Graycliff---FLW as Graphic Designer, Part II

(This is the second of a three part brief look at Frank Lloyd Wright's Graphic Artistry.)

     In Wright's Autobiography, he speaks of the smell of printer's ink and the small press he had as a boy in Wisconsin. His boyhood pursuits an an amateur printer in graphic designs development echoed his architectural vocation.

     One sees his early efforts to control every aspect in his life projects. In an article in the Frank Lloyd Wright  Quarterly (Winter 2006 issue) it states that "early evidence of Wright's interest in the "house beautiful" is the project he under took in the winter of 1896 with William Winslow -- the printing book form of  a sermon by William Gannet. The House Beautiful was printed by Auvergne Press of River Forest,IL,a private press in Winslow's house. Wright's contribution was the book's design, with distinctive elaborate linear patterns of geometric and conventionalized naturalistic motifs forming a deep frame around a relatively small area of text on each page."

In his early career, Wright designed his own letterhead/stationery.logo. Soon afterwards, his use of the red square logo, with many variations, was seen.

He also designed poster, programs , as well as many architectural presentations. Wright designed them using the latest technologies of the time, taking advantage of emerging trends.  By the 1920's he had developed a typeface distinctively his own.

Penny Fowler writes,"Wright's graphic artistry spanned a lifetime, demonstrating that his genius was not exclusive to architecture,but extended to bring his vision into every aspect of the printed arts" (1)

P22 Foundry, a Buffalo, NY firm, has developed several fonts based on Wright's graphic design.(2 ) These include Eaglefeather,  an open face type.   Eagle Feather was designed by Wright for a project entitled "Eagle Rock" in 1922. Although the project was never built,  the lettering used for the drawing was adapted by P22 to become Eaglefeather.

Chicago Midway Garden 1913 lettering shows his personality. with its decorative border elements and motifs. (See P22 Type Foundry for examples.)

Perhaps just us researching and reading more about Wright's intellectual thinking will help us to enter the zeitgeist of the time..

Footnotes

1)  Frank Lloyd Wright, Graphic Artist, Penny Fowler, Pomegranate Press, 2002,  page 124

2) P22 Foundry Eaglefeather