Martin House In The News
Buffalo News - July 1999
Today's manufacturing methods for art glass are every bit the equal of those of the past. Oakbrook Esser Studios, in Wisconsin that produces these windows - an hour's drive from Taliesin, by the way - operates much the same way that Linden Glass did at the turn of the century."
Though all of Wright's Martin House window designs are based on straight lines, the variety of the geometric schemes is immense. Some windows are dense with multiple pieces of glass; others are open and airy, the elements more sparsely distributed.
Often one surface of the glass is iridized, a process that produces a rainbow of color - pinks, magentas, oranges, greens - reflected off the surface. Whatever the integral color of the glass, the surface is ever-changing. Even the slightest movement of the eye results in color change.
For viewers who worry that these effects will be somehow diminished in those windows that are reproductions of the originals, Lownie says relax; "Wright didn't do these windows himself, anyway. They were produced by the Linden Glass Co. in Chicago. The idea of reproductions here is very different from the idea of reproductions of a painting."
Reproductions are the only way today. The Louvre and the other prestigious institutions around the world that own Martin House windows are not about to give them back, says Lownie. And certainly no one has the big bucks necessary to buy them back even if they were for sale.
And besides, Lownie says, today's manufacturing methods for art glass are every bit the equal of those of the past. Oakbrook Esser Studios, in Wisconsin that produces these windows - an hour's drive from Taliesin, by the way - operates much the same way that Linden Glass did at the turn of the century."
In all, 30 window reproductions were commissioned for the exhibition. Eventually they will be returned to their place in the restored Martin House. |
