Saturday, April 08, 2006

Taliesin West

In late 1937 Wright purchased land in northeast Scottsdale, Arizona, where he and his young apprentices took on the task of building Taliesin West as a winter "camp." The complex of buildings included residential spaces, theaters, a shop, and an architectural studio and drafting room. From its inception, the buildings at Taliesin West astounded architectural critics with their beauty and unusual form. In it 1956 report Architectural Record called a visit to Taliesin West "an experience in color, light, and time . . . Most of all, the building is an experience in time: approach terraces, the steps, the long walk under the pergola, the penetration into the heart of the building itself: all these form a subtle sequence of varied spaces, scales, and shapes . . . Perhaps never since the baroque period has the element of time been used so skillfully in realizing the enchantment of an intricate work of art."


The guy was a bit of an ego maniac but hey if you never retired; he died at the age of ninety-two and still got commissions to do homes and buildings you might have a bit of a right. It was odd being there. Part of it reminded me of my house and a lot of the furniture reminded me of Tao's stuff. Did you know he didn't just design the house, but the furniture, the carpet, the silverware, the art that got hung on the wall? If you had a FLW home you could not move the furniture without his "permission". WOW a bit of an ego... maybe. The piano in the living room has never been moved from it's original placement. As the tour guy said "If he came back to life and walked in this room it should look the same to him." CRAZY! but it's a fine line between great art and genius and the CRAZES!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I went there! It's amazing! Thanks for the pics. I'm glad you're having so much fun in AZ.