Wright’s Fallingwater the Subject of Crystal Bridges Lecture
November 4, 2009 – 11:59 am
BENTONVILLE, Ark., November 4, 2009 – Fallingwater, architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s residential masterwork poised above a waterfall in Mill Run, Pa., will be the subject of an upcoming free lecture sponsored by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Lynda Waggoner, who is widely regarded as one of the nation’s foremost authorities on Fallingwater, will present “Fallingwater: The Story of an American Icon,” from 2-4 p.m. Sun., Nov. 15 in the Old High Middle School Auditorium located at 406 NW 2nd Street in Bentonville, Ark.
Waggoner’s lecture is the second in Crystal Bridges’ “Speaking of . . .” series, which brings renowned thinkers in the world of art and design to northwest Arkansas to share their expertise. The program is free and best for adults and teens. Registrations are not accepted and space is limited, so make plans to arrive early to avoid disappointment. Copies of Waggoner’s book Fallingwater: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Romance with Nature, will be for sale by Borders at the reception and book signing following the lecture.
In her book Waggoner describes Fallingwater as a “nature poem” that galvanized Wright’s career. The commission came to Wright when he was 68, his career in decline as European architects promoted International Style “machines for living.” His daring embrace of nature at a site many architects would dismiss as unbuildable resulted in a home that was recognized as the “best all-time work of American architecture” by the American Institute of Architects in 1991.
“I will discuss Wright’s role in creating a uniquely American style of architecture, one that is appropriate for American democracy, and how Fallingwater fits into that picture,” Waggoner said.
Now the vice president of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and director of Fallingwater, Lynda Waggoner has been affiliated with Wright’s masterwork since her high school days as a tour guide there. Waggoner subsequently studied architecture at the University of Kentucky and art history at the University of Pittsburgh. After serving as curator of the Museum Without Walls, a program of the Baltimore Museum of Art, and executive director of the Touchstone Center for Crafts, she returned to Fallingwater in 1985 as a curatorial consultant. Waggoner became the museum’s first full-time curator in 1986 and was named site administrator the following year; she was named director of Fallingwater in 1996.
In 2004 Waggoner was awarded the Gold Medal from the Pittsburgh chapter of the American Institute of Architects. In 1997 she was the Distinguished Alumna Lecturer for the University of Pittsburgh’s Frick Fine Arts School of Art History and Architectural Studies. She continues to lecture widely, most recently at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and the National Building Museum in Washington.
