Architectural harmony: Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit a collaborative effort
Courtesy of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy
A recreation of the civic center at Point Park, an unrealized Frank Lloyd Wright design, will be among the items on display at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art beginning Oct. 15. The recreation was designed by Skyline Ink Animator + Illustrators.
Courtesy of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy
A number of undone projects created by architect Frank Lloyd Wright will be on display at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, beginning Oct. 15. The recreations were designed by Skyline Ink Animator + Illustrators.
Fallingwater's Speyer Gallery will showcase some of architect Frank Lloyd Wright's unbuilt designs for the estate from Oct. 15 through Dec. 31.
Good things take time and the latest exhibition coming to Greensburg鈥檚 Westmoreland Museum of American Art is no exception, according to Jeremiah William McCarthy, curator at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art.
McCarthy explained that work on 鈥淔rank Lloyd Wright鈥檚 Southwestern Pennsylvania鈥� began in 2019, and features meticulously researched exhibits, along with video animations and 3D models of never-built residential, commercial and civic projects that the famous architect designed for the area.
鈥淥klahoma-based Skyline Ink Animators + Illustrators did really laborious historian-style research, reaching out to the Heinz History Center and examining the archives around town to interpret the cars that would have been on the road in the 1940s and 50s, the skyline that was there at the time, and other details that raise as many questions as they do answers,鈥� said McCarthy.
The public鈥檚 imagination will be piqued by the realistic animation of five unrealized Wright projects, including a reimagining of The Point, a self-service garage for Kaufmann鈥檚 Department Store, the Point View Residences designed for the Edgar J. Kaufmann Charitable Trust, the Rhododendron Chapel and a gate lodge for the Fallingwater Grounds. In addition, a viewing theatre, set within the museum鈥檚 Cantilever Galleries, will show visitors a longer film of three unrealized Pittsburgh designs while the exhibition is open between Oct. 15 and Jan. 14.
These designs never came to fruition, mostly due to budget considerations, but it could be argued that Fallingwater and the current exhibit would not have been possible had not Edgar J. Kaufmann, Pittsburgh鈥檚 department store magnate, invited Wright to the region to propose designs for a planetarium, and later, large-scale civic projects.
Scott Perkins, Fallingwater鈥檚 senior director of preservation and collections, said that the exhibition was inspired by the book that examines the relationship between Kaufmann and Wright titled, 鈥淢erchant Prince and Master Builder.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e interpreting it a little differently and wanted to see what would have happened had the structures been built,鈥� said Perkins, explaining that the public will be able to view a series of short films running between three and four minutes each. 鈥淭he three projects for Pittsburgh will run a little longer at 12 minutes,鈥� he added.
Also included within the exhibit will be historic photography for projects that Wright built, like Edgar Kaufmann鈥檚 office inside the famous Kaufmann鈥檚 department store, the perennial favorite known as Fallingwater, the Fallingwater guest house and the more modest Kentuck Knob.
According to Perkins, guests will also see framed reproductions of all the projects that support the animation. Also on display: furniture on loan from Fallingwater, ephemera, objects and more relating to the talented architect whose journey ostensibly began as early as he could focus on the pictures of buildings that his mother hung on the walls of his nursery.
A contrast between the past and the future
Also appearing at the Westmoreland Museum of America Art from Oct. 15 to Jan. 14, 2024, is a complementary exhibit titled, 鈥淭oshiko Mori & Frank Lloyd Wright: Dialogue in Details.鈥� The exhibit, to be presented in the Westmoreland鈥檚 Paneled Rooms, highlights the dialogue between two architectural works 鈥� Wright鈥檚 1907 Martin House and Mori鈥檚 2009 Eleanor and Wilson Greatbatch Pavilion. Presented at half scale, the two sculptures inspire a dialogue on what should be carried forward from the past and what should be left behind. General admission to the Westmoreland Museum of American Art is free with advance online registration recommended. The museum鈥檚 operating hours are Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Speyer Gallery features the Fallingwater projects
Wright fans are also invited to Fallingwater鈥檚 Speyer Gallery from Oct. 15 through Dec. 31 to see a smaller exhibition, featuring the unbuilt designs that Wright proposed for the Fallingwater Estate, including a farm cottage for the caretaker, two versions of gatehouses and a private family chapel.
鈥淚t鈥檚 wonderful to see this collaboration 鈥� more than four years in the making 鈥� between the Westmoreland and Fallingwater now come to fruition with these exhibitions at both our sites, which truly surpass our original expectations,鈥� said Perkins.