{"id":207939,"date":"2025-11-30T11:40:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T11:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/207939\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T11:40:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T11:40:30","slug":"exhibition-gives-new-life-to-frank-lloyd-wrights-chair-designs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/207939\/","title":{"rendered":"Exhibition Gives New Life to Frank Lloyd Wright\u2019s Chair Designs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Chairs<\/p>\n

\u201cDining Chairs,\u201d for the Malcolm Willey House, Minneapolis, designed c. 1932\u201334. (Courtesy the Frank Lloyd Wright<\/a> Foundation)<\/p>\n

When curators Thomas Szolwinski and Eric Vogel realized how many of Frank Lloyd Wright<\/a>\u2019s furniture designs remained unbuilt, they asked themselves a simple but provocative question. What if these pieces could be seen again? Thus began the foundational work behind Frank Lloyd Wright: Modern Chair Design<\/a>, now on view at the Museum of Wisconsin Art<\/a> (MOWA) in West Bend.<\/p>\n

Co-curated by Szolwinski and Vogel, whose original research grounds the exhibition, Modern Chair Design traces Wright\u2019s creative ethos through the lens of furniture and, specifically, chairs<\/a>. The intention, Szolwinski says, is not only to uplift Wright\u2019s furniture design in its own right, but to highlight just how intertwined his functional and architectural visions were.<\/p>\n

\u201cWright\u2019s furniture designs really mirror the evolution of his architecture, but they also show a more personal, experimental side of his process,\u201d Szolwinski tells My Modern Met. \u201cEven though he consistently worked within his idea of \u2018organic design,\u2019 he often recycled and reimagined earlier pieces, redesigning or adapting them for new projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

To illustrate that trajectory, the exhibition is organized into five distinct design periods between 1911 and 1959. Throughout, visitors receive a comprehensive overview of how Wright\u2019s early work, which Szolwinski describes as \u201cvery rectilinear,\u201d eventually transformed into more rigorous experiments in craft, form, and texture. Perhaps nothing encapsulates that evolution better than the Origami Armchair, designed in 1946 for Taliesin West<\/a>, Wright\u2019s studio in Scottsdale, Arizona. Forgoing boxy silhouettes and rigid geometric shapes, Origami Armchair is instead organic and fluid, its arms folding outward like a pair of wings.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy focusing on chairs, we wanted to show how even in the most functional object, Wright was experimenting with space, geometry, and material in ways that paralleled, and sometimes eclipsed, his buildings,\u201d Szolwinski explains. \u201cOur goal was to reintroduce Wright\u2019s furniture as a vital part of his design philosophy\u2014one that\u2019s often overshadowed by his architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s precisely why Szolwinski found himself gravitating toward the designs that were never realized during Wright\u2019s lifetime or that had been lost to history. In partnership with the Frank Lloyd Wright and Taliesin Institutes, MOWA fabricated eight chairs for the first time, alongside contemporary reconstructions of four other chairs that no longer exist. All 12 of these objects are directly informed by archival materials, including original drawings and sketches.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project began with two chairs known to have existed at Wright\u2019s Taliesin dining table, documented only in archival photographs,\u201d Szolwinski says. \u201cFrom there, we expanded our scope to include designs that existed solely in drawings but had never been made.\u201d<\/p>\n

When accompanied by the 30 historic pieces in the exhibition, these newly fabricated works offer a more corrective\u2014and unprecedented\u2014glimpse into Wright\u2019s creative practice. Modern Chair Design makes clear that Wright not only helped to shape\u00a0America\u2019s architectural future, but he was also a pioneer in furniture design. That history is reincarnated as living objects activated through construction.<\/p>\n

\u201cModern Chair Design treats fabrication not as replication, but as a form of research\u2014an active investigation into Wright\u2019s process, philosophy, and evolving material language,\u201d Szolwinski notes. \u201cMy hope is that people come away with a deeper appreciation for Wright not just as an architect, but as a prolific designer who worked vigorously and inventively for seven decades to shape an original American vision. I also hope they recognize that his furniture was central to that vision, not secondary to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frank Lloyd Wright: Modern Chair Design is now on view at the Museum of Wisconsin Art through January 26, 2026.\n<\/p>\n

Now open at the Museum of Wisconsin Art, Frank Lloyd Wright: Modern Chair Design explores the architect\u2019s singular vision for modern furniture.
\n\"Installation<\/p>\n

Installation view of \u201cFrank Lloyd Wright: Modern Chair Design,\u201d now open at the Museum of Wisconsin Art. (Courtesy MOWA)<\/p>\n

\"Chair<\/p>\n

\u201cChair and Table,\u201d for the Tree Room, Taliesin Fellowship Complex, Spring Green, WI, designed 1932. (Courtesy the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation)<\/p>\n

\"Chair<\/p>\n

\u201cOrigami Armchair,\u201d for Taliesin West, Scottsdale, AZ, designed 1946. (Courtesy the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation)<\/p>\n

\"Chair<\/p>\n

\u201cArmchair,\u201d for Taliesin, Spring Green, WI, designed c. 1914. (Courtesy the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation)<\/p>\n

\"Installation<\/p>\n

Installation view of \u201cFrank Lloyd Wright: Modern Chair Design,\u201d now open at the Museum of Wisconsin Art. (Courtesy MOWA)<\/p>\n

The exhibition includes several of Wright\u2019s iconic furniture designs, many of which are contemporary fabrications.
\n\"Chair<\/p>\n

\u201cHillside Dining Room Chair,\u201d for the Taliesin Fellowship Complex, Spring Green, WI, designed c. 1939\u201340. (Courtesy the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation)<\/p>\n

\"Installation<\/p>\n

Installation view of \u201cFrank Lloyd Wright: Modern Chair Design,\u201d now open at the Museum of Wisconsin Art. (Courtesy MOWA)<\/p>\n

\"Chairs<\/p>\n

\u201cCaf\u00e9 Chairs,\u201d for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, designed c. 1957. (Courtesy the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation)<\/p>\n

\"Installation<\/p>\n

Installation view of \u201cFrank Lloyd Wright: Modern Chair Design,\u201d now open at the Museum of Wisconsin Art. (Courtesy MOWA)<\/p>\n

\"Chair<\/p>\n

\u201cMori Chair,\u201d for the S. Mori Oriental Art Studio and Japanese Print Shop, Chicago, design c. 1914\u201315. (Courtesy the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation)<\/p>\n

Exhibition Information:
Frank Lloyd Wright
Modern Chair Design
October 4, 2025\u2013January 25, 2026
Museum of Wisconsin Art
205 Veterans Ave., West Bend, WI 53095<\/p>\n

Museum of Wisconsin Art: <\/b>Website<\/b><\/a> | <\/b>Instagram<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by MOWA.
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