UW prof to show ‘Wright’ stuff on PBS documentary this week

View PBS’ companion web site to Frank Lloyd Wright, a documentary about the architect that airs tonight and Wednesday on PBS.

UW–Madison professor William Cronon will share his insight into the ideas of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture in Ken Burns’ upcoming documentary on the architect.

One of the program’s producer/directors, Lynn Novick, was a Cronon student during Cronon’s 1988-1992 stint as a professor of history at Yale University. Cronon also contributed the lead article to the Museum of Modern Art’s 1994 retrospective on Wright’s work, which encompassed interior design as well as architecture.

On the program, Cronon will discusses points including the architect’s relationship to broader Emersonian ideas about the relationship between the natural world and the human psyche.

“Wright’s ‘organic’ architecture often is misunderstood,” Cronon says. “Wright took nature and passed it through the mind of the artist, so he saw his buildings as being more natural than nature itself. Consequently, he wasn’t really concerned with whether the roof leaked — what mattered to Wright was the ideal form.”

Cronon is the Frederick Jackson Turner Professor of History, Geography and Environmental Studies. The two-part “Frank Lloyd Wright” will air on public broadcasting stations Tuesday and Wednesday (Nov. 10 and 11) at 8 p.m.