Architecture's Odd Couple: Frank Lloyd Wright and Philip Johnson

by Hugh Howard

Overview

In architectural terms, the twentieth century can be largely summed up with two names: Frank Lloyd Wright and Philip Johnson. Wright (1867–1959) began it with his romantic prairie style; Johnson (1906–2005) brought down the curtain with his spare postmodernist experiments. Between them, they built some of the most admired and discussed buildings in American history.

Differing radically in their views on architecture, Wright and Johnson shared a restless creativity, enormous charisma, and an outspokenness that made each man irresistible to the media. Often publicly at odds, they were the twentieth century's flint and steel; their repeated encounters consistently set off sparks. Yet as acclaimed historian Hugh Howard shows, their rivalry was also a fruitful artistic conversation, one that yielded new directions for both men. It was not despite but rather because of their contentious--and not always admiring--relationship that they were able so powerfully to influence history.

In Architecture's Odd Couple, Howard deftly traces the historical threads connecting the two men and offers readers a distinct perspective on the era they so enlivened with their designs. Featuring many of the structures that defined modern space--from Fallingwater to the Guggenheim, from the Glass House to the Seagram Building--this book presents an arresting portrait of modern architecture's odd couple and how they shaped the American landscape by shaping each other.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620403761
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	05/24/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Hugh Howard's numerous books include Mr. and Mrs. Madison's War: America's First Couple and the War of 1812; The Painter's Chair: George Washington and the Making of American Art; Dr. Kimball and Mr. Jefferson; the definitive Thomas Jefferson: Architect; his memoir House-Dreams; and the classic Houses of the Founding Fathers. He resides in upstate New York.
Hugh Howard's numerous books include Dr. Kimball and Mr. Jefferson; the definitive Thomas Jefferson: Architect; his memoir House-Dreams; and most recently the very successful Houses of the Founding Fathers. He resides in upstate New York with his wife, writer Elizabeth Lawrence, and their two teenage daughters.

Table of Contents

Prologue: The Master and the Maestro 1

Part I A Meeting of Minds

Chapter 1 Two Conversations 15

Chapter 2 Plotting a Comeback 29

Chapter 3 European Travels 41

Part II The Moma Moment

Chapter 4 The New Museum 55

Chapter 5 An Invitation Issued 69

Chapter 6 Wright vs. Johnson 81

Chapter 7 The Show Must Go On 87

Part III Acting out their Antagonism

Chapter 8 The Banks of Bear Run 105

Chapter 9 Politics and Art 141

Chapter 10 Wright's Manhattan Project 167

Chapter 11 Philip Comes Out Classical 193

Chapter 12 The Whiskey Bottle and the Teapot 225

Epilogue: A Friendly Wrangle 261

Acknowledgments 281

Notes 285

Sources 309

Index 321

Editorial Reviews

03/14/2016
In this upbeat and informative dual biography, Howard (Houses of the Founding Fathers) follows the intersecting—often conflicting—careers of 20th-century architects Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) and Philip Johnson (1906–2005) to demonstrate the influence each had on each other as well as on the American landscape. Though Wright is the acknowledged master, known for his provincial manner and organic style, Howard explains that Johnson brought a sleek international style into vogue and, as curator of architecture at MoMA and pedagogue at Yale’s School of Architecture, wielded enormous influence over mid-century building design. The 40-year age difference between the two architects makes for challenging chronology, as Howard must shift back and forth in time to describe each subject’s education and career. Still, he successfully shows that when Wright and Johnson’s architectural practices did overlap, their antagonistic relationship spurred both of them to their greatest achievements. Howard’s prose is fluid, and he deftly explains technical terms without slowing the story. The result is narrative non-fiction of a high order, enlivened by anecdotes and quotations from two very outspoken and colorful characters. Photos. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"An appealing primer in 20th-century American architecture, with myriad insights into the vanity and interpersonal politics of the two men who dominated American architecture for a century." - Washington Post

"The prolific Howard offers up another sterling book of popular history . . . New light is shed on both architects in this absorbing, well-organized, delightfully told story." - Kirkus Reviews

"Narrative non-fiction of a high order, enlivened by anecdotes and quotations from two very outspoken and colorful characters." - Publishers Weekly

"[An] engaging dual portrait . . . written with wit and flair and supported by solid research . . . [A] thoughtful and well-built book." - Booklist

"Howard’s book is about the on-again off-again relationship between Wright and Philip Johnson, a pairing that a novelist couldn’t have improved upon . . . a lively and insightful chapter of American architectural history." - Buffalo News

"[Howard] paints an expert picture of the relationship, during which the architects challenged each other and ultimately produced some of the nation’s most enduring architectural works." - Architectural Digest

"In lively, scintillating prose, Hugh Howard brings to life one of the most inventive and original architects of the last century, and one of the savviest players in the same profession . . . Architecture’s Odd Couple is a splendid addition to the literature depicting the birth of twentieth-century modernism." - Nicholas Fox Weber, author of LE CORBUSIER: A LIFE

"A page turner about two architects and there’s no bloodshed! Hugh Howard brings to life the rivalry between these two giants of the world’s most egotistical profession and still gives us a happy ending." - Bob Vila

"As historian Hugh Howard reveals in this page-turner, the rivalry between the two outspoken, charismatic men is what drove them to creative heights and earned them such influence and legacy in architecture. Told with novelistic flair, the narrative charts the historical threads that connected the duo and captures the era they helped shape so emphatically." - Metropolis

"Entertaining, full of colorful vignettes and fascinating details . . . New information about both men and their work is captivatingly shared by this talented storyteller." - Missourian

"The attraction of a Wright-Johnson pairing becomes apparent as Howard sketches in the details and the congruences pile up." - New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher

05/15/2016
In a celebrity-obsessed culture, architects Frank Lloyd Wright and Philip Johnson may be perfect subjects for a dual biography. Both used their own residences as laboratories for experimentation, had brushes with anti-Semitism, and in their savvy pursuit of publicity, appeared on the cover of Time magazine (Wright in 1938 gazing upward before a rendering of Fallingwater; Johnson in 1979 cradling in his arms a model of the AT&T Building). Yet with over 66 Wright biographies and Franz Schulze's definitive Philip Johnson: Life and Work, what does pairing an exceptional innovator with a clever adapter add to our design knowledge? Here Howard (Mr. and Mrs. Madison's War) begins with Schulze's claim that the two distrusted each other, but with a full generation separating them, were they really competitors? Both "placed architecture at the center of culture," but are there any noted architects who would claim less? Unlike Leonard K. Eaton's Two Chicago Architects and Their Clients, an astute comparison of the clients of Wright and one of his contemporaries, Howard's account reads more like well-researched historical fiction than architectural history, and with the paucity of illustrations, readers must rely on the author's competent verbal descriptions for a sense of the buildings. VERDICT For public library collections with sizable biography sections.—Paul Glassman, Yeshiva Univ. Libs., New York

Library Journal

2016-03-01
An in-depth portrait of two "grand men of American architecture." The prolific Howard (Mr. and Mrs. Madison's War: America's First Couple and the War of 1812, 2012, etc.) offers up another sterling book of popular history, one about the "peculiar calculus" of the "flint and steel" friendship between two great architects of the 20th century, Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) and Philip Johnson (1906-2005). Fierce rivals for nearly 30 years, they were the "yin and the yang, in love and in hate, the positive and the negative charges that gave architecture its compass." Both could be imperious, inspiring, trivial, and proud. Wright was mostly a cantankerous coot. He was the unreformed romantic, Johnson the modernist who still liked the classical. Howard starts by nicely summarizing the early careers of his subjects. Wright's career early on had been dramatic and successful, but in the 1930s, he was languishing. In 1931, Johnson wanted Wright's work represented in a traveling Museum of Modern Art show he was organizing. Wright agreed but later withdrew; his letter included a snide remark about Johnson's homosexuality. Only after Lewis Mumford interceded did Wright capitulate. The show helped resuscitate Wright's career. In 1935, he designed an iconic home for a wealthy client in Pennsylvania: Fallingwater; Johnson "always spoke grudgingly of [it]." They continued to compete: Wright did the Guggenheim Museum, Johnson did the Seagram Building. Howard describes them as a "dog and a cat forced to share the same home." In 1949, Johnson finished his most iconic structure, the Glass House, as something of a rebuttal to Wright's now-famous "waterfall cottage," as Wright called it. Minimalist and modern, Johnson's own residence outside New Haven was made of glass and framing, "akin to a plain black frame on a photograph." Over time, Johnson came to recognize the value of their "odd alliance," finally admitting Wright was the greater architect. New light is shed on both architects in this absorbing, well-organized, delightfully told story.

Kirkus Reviews