83 records matched your query       

Author:

Beam, Alex, author.

Title:

Broken glass : Mies van der Rohe, Edith Farnsworth, and the fight over a modernist masterpiece / Alex Beam.

Edition:

First edition.

Publisher:

Random House,

Copyright Date:

2020

Description:

xii, 337 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Summary:

"In 1945, Edith Farnsworth asked the German architect Mies van der Rohe, already renowned for his avant-garde buildings, to design a weekend home for her outside of Chicago. Edith was a woman ahead of her time--unmarried, she was a distinguished medical researcher, whose discoveries put her in contention for the Nobel Prize, as well as an accomplished violinist, translator, and poet. The two quickly began an intimate relationship, spending weekends together, sharing interests in transcendental philosophy, Catholic mysticism, wine-soaked picnics, and architecture. Their collaboration would produce one of the most important works of architecture of all time, a blindingly original house made up almost entirely of glass and steel. But the minimalist marvel, built in 1951, was plagued by cost over-runs and a sudden chilling of the two friends' mutual affection. Though the building became world-famous, Farnsworth found it impossible to live in the transparent house, and she began a public campaign against him, cheered on by Frank Lloyd Wright. Mies, in turn, sued her for unpaid monies. The ensuing trial covered not just the missing funds and the structural weaknesses of the home, but turned into a trial of modernist art and architecture itself. Interweaving personal drama and cultural history, Alex Beam presents a stylish, enthralling tapestry of a tale, illuminating the fascinating history behind one of the twentieth-century's most beautiful and significant architectural projects"-- Provided by publisher.

ISBN:

0399592717
9780399592713

OCLC:

(OCoLC)1104860779

LCCN:

2019022841

Locations:

USUX851 -- Iowa State University - Parks Library (Ames)

GBPF771 -- Ankeny Kirkendall Public Library (Ankeny)

TCPG826 -- Bettendorf Public Library Information Center (Bettendorf)

TYPH572 -- Cedar Rapids Public Library (Cedar Rapids)

YTPG232 -- Clinton Public Library (Clinton)

TDPH826 -- Davenport Public Library (Davenport)

BAPH771 -- Des Moines Public Library (Des Moines)

FXPH314 -- Carnegie-Stout Public Library (Dubuque)

OVUX522 -- University of Iowa Libraries (Iowa City)

S1PD771 -- Johnston Public Library (Johnston)