Apprentice Work

[Matt2]

I was reading a book that shall go nameless and the writer made the off-hand assertion in a couple places that most Usonians from the 1950s were "apprentice work" and that Wright had little involvement with them. The idea is Wright was too busy with the Guggenheim and other larger projects. This seems like an absurd claim to me, based apparently on the lack of drawings executed in Wright's hand of these later Usionians. Any truth in this or are this guy's pants on fire?

[Roderick Grant]

John Geiger, Davy Davison, Louis Wiehle, Tom Casey and others would contest that claim. FLW did not do a lot of the drawing himself, but he was in charge of everything that came out of Taliesin.

[Matt2]

Thanks Rod. My understanding was the Wright would present some sketches for the head apprentices to develop. Then Wright would comment and change things (much to the chagrin of the guy doing the drawing). I haven't dived into the Avery archive, but it would be interesting to see if Wright's original sketches can be paired to finished drawings (as the famous early sketch of Fallingwater can).

[SDR]

Careful study of archived material---and, even better, personal familiarity with some of the drafters---has led to identification of authorship of some Taliesin drawings. As in any office, however, authorship of a drawing does not, in most cases, mean that the drafter was the designer. Moreover, more than one hand has contributed to a given drawing, in some cases; the title lettering, or the landscaping material, or the automobiles or scale figures might be the work of someone other than the principal draftsman. Mr Wright was known to add foliage and occasionally other detail to a completed rendered view or, in a few cases, to elevations. In those cases his work can usually be detected with relative ease, as being bolder and/or looser than the marks made by the apprentices.

S

[Roderick Grant]

In some instances, changes made in construction by others than FLW can be verified. Geiger altered the fenestration in both the living room and master bedroom of Zimmerman without asking FLW, but he did submit them for approval before constructing them. Edgar Tafel famously added steel to Schwartz without asking permission ... which probably would have been denied. Fallingwater had many structural changes made without FLW's involvement for which he was furious.

[DRN]

With respect to the post WW2 work, if one looks in the online Wright project file of the first iteration of a given plan type, there is usually a very coarsely drafted plan drawn, often with elevations directly projected from the plan in the margins. To my understanding, this type of drawing is the initial sketch by Wright that was handed off to John Howe for development by others. To be sure these are not the only drawings by Wright, but they give a sense of his first intention. As the design developed through presentation drawings further input likely was made by Wright, as well as his response to client comments on the proposed design.

Also, in the Wright files we are able to see the full sheet of a given drawing. Wright appears to have had a penchant for sketching in the margins of a sheet. Sometimes the sketches in the margin are just as interesting as the primary subject of the sheet.

[SDR]

I hadn't been aware that those four-sided sheets---with the elevations directly projected from each face of the building---were Wright's own. That's very useful information.

What will be missing from the record are the verbal instructions given by Mr Wright to those around him: to Jack Howe, Wes Peters, Gene Masselink and other senior apprentices, and to the fellows working on drawings. These instructions included directions for changes to the designs as they were being developed. Such verbal messages are even more invisible now than are the erasures and changes made to the drawings themselves---unfortunately.

S

[jay]

By the 1950's, it does seem that Wright's wide assortment of pre-existing Usonian plans were being revisited for new clients. Some previously built, plenty that weren't built. The story of the Anthony house, if I recall it correctly, seems like a fair illustration of how apprentices were being utilized by Wright. An older Usonian plan became the starting point of the project, which in this case was the McCartney house. You'd suppose some specific alterations were initially identified as well. An apprentice (Besinger in this case) works out many of the details, of course using the system Wright broadly authored. Then Wright comes along and looks and makes corrections. In the case of Anthony, those were major roof changes, I think. Then, when it meets his total approval, Wright signs off on it.

In this case, at least, it sure seems that Wright's input was present from the beginning, by specifying a previous original plan to model from; throughout the process, with notes and physical drawing changes; and in total, by finalizing and signing it.

The use of the apprentice might even be seen as an additional extension of Wright's work.

Which raises an interesting question.... If an architect designs an entire system of architecture, and his apprentices use that system in its entirety, who should get credit for the utilized design?

Another question might be.....are there any instances in which a *signed* Wright design clearly had the design trademark of an apprentice? (...unsigned drawings found in the archives don't count!) We do see in the apprentices' individual careers that many later produced their own exciting "voice" within the Wrightian system... Lautner, Green, etc... But are any of those "voices" apparent in final design drawings that have Wright's 'red stamp'? I don't get the sense that there's any of it.. And I also doubt Wright's ego would've allowed it.

[DavidC]

Since Wright was taking much time to talk on the phone, by letter correspondence and in-person meetings with many of these later Usonian clients (Samara comes to mind as one example of this time period where I have personally heard from Dr. Christian of just how much time Wright personally gave he and his wife over a number of years (and many other examples exist)), I think it's fair to assume that he had overall input and control on each of the designs.

That being said, given that he set up the Apprenticeship - at least in large part - as a way to expand his practice, I think it's safe to assume that Wright had enough confidence in certain apprentices that he would allow their individual input - and creativity - within his set, certain boundaries.


David