The Move of the Frank Lloyd Wright Drawings and Models

Abstract

The transfer of ownership of the nearly 60,000 drawings, 45,000 photographs, 60 models, and other materials by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation to the Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library at Columbia University and New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 2012 was one of the most significant events of its kind in the history of modern architecture. The story of the transaction has never been told, nor have its effects on scholarship, criticism, and architectural production been examined. Many, if not all, of the facts regarding the ‘transfer,’ the word preferred to ‘sale’ by its actors, have remained unspoken. The first part of this chapter traces the tale of the Wright Foundation's maneuvers to put itself on a firm financial basis, following the architect's death in 1959 by monetizing its holdings. The second part suggests how such activities by a private archive can result in the diminishment of the legacy. The ownership by a nonpartisan public institution will correct the balance between scholarship and commerce in favor of the former. Exhibitions of the Wright material will no longer be curated by insiders for proselytization but will be organized instead for scholarly, educational, and critical reasons.