Wright Chat

V&A museum planned for east London Olympic park


David

This is great news....it was disappointing when the office was put into storage after being exhibited at V&A for only a relatively short time. I had been thinking if was to remain in storage indefinitely, it might as well be “stored� in public view somewhere else, like a museum in Pittsburgh.

I was so disappointed - I was in London to see this exhibit a few years back and was told it was not on display. I drove all the way from Detroit for nothing.

That is great news! I got to see the office when it was in Pittsburgh in 1999 for the exhibition "Merchant Prince and Master Builder". It's really a gem, and I've always been a fan of the sculptural wall next to the desk. To me, it's as close as Wright ever came to Art Deco.

Wright, and his helpmate Gene Masselink, created many of these triangle-based graphics, in various materials, but I believe
this is the only one rendered entirely in unpainted wood. Do I have that right ?

A slender book was published about the room in 1993, written by Christopher Wilk, published by the VA Museum. Amazon has 16 copies ranging in price from $33 used to $185.49 new.

At 86 pages, it covers the subject thoroughly, b/w and color photos, plans, elevations, details of furniture, etc. I haven't seen it in book stores for years. The used hardcover is well worth $33.

This was a welcome and unexpected surprise that made my day after a horribly cold day at the Tower of London...

(JimM, you didn't lift any diamonds while you were there, did you? I remember an old film with Terry Thomas, "Make Mine Mink" (1960) about a band of unlikely burglars casing, the Tower. Hilarious.)

I saw the Kaufmann office in the 90's while it was in an exhibition in Kyoto, Japan. It was spectacular. Like most Wright works it was smaller than I'd expected. Also it seemed darker than it appears in most photos.
I think its ideal location would've been in the Met in New York, alongside the other rooms they have. I recall they have a few pieces of Auldbrass furniture and a perf window right next to the Little House living room. It's exciting to see that juxtaposition -- a few Usonian style fragments next to the Prairie Style room. How even better it would be to have that Kaufmann room there.

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O694 ... ank-lloyd/

I'm looking for other color views of the office. Above is the "I'm on fire" end of the scale, along with calmer, yellower photos . . .

SDR

. . . then, there's this: http://buffaloah.com/a/archs/wright/va/source/13.html

. . .

oh, and this http://buffaloah.com/a/archs/wright/va/source/16.html

Japan and Scandinavia, meet Jean Prouvé ? This wall might remind EJ of Fallingwater's streamlined walnut casework. 1935 . . . ?

SDR

S,
That 2nd photo of your is the vibe I recall. Except, I didn’t get the benefit of seeing the beautifully warm light from the light fixtures which weren’t hooked up. What a beautiful piece of work it is.

This may be the Wright room about which we have experienced and understood least, in terms of a four-walled space. There's the classic view(s)
of the desk and decorated wall -- and so little else. I'm not sure I've yet seen all four elevations . . . in any medium.

SDR

Donald Hoffman’s Fallingwater book describes in some detail the development and construction of the office. The SDR linked photo notes the two names penciled under the desktop, Manuel “Sandy� Sandoval from Nicaragua was the apprentice and woodworker largely responsible for making the office, according to Hoffman.