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Frank Lloyd Wright

The Architecture of Defiance

The historic Welsh origins of the architect’s creative defiance.

The father of modern architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright learned his defiant creativity from the radical politics and work ethic of his Welsh family. Throughout his career, Wright strongly resisted the idea that his accomplishments owed anything to earthly influences. As much as he wanted his achievements recognized, he wanted them to be unaccountable, but according to Jonathan Adams, they are not. Drawing on new discoveries about the architect’s upbringing, this book reveals how Wright’s mother and many aunts and uncles raised him with a reverence for the fierce radicalism of their Welsh ancestors. Presenting a new perspective on a renowned creative, Jonathan Adams reveals how the culture, faith, and philosophy of Wales shaped Wright into the visionary he became.

408 pages | 163 halftones, 48 color plates | 12 3/4 x 9 | © 2022

Architecture of Wales

Architecture: American Architecture, Architecture--Biography

Biography and Letters


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Reviews

"This ground-breaking study brilliantly illuminates the important Welsh dimensions of Wright's life and work. The dramatic disclosures about his mother radically reorientate our understanding of his gifts and accomplishments."
 

Professor M. Wynn Thomas, FBA, FLSW, Professor of English and Emyr Humphreys Professor of Welsh Writing in English, Swansea University

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Family Tree: Significant Ancestors of Frank Lloyd Wright
Timeline
Introduction

Part 1The Church in the Wilderness
Chapter 1A Rural Enlightenment
Chapter 2Bards of Liberty
Chapter 3Remittance

Part 2Lloyd Jones
Chapter 4Lessons in the Land of the Free
Chapter 5The Valley
Chapter 6Anna had Chosen an Englishman
Chapter 7A Child’s Garden
Chapter 8The Book of Creation
Part 3Lloyd Wright
Chapter 9The Grammar of Ornament
Chapter 10Simplicity and Repose
Chapter 11Spoiled First by Birth
Chapter 12Art and Craft of the Machine
Chapter 13The Protestant
Chapter 14The Shape-Shifter
Chapter 15The Genius
Chapter 16The Unitarian
Chapter 17The Welshman

Bibliography
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