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November Issue 2006
Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, SC, Features Exhibit of Works by Frank Lloyd Wright
The exhibition, Frank Lloyd Wright and the House Beautiful, opens at the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, SC, on Nov. 10, 2006. It is the first exhibition organized in more than 30 years to present Wright's decorative arts and design and is the major exhibition of the museum's season. The exhibition's approximately 130 objects, many of which have never been on view to the public, are representative of Wright's productive 70-year career and show how his concept of the House Beautiful emphasizes harmony between architectural form and interior function. The exhibit continues through Feb. 4, 2007.
Frank Lloyd Wright and the House Beautiful presents Wright's passion for creating a new way of life for Americans through design and architecture. In particular, the exhibition highlights Wright's skill in creating harmony between nature, architecture and interior design in a uniquely American way. The exhibition focuses on the architect's relationship to the House Beautiful movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that grew out of a renewed focus on domestic life in the late Victorian period. Wright believed families would "be improved" by living in a tasteful and well-designed house.
The exhibition is one of the largest exhibitions that the museum has presented to date and will occupy all six of the museum's main floor galleries covering more than 5,000 square feet. Examples of metal work, stained-glass windows, furniture, light fixtures, drawings and architectural plans, textiles, publications and accessories, as well as photographs of home interiors, tell the story of Wright's main contributions to modern life in America. The presenting sponsors for the Columbia exhibition are BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina and Blanchard Machinery.
Karen Brosius, the museum's executive director, said, "We are very pleased to bring this exhibition to Columbia, which will be the only venue to see it in the Carolinas, northern Florida, and Georgia. The museum also has many wonderful programs planned in conjunction with the exhibition to further engage visitors in the life and work of Frank Lloyd Wright through program collaborations with nationally recognized experts, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), as well as Historic Columbia, Columbia Classical Ballet, Columbia Design League, the Columbia Film Society and the Columbia Convention and Visitor Bureau, among others." Call the Museum for a listing of these programs.
Included in the show are an imaginative wood chair Wright designed for the Sixty Years of Living Architecture Usonian House exhibition (1955), and a dynamic, angular metal and glass hanging lamp from the Dana Thomas House (1903) both from the collection of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Scottsdale, AZ. Notable glass creations that define Wright's architectural use of glass to open up enclosed space include four beautifully crafted geometric examples of windows from the Francis Little House, Deephaven, MN, (1912), and his abstract geometric chevron patterning with glass for windows, like the light screen created for the Darwin Martin House, Buffalo, NY (1903).
Wright's passion was creating a new way of life for Americans through architecture. Although his career included many large public commissions, his homes designed for similarly committed clients remained a creative center throughout his career. This exhibition presents his philosophy for creating highly integrated interiors that radiated a sense of inner beauty and modern spirit through the design of furnishings and objects within it.
Frank Lloyd Wright and the House Beautiful is divided into three themes that convey the methods through which Wright implemented the philosophy of the "house beautiful." First, the exhibition introduces how Wright sought to develop a modern interior reflective of a uniquely American spirit of democracy and individual freedom through a new conception of interior space and furnishings. Second, it illustrates his development of a new aesthetic that reflected the modern period. Lastly, the exhibition explores his experiments with bringing these ideas to the homes of average Americans. Each section of the exhibition is presented through wall panels of period and recent photographs of Wright interiors to provide the context, as well as furniture, textiles, metal objects, accessories, publications and original drawings related to each theme. A fully illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition.
Frank Lloyd Wright and the House Beautiful and its tour are organized by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC, in cooperation with The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Supporting sponsors for the Columbia presentation: Dr. Suzan D. Boyd and Mr. M. Edward Sellers, Marriott Columbia, Nexsen Pruet, American Institute of Architects, Greater Columbia Chapter, and the South Carolina Department of Parks and Tourism.
For further info check our SC Institutional
Gallery listings, call the Museum at 803/799-2810 or at (www.columbiamuseum.org).
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