Mahonri M. Young (1877-1957),
New England Waterfall, 20th century, mixed media, 10 3/16 X 13 3/4 inches. Brigham Young University Museum of Art, purchase/gift of Mahonri M. Young Estate, 1959.
American architect Frank Lloyd Wright was born on this day in 1867 in Wisconsin. Wright did not study architecture in school, but after dropping out of university, found work in Chicago as a draftsman for an architecture firm, and then as a designer in another firm, finally finding work in the firm of Adler & Sullivan. While there, Wright developed his own styles as an architect. By the early 1900s, Wright was working for himself and was working in the Prairie style, a precursor to his Organic style. One of Lloyd's most famous creation is Fallingwater, originally designed as a private home in 1935, located on a waterfall in the woods of Pennsylvania. Fallingwater was designed to be in harmony with the natural surroundings, a key element of the Organic style. Today's Artwork of the Day by Mahonri M. Young depicts a waterfall in the New England woods, a similar setting to that in which Fallingwater is situated.