The Artist as a Human

Nancy Horan gives us a wonderfully compelling, honest and moving portrait of the young genius Frank Wright, through the eyes of the love of his life, Mamah Cheney.

I have always admired Frank Lloyd Wright’s work, but confess to knowing nothing about his personal life. Now I feel like I know him intimately.

You see the young artist self-aggrandizing, promoting himself, awakening America and then the world to the concept of nature trumping man in architecture. His clients fall in love with him, he is flamboyant and driven. With a wife and six children at home, his career is just starting to take off.

Ed Cheney loves Frank's work and sees a FLW home as a wise investment and he is most certainly correct. Mamah, his wife is unsure, but then she meets Frank and becomes enamored with his vision. A friendship develops that lasts years, with Mamah always hoping, believing, that she is not just another fawning fan to Frank. His attention is always effusive, sensual and deep; she realizes she is more than just a client's wife and they begin what was probably, the scandal of the century in 1905. With eight children and two marriages between them, they flee the country to be together in Europe.

Since this is a novel, based on factual events, we can only imagine how difficult it must have been for them. Horan paints a canvas of obstacles; paparazzi, family pressures, shame, business interests, pulling them apart. In Europe, they are more liberal and they are not scorned as in the US, but the scandal follows them everywhere, there is no escape. Mamah is an intellectual, a feminist and it took some courage (and perhaps narcissism) to leave her family behind to pursue her own life. Thankfully, she did just that, and she is the hero of this story. She does not fall apart because of Frank or the media frenzy. She does not cave, she does not bend. She meets Ellen Key, an influential and well-known member of the “Women Movement” and begins working as her translator. She learns new languages, speaking four or five. She becomes known and successful in her own right, not just as Frank’s woman. When he leaves her to be with his children, she moves on in Europe and does not return to America with her tail between her legs.

When they reunite, they build Frank’s dream house, Taliesin in Wisconsin and begin their lives together. His is now one of the most sought after architects in the world. She is mending her lost relationships with her children. Edwin finally (almost a decade later) gives Mamah a divorce, but Catherine Wright still refuses - so they stay in rural Taliesin, away from the spotlight, and continue living and working together. Their home becomes a sanctuary for artists, almost a commune. Liberals, intellectuals, artists, children and dogs bring bright life to Taliesin and Mamah is finally at peace. They are able to be together without shame and enjoy their success, wealth and families.

One day changes all this, as it could or might for any of us. If you don’t know the love story of Frank and Mamah, the ending will certainly be a shock. I will never forget the story of Taliesin, and now must know what happened after 1914, as this tale ends there.

“Loving Frank” is a very good read. Ms. Horan has a gift with words and this book moved me deeply. Her prose is magical and filled with imagery of an era in time that richly deserves revisiting. I didn’t want this book to end.