windows, not just lamps or a part of furniture. This makes it an excellent supplement to a collection of large FLW photo books of his various buildings. The text is a bit dry. It takes up about a sixth of the book which isn't bad. The author really does let the photographs speak for themselves in terms of giving them much more space than she gives her writing. Because of her focus on glass you see a lot of detail that is never shown in most large FLW photo books. There are only 4 black and white photos and only 2 drawings.

This is a book well worth owning, particularly if you are really into Wright's work and would like to see detail that you pretty much don't find anywhere else. Certainly, it's worth obtaining if you can get it for less than the asking price.

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Fantastic photos, not-so-fantastic text -
This book contains fantastic full-color photos spanning Wright's career and use of art glass. Unfortunately, the text and editing are dreadful, one has to plod through most of the paragraphs. The writer appears to have been attempting to pack as many words into each sentence as possible; she also has several pet phrases, such as "proof, if proof were needed" that are over-used the first time they appear. A few factual errors are also scattered throughout the book that should have been caught in the editing process (e.g., on page 83 she places the Dana-Thomas house in Chicago [its in Springfield, Illinois]). I still recommend buying the book solely for the photos. If you are interested in reading a history of Wright, there are many more well-written books in press. Five stars for the photos, one star for the text.

Spectacular Photographs and Essays of Brilliant Glass Use! -
This book deserves more than five stars for overall excellence and its ability to extend your appreciation of how glass can improve our ability to enjoy public buildings and homes. The photographs and essays could not have been better, more in point, or easy to understand.

If you are like me, you feel that Frank Lloyd Wright's use of glass was one of his most distinctive and attractive features. He employed glass to create a "quality of repose" by diffusing light, and using "window curtains" to separate spaces without denying light by employing patterns in the glass. In doing this, he wanted to create a "vista without, vista within." For many of his urban homes (especially those in Oak Park, Illinois), there was no opportunity to have much of a vista without. In those circumstances, he emphasized creating internal vistas, and using access to the sky through skylights and elevated windows for the external ones. In the S.C. Johnson Administrative Building, he relied on pyrex glass to let the light enter while providing structural support. The geometric shapes (often in color) on his art glass also added eye appeal. The book contains many wonderful designs such as his famous tree of life and of hollyhocks. Glass was also an integral part of his lighting fixtures, which often evoke Japanese lanterns.

The bulk of Mr. Wright's buildings are in private hands, which you cannot visit very easily to see the insides. So much of the beautiful use of glass is hidden except in the external windows viewable from ground level. This book is a remarkable resource to overcome that handicap. If you are like me, you will come away especially impressed with the Dana-Thomas house glass in Springfield, Illinois.

The book is superb for beautifully displaying and exploring these many dimensions of Mr. Wright's use of glass.

After you finish enjoying this volume, I suggest that you think about how you could use some of Mr. Wright's ideas to make where you live more filled with vistas and repose. For example, can you use cellophane and constuction paper to create art glass effects when placed atop windows?

See the light in more beautiful ways!

Truly Illuminating -
Although lavishly illustrated, this title has more than just pretty pictures. Frank Lloyd Wright Glass offers a close up examination of some of Wright's greatest achievements, structural and decorative, discussing what they have meant to those who have followed. It looks through the window of architecture to see the broader cultural horizon, profiling specific sites to illustrate Wright's ideas and his legacy.

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