MERCHANT PRINCE AND MASTER BUILDER: Edgar J. Kaufmann and Frank Lloyd Wright examines the extraordinary relationship between one of the nation's leading retailers in the mid-twentieth century and its best-known architect. Over a span of twenty-five years, from 1934 to 1959, Kaufmann, his wife, Liliane, and their son, Edgar Kaufmann jr., commissioned a dozen projects from Wright, including the famous country house, Fallingwater, and unrealized schemes for a civic center in Pittsburgh.The Kaufmanns shared Wright's belief in the power of good design to enrich the quality of modern life. Through Kaufmann's department store in Pittsburgh and Kaufmann jr.'s association with the Museum of Modern Art in New York, they promoted the work of Wright and other progressive designers from the United States, Scandinavia, Central Europe, and Latin America. Their story broadens the context for understanding Wright's career during the final decades of his life.
