The Prairie School Collection-Midway Gardens China Plate

Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867-April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He was born in Richland Center, Wisconsin. Wright worked for the firm of Adler and Sullivan from 1888-1893. After leaving Adler and Sullivan, Wright opened his own practice. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements of the twentieth century, influencing architects worldwide through his work and mentoring hundreds of apprentices in his Taliesin Fellowship. Wright believed in designing with both humans and the environment in harmony, a philosophy he called "organic architecture." Wright was a pioneer of the Prairie School movement (begun around 1900) and also developed the concept of the Usonian home in Broadacre City, his vision for urban planning in the United States. He built a home in 1911 called Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin. It also served as his studio and site of the Taliesin Fellowship architectural school. Usonian houses were Wright's response to the transformation of domestic life that occurred in the early 20th century. He developed homes with progressively more open plans. Usonian homes set a new style for suburban design that influenced countless postwar developers. Taliesin West, Wright's winter home and studio complex in Scottsdale, Arizona, was a laboratory for Wright from 1937 to his death in 1959. He also designed offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels, museums, and other commercial projects. One of his most significant public buildings is the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Wright-designed interior elements were integrated into his structures. According to scholars, he had five major influences: Louis Sullivan, nature, music, Japanese art, and Froebel gifts (educational children's toys). He wrote several books and numerous articles and lectured in the United States and Europe. He died after abdominal surgery in 1959 at the age of 91.