Things I Like - Books

I just finished reading Loving Frank by Nancy Horan – the fictionalized account of the love affair between Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick Cheney. The story of the famous architect running away with the wife of one of his clients would hardly raise eyebrows today. Or maybe it would - I've noticed a lot of media attention focused on some folks named Jon and Kate lately...

Regardless, back in 1909, this was a major society scandal and the Chicago papers made it their business to sensationalize the affair from sordid beginning to horrific end.

I’ve known the general story since my childhood fascination with FLW and his architecture but this book looks at things from Mamah’s point of view:

Drawing on years of research, Horan weaves little-known facts into a compelling narrative, vividly portraying the conflicts and struggles of a woman forced to choose between the roles of mother, wife, lover, and intellectual. Horan’s Mamah is a woman seeking to find her own place, her own creative calling in the world.
~Random House

It’s not a pretty tale – two entire families destroyed by the selfish actions of two people who needed to be ‘true to themselves and their love’ (and I'm not even talking about the massacre up in Spring Green). But at least it was a true love, right? A love worth all the pain and unhappiness that they caused? Perhaps this was the case on Mamah’s part, I’m not so sure about Frank. It seems that he took up with another woman (Miriam Noel) who had sent him condolences on his loss. They were living together within weeks of Mamah’s death.

But he didn’t stop there - let’s take a quick look at the known love life of Frank Lloyd Wright:

1889 – Marries Catherine Clark in Chicago
1903 – Builds house for Mamah and Edward Cheney
1909 – Leaves with Mamah to live in Europe
1911 – Returns to US and lives with Mamah at Taliesin
1914 – Mamah and others murdered at Taliesin
1914 – Meets Miriam Noel who moves in to Taliesin
1916 – Travels to and lives in Tokyo with Miriam
1922 – Granted divorce from Catherine
1923 – After waiting the required 1 year, marries Miriam Noel
1924 – Separates from Miriam
1924 – Meets Olga Milanoff (married at the time but separated)
1927 – Divorce from Miriam is finalized
1928 – Marries Olga exactly one year after his last divorce
1959 – Dies at age 91

I guess he got it right with woman number 4. I still love Wright’s architecture and think he was brilliant but he sounds like an ass. Oh yeah, I really liked the book!

The house that Wright designed and built for Edward and Mamah Cheney.