Frank Lloyd Wright and Japan

The Imperial Hotel, Tokyo been preserved and reconstructed at Meiji Mura, an open-air Wright became embroiled in a nasty print scandal where many Traveling East: of the prints he had sold in the United States were identified as In 1915, the Imperial Household of Japan extended an architecture park and museum near Nagoya, Japan. retouched with fresh inks, or later reproductions. To save face, Frank Lloyd Wright and Japan invitation to Frank Lloyd Wright to build the Imperial Hotel in Taliesin: Bringing Japan to Wisconsin Wright took back many of the questionable prints in exchange Tokyo. The hotel would be situated on a plot of reclaimed land Taliesin, which means “shining brow” in Welsh, was the name for ones that were deemed authentic. Japanese prints were a from the Tokyo Bay that was located across from the Imperial Frank Lloyd Wright of Frank Lloyd Wright’s home in Spring Green, Wisconsin. constant source of creative and spiritual inspiration for Wright Palace. The building was to signify Japan’s arrival as a fully (1867-1959) first visited Japan in Construction on the site began in 1911 and renovations and and he often held print viewing parties and talks on Japanese modern society. Wright accepted the commission in March 1905 with the primary purpose additions at this location continued throughout his life until prints while living and working at Taliesin for his friends and 1916 and arrived in Tokyo in January 1917 to begin work of buying Japanese prints. This his death in 1959. There were three major periods of building apprentices. As he writes in An Introduction to Antique Colour in earnest on the designs and oversee its construction. visit was just the beginning of that occurred, the second two spurred by damage Prints from the Collection of Frank Lloyd Wright in 1917: During the six-year period of its construction, the his life-long relationship with suffered from major fires. Wright named the three Imperial Hotel project was Wright’s primary focus versions of his home Taliesin I (1911-1914), the country that became his that required him to live in the country for the Taliesin II (1914-1925), and Taliesin III (1925- But still the precious original is all too sacred to sanctuary, workplace, and home majority of those years. The hotel was to be 1959). Even before his inaugural visit to Japan away from home between the Wright’s testament to the principles of what he the few who, chosen by it, are enslaved by it. in 1905, Wright surrounded himself with years of 1917 to 1922. Japan called “organic architecture,” which promotes Asian art and filled his homes with pieces he was the only country outside the harmony between human habitation and the Because it is not secret that the prints had acquired. Taliesin was no exception, and United States in which he lived natural world. Concerned about the possibility Japanese art filled the walls, tables, shelves, and worked. In An Autobiogra- of earthquakes that had plagued the capitol in choose whom they love and there is then and alcoves that appeared throughout the phy Frank Lloyd Wright, (pg. 194) the past, Wright designed a floating cantilever interior and exterior of the house. Japanese published in 1932, he wrote, system that acted like a movable foundation. no salvation but surrender. (pg. 3) prints, elaborately painted gilded screens, and This ingenious approach was to garner Wright pieces of Buddhist sculpture were some of his immeasurable praise after the hotel’s completion by favorite objects. By the time Frank Lloyd Wright had Ever since I discovered the print, surviving the Great Kanto Earthquake that remarkably As with many of his love affairs, Wright’s relationship finally returned from Tokyo after completing the Imperial occurred on the exact day of the scheduled grand opening on with prints did not end on a happy note. In 1926, the Bank Hotel in 1923, he had amassed an impressive collection Japan had appealed to me as the most romantic, September 1, 1923. of Wisconsin confiscated more than 5,000 prints of his of Japanese prints that numbered in the thousands. It was collection from the print vault at Taliesin, which had been put artistic, nature-inspired country on earth. during this period that Wright made a great deal of money The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 up as collateral on a loan that Wright had been delinquent in buying prints in Japan and bringing them back to the United repaying. Two years later in 1928, the bank sold off the bulk Later I found that Japanese art and architecture and Its Aftermath States to sell to wealthy collectors and museums. To house of his beloved print collection to Edward Burr Van Vleck, a On September 1, 1923, the Imperial Hotel survived the his large collection and keep it safe—the prints represented really did have organic character. professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin— Great Kanto Earthquake which left the vast majority of a major financial investment—he built a specially designed Madison. Wright’s passion for Japanese prints and legacy Tokyo in ruins. The earthquake was estimated to have had a print vault with an elaborate shelving system in his home at Their art was nearer to the earth & a more indigenous as a collector, connoisseur, and dealer can still be witnessed magnitude between 7.9 and 8.4. The quake and subsequent Spring Green. today in the many masterpieces that originally came from his product of native conditions of life and work, fires cost at least 105,385 lives and with an additional 37,000 collection and now make up the majority of the Van Vleck missing, presumed dead. Over 570,000 homes were destroyed, Wright as Collector, Connoisseur, and Dealer Collection of Japanese Prints at the Chazen Museum of Art. therefore more nearly modern, as I saw it, leaving an estimated 1.9 million homeless. Despite initial Japanese woodblock prints called “pictures of the floating than any European civilization alive or dead. reports it had been destroyed, the Imperial Hotel survived world,” or ukiyo-e, played a central role in Frank Lloyd Wright’s the earthquake with only minor damage and became a refuge relationship with Japan. They were the impetus that led to for hundreds of the city’s inhabitants who were left homeless. his inaugural visit to Japan in 1905, and they were a much- On September 13, twelve days after the earthquake, Frank needed distraction during the long months he spent in Tokyo Although Wright insisted that neither the art nor the Lloyd Wright received a telegram from Tokyo that reported overseeing the construction of the Imperial Hotel. He wrote in architecture of Japan had had any direct formal influence the Imperial Hotel stood undamaged. The news rapidly An Autobiography, “The pursuit of the Japanese print became on his work, his indebtedness to this country and its culture spread and soon Wright was hailed a hero and architectural my constant recreation while in Tokyo. A never failing cannot be underestimated. As demonstrated through his work genius. The hotel’s survival was to become it’s most famous avocation in fact. Some said obsession.” (pg. 204) He became of building the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo—one of his finest statistic and a source of great pride for Frank Lloyd Wright. an avid collector, connoisseur, and most surprisingly a dealer architectural achievements—and his self-professed obsession As a hotel, the Imperial functioned for more than 45 years and of Japanese prints during his lifetime. At various periods in his with Japanese prints and art, many of Wright’s successes and finally closed its doors on November 15, 1967. Despite last career, profits from his prints greatly subsidized, if not fully failures in life were often inextricably connected to Japan. minute pleas to save the building—including a visit to Tokyo financed his architectural work. Unfortunately, his relationship As he goes on to write in his autobiography, “If Japanese by Wright’s widow Olgivanna—demolition began shortly with Japanese prints was not without difficulties. Beginning in prints were to be deducted from my education, I don’t know thereafter. Portions of the Imperial Hotel’s front lobby have the year 1919 while still hard at work on the Imperial Hotel, what direction the whole might have taken.” (pg. 204) he Dane County Regional Airport hosts over a million Selected Bibliography Traveling East: & Japan Wright Lloyd Frank Ttravelers a year. Business and leisure travelers, and those and Suggested Readings Frank Lloyd Wright & Japan waiting for family, friends and guests to the community have Birk, Melanie, ed., Frank Lloyd Wright’s curated by Laura J. Mueller Traveling East: the opportunity to enjoy diverse and exciting displays in the Fifty Views of Japan: The 1905 Photo art court. The exhibitions program is designed to introduce Album (San Francisco: Pomegranate In 2006, art historian Laura J. Mueller was a guest curator airport visitors to a broad range of visual and cultural treasures Artbooks, 1996) at Tandem Press and the Van Vleck Curatorial Intern at the drawn from the Dane County community. Chazen Museum of Art. Prior to that, she spent six years Elvehjem Museum of Art, The Edward living in Japan where she conceived the idea “Traveling East: Burr Van Vleck Collection of Japanese Frank Lloyd Wright and Japan.” She is currently living and Prints (Madison, WI: Elvehjem Museum his exhibit represents working in New York City. of Art, UW—Madison, 1990) Ta very small part of the Tandem Press would like to thank Andy Kraushaar, Visual tremendous cultural assets we James, Cary, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Materials Curator at the Wisconsin Historical Society for the have in Dane County and is Imperial Hotel (New York: Dover extraordinary assistance he provided for this exhibition.

Load more