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Text by Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer.
Photographs by David Heald, William H. Short, and Lee B. Ewing
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is among the most famous buildings in the
world, and widely acknowledged as the crowning achievement of architect Frank
Lloyd Wright's late career. The spectacular winding structure, rising
unexpectedly from the regular grid of New York City's streets, is emblematic
of Wright's unique vision of an organic architecture. This book celebrates
the Guggenheim from it's inception to the present In a highly informative
essay, Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, Vice President and Director of the Frank Lloyd
Wright Archives, traces an odyssey that began in 1943 with a letter imploring
Wright to build a "temple of spirit" for a small museum of non-objective
paintings. The project endured delays and upsets for sixteen years before
construction was completed in 1953 only months after Wright's death. After
a major restoration and expansion project, completed in I992,, the architect's
original vision has now truly been fulfilled. This beautiful volume also
includes fascinating photographs taken during the museum's construction,
a portfolio of photographs interpreting Wright's structure as a work of art,
and images of exhibition installations within the newly restored
building.
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