Illinois Issues Summer Book Section                     

Meryle Secrest. Frank Lloyd Wright: A Biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. Pp. 634 with 121 illustrations, notes and index. $30 (cloth).

Frank Lloyd Wright has no competitors as "America's foremost architect" when either the public or architects are polled. Unfortunately, his work is less understood than it is admired. Dramatic, idiosyncratic Fallingwater and the Guggenheim Museum are well known, but Wright's 70-year professional practice was dominated by commissions for houses for 400 mostly middle-class families in 37 states. One scholar, Morris Kelly Smith of Washington University in St. Louis, argues that Wright "has suffered, perhaps more than any other artist of our time, from being overpraised and underestimated."

Wright's place in history is assured, and exactly why this is so interests many, including Meryle Secrest, a biographer of artists and art historians. Five years of research have culminated in her well-written narration of an eventful life that spanned half of two centuries: Wright was born in 1867, two years after the end of the Civil War, and died in 1959, two years after the launching of Sputnik, the first earth satellite. This biography will attract his fans; others will enjoy a life story that reads like a romance novel.

From numerous interviews, the ar-

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chitect's archive of 100,000 letters, manuscripts and documents, and the extensive literature on Wright, Secrest has produced an epic drama with few detours into tedious detail. Important among the personalities portrayed are Wright's mother, his three wives and his ill-fated companion, Mamah Cheney.

The subject's personality forms the core of any biography, but for those who knew Wright, some important aspects of his persona are missing in this portrait. One is his single-minded devotion to his art; he enjoyed nothing more than exercising his immense talents, and talking and writing about his architectural philosophy. An appreciation of his dedication is necessary to understand his sometimes troubled relationships with family members and clients. Regarding the latter group, his goals were not always theirs; he would change a design, on paper or during construction, whenever he saw an opportunity for improvement. But even if the project didn't go smoothly, causing delays and cost overruns, most clients were enchanted with the result. Some returned to Wright for a second house, and a few for a third. No wonder he thought highly of his clients.

Another overlooked aspect of Wright's personality is a durable optimism that enabled him to weather adversity. In the Depression, with debts and no commissions, he invited young admirers to live and work with him in rural Wisconsin if they paid for their room and board, and even accepted some who didn't have the $600. At 65, Wright was confident that his practice would once again flourish. Trained by their master, the early acolytes plus later apprentices (some 400 in 27 years) made the construction drawings for Wright's designs during his most productive years, from the age of 68 to his death at 92. With the help of apprentices, the architect designed and supervised two hundred "Usonian" houses, the Johnson Wax buildings, Fallingwater, the Guggenheim and various churches, schools and medical clinics.

Secrest does not dwell at length on Wright's architecture. This allows her to play to her strengths, which are narration and exploration of personalities. She relies on historians and critics for assessments of his work. Unfortunately, this does not produce a coherent view of his art, nor does it deal with the possible relationship of his work to his personal life.

For example, Secrest analyzes Wright's Oak Park home but neglects the equally important adjoining studio. The complex served as an architectural laboratory that Wright remodeled almost continuously for 20 years as his family's needs changed and his professional vision evolved. In another instance, Springfield's Dana-Thomas house, one of the most lavish of his designs, is included in Secrest's discussion of buildings that have been close to demolition, but because she ends the account with the 1943 auction of Mrs. Dana's effects, Charles Thomas's subsequent stewardship of the house and its restoration by the state of Illinois are missing.

A more serious challenge can be made to Secrest's foray into psychobiography. Undocumented anecdotes and several letters from his mother convince Secrest that Wright had a "ruthless Old Testament conscience lurking behind his apparent veneer of breezy self-confidence" and that there was an "insecurity behind the shield that Wright had successfully erected between himself and the world." Wright's legendary self-confidence masked "a secret conviction of worthlessness" and an "inner conviction of being a confidence artist, a trickster, all surface and no substance." Few, if any, of the people who were close to him — relatives, clients and apprentices — would accept this interpretation. A more reasonable explanation of Frank Lloyd Wright's self-confidence is the obvious one: he was extraordinarily good at what he did and he knew it. It is true that his mother was overbearing and everpresent, but so were the mothers of FDR and General MacArthur. Some powerful mothers have powerful sons. �

Mark Heyman, emeritus professor of city planning at Sangamon State University, was one of Frank Lloyd Wright's apprentices from 1954 to 1959.

Courtesy Mark Heyman
Wright and apprentices in 1956. Seated, from left, are John Howe of Illinois; Frank Lloyd Wright;
Wright's grandson, Eric Lloyd Wright of California; Wes Peters of Indiana; John Amarantides of
Michigan. Standing, from left, are Mark Heyman of New York; Gene Masselink of Michigan; Raja
Aederi of Kashmir; (unknown person hidden); Ling Po of China; David Dodge of England; Tom Casey
of California; Donald Brown of Vermont; Stephen Oyakawa of Hawaii; Kenneth Lockhart of Iowa;
and John Watson of Texas.

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