Magnificent Obsession: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Buildings and Legacy in Japan
Narrated by Azby Brown and Donald Richie
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The story of the two-way cultural traffic between Wright and Japan is so intricate that even a 128-minute film can barely scratch the surface. And the surface that’s scratched is mainly in Japan, not here. Wright’s visits to Japan spanned 17 years, starting with his very first trip abroad–in 1905, when he was 37–and culminating with his work on Tokyo’s awesome Imperial Hotel. They weren’t exactly casual visits. In 1905 he brought back to the States enough prints, textiles, and ceramics to curate a show at the Art Institute the following year–starting a sideline in Japanese art that would become a major source of income over the next two decades–and in 1916 he sailed back to Japan with a grand piano and a yellow convertible.
Since the documentary understandably privileges the Imperial, viewers might conclude that Wright’s greatest accomplishments in the U.S. were also the urban blockbusters. But Wright hated cities, and many of his most famous urban designs, including parts of the Imperial, reflect that animosity: one of his late proposals for housing in New York City was to surround two mile-high buildings with acres of greenery. Even the uncharacteristically urban Guggenheim can be seen as a reproach to skyscrapers, though it’s not precisely the building he designed. It also reflects his dislike of paintings. But it’s a blockbuster, which may be why the film calls it the “world’s most remarkable museum” and doesn’t feel obliged to say why.
Where: Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State
