Frank Lloyd Wright and the Kaufmann family envisioned living in harmony with the natural world. Fallingwater realized their shared dream, and a new book published by Rizzoli launches on April 1 to help us experience it as they did.
Get a Deeper Look at Fallingwater with a New Book Release
Fallingwater: Living With and In Art, edited by Justin Gunther and Scott W. Perkins and also featuring photography by frequent TABLE Magazine contributor Dave Bryce, makes the most famous house of the 20th century ours. Its intimate views of Wright’s masterpiece make us feel as if we are walking through the house at our own pace, through the daylight hours and into the evening, and across the seasons. We feel as Edgar Sr., Liliane, and Edgar Jr. must have felt when they were in residence: comfortably seated, drink in hand, we contemplate the beauty of nature framed by every window.
Yes, the house is grand. It cantilevers over the stream and waterfall that drew the Kaufmann family to the site, incorporating itself into the verticality of rocks, trees, and the famous waterfall. Seen in its entirety from the unofficial best viewing site across the stream, the house seems as mammoth as a mansion. Inside, however, the spaces are intimate. The book shows the house’s tender sense of shelter, emphasized by the naturally irregular textures of rock walls and massive flagstone floors, and also the finely crafted details throughout. This delicate “insideness” is extended outdoors through a number of terraces, expanses of windows, and even an elegant stair from the living room down to a plunge pool and the stream below. The ease inside embraces the gentle wildness outside… which is exactly what Wright intended.
Order a copy at your favorite bookseller. Fall into Fallingwater. And then go visit the house to enrich the visuals with the perceptions of your other four senses.
Story by Keith Recker
Cover Photography by Dave Bryce
Subscribe to TABLE Magazine’s print edition.
