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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Photographing Frank Lloyd Wright

Henry Fuermann, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Avery Coonley Residence, Riverside, Illinois, 1907.

Oct 24, 2024 – Jan 5, 2025
40 East Erie Street Chicago, Illinois 60611

Ask for the name of an American architect and most people will answer “Frank Lloyd Wright.” But architecture wasn’t Wright’s only interest. He had a lifelong passion for photography. Just as his eye for design was prescient, his interest in the camera began in his early 20s—he acquired one for personal use around 1888. Chicago’s Driehaus Museum presents the first exhibition exploring Wright’s hobby. The architect photographed portraits, landscapes, and, during a 1905 visit to Japan, structures that inspired him. Wright understood how photographic images of his own buildings influenced the public’s perception of his work. The show also includes Wright’s architecture as photographed by others, and contains examples of his decorative designs, used to bring a unity of expression to his buildings. —Lucy Horowitz

Historic Architecture and Landscape Image Collection, Ryerson and Burnham Art and Architecture Archives