Frank Lloyd Wright's Original Wasmuth Portfolio on Exhibit October 9-11 at Oak Park Public Library

In honor of the 100th anniversary of the publication of Frank Lloyd Wright's Wasmuth Portfolio and the 500th anniversary of the publication of the first architecture book, the Oak Park Public Library is opening the vault to present a rare public viewing of an original Wasmuth Portfolio. The exhibition of the Library's original Wasmuth Portfolio and additional drawings will be in the Oak Park Public Library's Art Gallery from Sunday, October 9 through Tuesday, October 11. The Art Gallery will be open during regular Library hours: from 1 pm to 6 pm on Sunday and from 9 am to 9 pm on Monday and Tuesday. These rare materials were once on display for two days at the Main Library 15 years ago.

The Oak Park Public Library owns a presentation copy the Wasmuth Portfolio, published as Ausgefuhrte Bauten and Entwurfe von Frank Lloyd Wright by Ernst Wasmuth in Berlin 1910. This collection of Wright's works and drawings from 1893-1909 consists of 100 plates held in two portfolios of which 72 plates are paper and 28 are tissue overlays. The presentation copy, acquired from John Lloyd Wright is inscribed in 1913 to John who was then working with his father at the offices in Orchestra Hall, Chicago.

A reception to celebrate the exhibit and honor Chicago area architect and Wright scholar Sidney Robinson will begin at 6 pm on Tuesday, October 11 in the Art Gallery. Later that evening, at 7:30 pm, Robinson will present a lecture titled "Frank Lloyd Wright and Victor Hugo: Architecture and the Book" at Unity Temple, 875 Lake Street.

"In 1910-11 Frank Lloyd Wright stepped onto the international architectural stage with two major publications from Berlin: a large, lithographic portfolio and a smaller, photographic representation of his work," explains Robinson. "The beautiful graphic designs in these publications are evidence of his mastery of both two and three dimensional arts. At the same time, Wright was concerned about the relation between the book and the building found in Victor Hugo's observation that 'the book will kill the building.' Wright read Notre Dame de Paris as a young man and quoted from it for the rest of his life."

To further celebrate this anniversary, the Oak Park Public Library and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation will present an exhibit titled "Frank Lloyd Wright's Wasmuth Portfolio: Architecture Printed on the Page" from Sunday, October 2 through Friday, October 21 in the Art Gallery. The three-week exhibit will include reproductions of the spectacular drawings Wright included in the Wasmuth Portfolio.

Other anniversary activities include a program titled "Marion Mahony Reconsidered" by art historian/author David Van Zanten and Paul Kruty on Thursday, October 6 at 7 pm at the Main Library. Marion Mahony Griffin (1871-1961) was an American architect and artist, one of the first licensed female architects in the world and a designer in Frank Lloyd Wright's Chicago studio.

A discussion of the biography, Frank Lloyd Wright by Ada Louise Huxtable will be led by librarian Irene Balks who is a long-time docent for the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust in Oak Park. The book discussion will be held Saturday, October 8 at 1 pm at the Main Library. And on Wednesday, October 19 at 1:30 pm librarian Alan Jacobson will host a book discussion of The Women by TC Boyle. Called "a dazzling novel of Frank Lloyd Wright, told from the point of view of the women in his life," Boyle's account of Wright's life, shines with his trademark wit and invention. Wright's life has been characterized as one long howling struggle against the bonds of convention of all kinds. Copies of both books will be available in the Main Library a month before the discussion.

About Sidney Robinson
Sidney Robinson spent 34 years as an architectural educator at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Since his retirement from UIC in 2007, Sidney Robinson has served as a faculty member of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture at Taliesin in Wisconsin and on the staff of Taliesin Preservation, Inc.

Robinson earned a Bachelor in Architecture from Columbia University and a Doctorate in Architecture from the University of Michigan. As a member of the American Institute of Architects and the Society of Architectural Historians, he has combined practice and scholarship by publishing books and essays on Wright, Alden Dow, Bruce Goff, organic architecture, preservation and the Picturesque. As a teacher, Robinson demonstrates how history, theory, and practice reinforce each other and contribute to architecture as a humanistic discipline.

Find more free events happening at the Oak Park Public Library at www.oppl.org/events/calendar.htm.