Lot #219

Frank Lloyd Wright

room screen
USA, 1956
gilt and painted walnut
150”w x “d x 93”h
In 1956, Elizabeth Gordon, Editor of House Beautiful commissioned Frank
Lloyd Wright to create the interior for the master bedroom of her Dobbs Ferry, New York estate. Wright enlisted his “key man” Eugene Masselink to produce the designs. Mr. Masselink had previously created designs for Wright projects including mural screens for the Price house in Arizona, a mural at Price tower in Oklahoma, and stained glass designs for the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Wisconsin.
The Mural offered here is part of his geometric design work based on the circle. Wright and Masselink created total works of art, basing entire projects from
landscaping to house plans, and furniture to decoration on a single geometry. The circle motif was utilized in several late projects by Wright including the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Masselink's screen presented here illustrates the organic geometry of Wright's late work. The Gordon House screen is hand painted and filled in sections with gold leaf. Intersecting circles create leaf forms which become segmented into fern fronds. The general composition is dynamic and asymmetrical, enveloping but not overpowering the
panels upon which it is created.
An original custom carpet by Edward Fields, sold with the screen, continues the motif onto the floor. (carpet size 146” x 164”)
Provenance: Elizabeth Gordon, Dobbs Ferry, New York.
30,000-50,000