Frank Lloyd Wright “An Autobiography”
Reading:
I had no idea how complete a genius he was. Frank Lloyd Wright’s autobiography would be compelling alone based on his designing over eight hundred buildings, but beyond that he’s a brilliant writer, able to entertainingly philosophize his vision for America’s architecture.
How much Ayn Rand seemingly sourced Frank Lloyd Wright for The Fountainhead‘s philosophy — forget her just modeling her hero Roark on him — is interesting, but one of my favorite parts of the book describes his time in Tokyo, building the Imperial Hotel:
“Black gleams over smooth oval powder-whitened faces punctuated by lips of living scarlet, the scarlet to match the saki cups? Black! The science and the art of ‘black’ is in everything. Decorous black eyes slyly slant upon you from every direction as the little artful beings move noiselessly about, grace and refinement in every movement…”
