For Immediate Release: October 12, 2012
Media Contacts: Emma Filar, Marketing & Communications Associate
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New Book Offers Inside Look at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin Architectural Colony
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The National Building Museum and W.W. Norton & Company have published first-ever diary to come from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin Fellowship. In Taliesin Diary: A Year With Frank Lloyd Wright, Priscilla Henken details her stay at Wright’s renowned architectural colony and training program.
Priscilla lived at Taliesin in 1942-43 with her husband David Henken. The couple worked for Wright as part of “The Fellowship,” an architectural colony at Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin, from the 1930s through the 1950s. Henken’s diary, illustrated with photographs the couple took during their stay, is a lively description of day-to-day life on a communal working farm in south central Wisconsin during World War II. Though it spans not even one year, the diary provides unique insights into the “world of Wright” during this period and will be appealing to Wright enthusiasts, as well as those with specialized interest in mid-century architecture; social and spiritual movements; and the clash of cultures between the outside world—here represented by two socialist, Jewish, New Yorkers—and the Midwestern farm community at Taliesin.
Priscilla recounts in the diary vivid stories about editing the architect’s autobiography, spending time with the other apprentices, rotating cooking duties, tracing old Wright projects, watching films, and participating in various festive traditions such as the annual Halloween costume party. An important and consistent theme is the impact of World War II on Wright’s vision, as well as the constant bickering of apprentices and the contentious relationship between Wright, the apprentices, and his third wife, Olgivanna Lazovich.
A selection of essays complements the diary, exploring the cultural history of the period focusing on Taliesin’s film series; communal food preparation at the complex; conscientious objectors during wartime; the mid-century Wisconsin setting for the diary; and collected folklore from the people who knew Wright during the 1940s.
“The National Building Museum is especially proud to bring this book to the public, to further our knowledge about the life of one of America’s most important—and infamous—architects and expand our understanding of the world in which he lived,” said National Building Museum curator Sarah A. Leavitt, who edited the book.
“This diary provides fresh perspectives regarding Wright and Taliesin and, in so doing, it enhances our understanding of their profound architectural and cultural legacy,” said Museum president and executive director Chase W. Rynd.
Taliesin Diary: A Year With Frank Lloyd Wright is now available in the National Building Museum Shop. It is also available at other book retailers and online.
The publication of Taliesin Diary: A Year With Frank Lloyd Wright is made possible by STUDIOS architecture.
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