100 prints in 2 portfolios : photolithographs ; sheets 66 x 42 cm

8 folded sheets (30 pages, 1 unnumbered page) ; 41 cm

Sometimes referenced as the Wasmuth portfolio.

Introduction signed, page 20: Frank Lloyd Wright, Florenz, Italien, 15. Mai 1910.

Publication/printer information printed on each plate.

Introductory text printed on 8 bifolia; contains title page (printed in gold), introduction by Wright, table of contents with descriptions of the plates, and colophon in which Wright acknowledges support of Charles E. Roberts, Francis W. Little, and Darwin D. Martin. Last leaf blank.

In German; some sets include English translation of introductory matter on 27 additional unnumbered pages, titled: Studies and executed buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright. "[The] English version of the introduction ... was printed in Chicago by Ralph Fletcher Seymour for inclusion in the sets destined for distribution in the USA"--Sweeney, page 16.

"A total of one hundred plates prepared from drawings made at Wright's Oak Park studio illustrate seventy buildings and projects between 1893 and 1909 ... The plates include perspective views, plans, elevations, sections, and interior and exterior details ... Some of the drawings are by Wright; others are the work of his assistants. According to conversations with Lloyd Wright, the architect's son, the drawings were taken to Fiesole, Italy, where they wre traced in their original size and scale by a team of draftsmen including Lloyd Wright and Taylor Wool[l]ey working under Frank Lloyd Wright's supervision. The tracings were then photographically reduced or enlarged to a uniform size and the images transferred to lithographic stones for printing"--Sweeney (cited below), pages 15-16. The majority of the buildings are in the Chicago metropolitan area.

For detailed discussion of the drawings and a checklist of possible attributions, see "Frank Lloyd Wright and the Wasmuth drawings," by H. Allen Brooks, in Art bulletin, v. 48 (1966), pages 193-202. Brooks concludes: "Of the delineators, Marion Mahony was unquestionably the most prolific. Judged in terms of the Wasmuth drawings, she contributed nearly half of those which appear attributable. There are some seventy-one plates ... with architectural perspectives and, of these, at least twenty seem to be primarily by her hand. Wright may be assigned about half that number, [Birch Burdette] Long perhaps four, and [William] Drummond about two; [Harry] Robinson may have drawn about three. The remaining renderings are more elusive. They lack strong personal traits or may be the work of several 'hands'").

Portfolios contain 72 photolithographed plates numbered I-XIII, XIIIa, XIV, XIVa, XV-XXXI, XXXIa, XXXIb, XXXII-XXXIII, XXXIIIa, XXXIV-XLIII, XLIIIa, XLIV-XLVII, XLVIIa, XLVIII-LVI, LVIa, LVII-LXIV; and 28 photolithographed tissue overlays, attached to plates I, VII-X, XII, XV (2 overlays), XVI-XVII, XXX-XXXI, XXXII-XXXIII, XXXIV, XXXVII-XXXVIII, XLVI, XLVIII-IL, LII-LIII, LVII-LVIII, LX, LXII-LXIV. Plate LX with single linen-backed fold. Plates LVI and LVIII and overlays to plates XLVIII and LII not listed in contents; description of "Tafel LVIII. Deckblatt" pertains to the plate, not to the overlay, which is not described; overlay to plate LXI listed and described as "Lageplan und Grundriss des Hauptgeschosses," but was not issued.

Plates are printed on gray and white papers and translucent tissue paper with brown, gray, gold and white inks; papers and inks may vary among sets. Each has Wright's name/device blind stamped.

[Volume 1]. Tafel 1-60

[volume 2]. Tafel 61-137.

Prairie school (Architecture) > Designs and plans.

Organic architecture > United States > Designs and plans.

Architecture > United States > History > 19th century > Pictorial works.

Architecture > United States > History > 20th century > Pictorial works.

Historic buildings > Illinois > Chicago Metropolitan Area > Pictorial works.

Architecture > Designs and plans > Facsimiles.

Prairie houses (Architecture) > Dessins et plans.

Architecture organique > États-Unis > Dessins et plans.

Architecture > États-Unis > Histoire > 19e siècle > Ouvrages illustrés.

Architecture > États-Unis > Histoire > 20e siècle > Ouvrages illustrés.

Architecture > Dessins et plans > Fac-similés.

Illinois > Chicago Metropolitan Area.

Architectural drawings.

Facsimiles.

History.

Pictorial works.

Architectural drawings - 1890-1910.

Lithographs - 1890-1910.

Ernst Wasmuth (Firm), publisher, printer.

Germany Berlin.