Olgivanna Lloyd Wright

Olgivanna Lloyd WrightFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaOlgivanna Lloyd Wright (1898 - 1985) was the third and nal wife of FrankLloyd Wright and had signicant inuence in his life and work, due in part to herextensive Theosophical associations. She was a Serb Montenegrin dancer. Whileher "language, cultural background and upbringing were almost exotically aliento his own," [1] she was critical in introducing Wright to Greek-Armenian mystic G.I. Gurdjie, a man whom he alternately despised and admired.[2] She is aprincipal character in T.C. Boyle's 2009 novel, The Women.

Contents1 Biography2 Bibliography3 Videography4 References

BiographyShe was born as Olga (Olgivanna) Ivanovna Lazovich in Montenegro on 27December 1898. to Ivan Lazovich and Militza Miljanova, daughter of VojvodaMarko Miljanov. She was the granddaughter of a famous Montenegrin writer,tribe leader of Kui, Montenegrin duke, and hero Marko Miljanov. A long-timepupil and devotee of G. I. Gurdjie (even after her involvement with Wright), shewas also a nurse to Katherine Manseld on her deathbed at G. I. Gurdjie'sInstitute for the Harmonious Development of Man at the Prieur des Basses Logeson 9 January 1923.[3] She had begun her career with Gurdjie as a student ofsacred dance, which she later mastered.[4]She was married rst to Vlademar Hinzenberg, a Russian architect.Wright and Olgivanna married August 1928 in La Jolla, California, andhoneymooned in Phoenix, Arizona.[5] According to architectural writer WaltLockley, "The Foundation and the Fellowship would not exist in any form if Wrighthadn't gone to the opera with a friend one Sunday afternoon in 1924 Chicago andsat near to the dark-haired Montenegrin dancer."[6] Olgivanna continued to runWright's Taliesin Fellowship long after his death, from 9 April 1959 until her own

Olgivanna Lloyd Wright - Wikipedia, the free ency... http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Olgiva...

1 of 4 2014-05-28 21:48

death in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1985. The last quarter-century of Wright'slifehis Arizona years with Olgivanna, from 1932 to 1959were arguably hismost productive, representing "more than half of [Wright's] building"[7] andincluding the authorship of his autobiography.Embroiled in scandal and controversy from the beginning of their relationship(since both were married at its start), Olgivanna's legacy extended past hernatural life. She had planned the removal of Wright's body from its Wisconsingrave, which was then "cremated, mixed with her ashes and used in the walls of amemorial garden to be built on the grounds of their home at Taliesin West."[8] TheWisconsin legislature prohibited this move, but nonetheless her plan was carriedout successfully:

When Robert Llewellyn Wright--the son who 26 years earlier had driventhrough the night to return Frank Lloyd Wright's body to Wisconsinafter Wright died at St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix--objected to the"desecration," Iovanna sent him a terse telegram: "The heritage ofTaliesin is not for the likes of you."[9]

Iovanna Lazovich Lloyd Wright was Olgivanna's only child with Wright.Olgivanna's only other daughter, Svetlana Hinzenberg, adopted the surnameWright and married one of Wright's apprentices, Fellowship member WilliamWesley "Wes" Peters - who helped Wright ward o creditors and bankruptcy.When Svetlana Hinzenberg died in a car crash with her elder son, Daniel,Olgivanna curiously arranged for Wes Peters' subsequent marriage to SvetlanaAlliluyeva, the youngest child and only daughter of Joseph Stalin. After producingwith Wes Peters a daughter, Olga, in a marriage that lasted 20 months, SvetlanaAlliluyeva came away with a less than glowing impression of the matriarch andher management of Taliesin:

This hierarchical system was appalling: the widow at the top, then theboard of directors (a formality); then her own close inner circle, makingall the real decisions; then working architects - the real working horses;at the bottom, students who paid high sums to be admitted, only to besent the next day to work in the kitchen to peel potatoes.. Mrs.Wright's word was law. She had to be adored and worshipped andattered as often as possible; owers send by mail and presented byhand she enjoyed and encouraged. She gave advice to the architects,guided a drama circle, a dance group and a choir, counseling on privatelives and relationships, expecting everyone to make personalconfessions to her. She was a 'spiritual leader' and self-appointedminister, preaching on Sunday mornings on matters of God and man,when everyone was supposed to be in her large living room[10]


2 of 4 2014-05-28 21:48

BibliographyThe faraway music by Svetlana Allilueva. (Also known as Distant Music.) [11]Edition: 1st ed. New Delhi: Lancer International, 1984.The Fellowship: The Untold Story of Frank Lloyd Wright and the TaliesinFellowship by Roger Friedland and Harold Zellman, 2006, includes especiallyextensive and strong documentation on Olgivanna, her relationship withWright, including "the strong inuence the occultist Georgi Gurdjie had onWright and especially his wife Olgivanna"[12]A Taliesin Legacy: The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright's Apprentices(Architecture Series) by Tobias S. Guggenheimer. Wiley, 1995. "[A]nencyclopedia study of the projects planned and/or built by these students,who eagerly embraced Wright's ethic of organic design." (Book Review(http://www.amazon.com/dp/0471286427))Taliesin Reections: My Years Before, During and After Living with FrankLloyd Wright by Earl Nisbet, 2006. (Book Review (http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A1F4TQFX0Z73X8))Frank Lloyd Wright: His Life, His Work, His Words by Olgivanna LloydWright. Horizon Press, 1966.

VideographyFrank Lloyd Wright - A lm by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. (1998). PBSHome Video, August 28, 2001 (153 minutes). ASIN: B00005MEPO.Partner to Genius: A Biography of Olgivanna Lloyd Wright. PBS Home Video,VHS, May 13, 1997. ASIN: B00000JKXH.

References^ Secrest. Frank Lloyd Wright Google books search. (http://books.google.com/books?id=S7ZB90XmTdcC&pg=PA303&lpg=PA303&dq=olga+ivanovna+lazovich&source=web&ots=CHLhcuq0nP&sig=0PQ1pFt5xJkm3Sw9DZJ5XO7oPU8)

1.

^ See Friedland and Zellman, The Fellowship, p. 1182.^ Friedland and Zellman, The Fellowship, pp. 76-783.^ Katherine Manseld Olgivanna (http://www.katherinemanseld.org.uk4.


3 of 4 2014-05-28 21:48

/olgaivanova.htm)^ Taliesin Preservation, Inc. - Visitors Guide - Be An Insider!(http://www.taliesinpreservation.org/visitorsguide/insider.htm)

5.

^ Walt Lockley. Cult Secrets of Taliesin West, online article(http://www.waltlockley.com/taliesin%20lessons/taliesin.htm)

6.

^ Phoenix - News - Room With No Viewfrank Lloyd Wright'S Houses Are Nice PlacesTo Visit But You Wouldn'T Want To Live There (http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1993-02-10/news/room-with-no-viewfrank-lloyd-wright-s-houses-are-nice-places-to-visit-but-you-wouldn-t-want-to-live-there/2)

7.

^ Frank Lloyd Wright (http://www.doney.net/aroundaz/celebrity/wright_franklloyd.htm)

8.

^ Phoenix - News - Room With No Viewfrank Lloyd Wright'S Houses Are Nice PlacesTo Visit But You Wouldn'T Want To Live There (http://news.phoenixnewtimes.com/1993-02-10/news/room-with-no-viewfrank-lloyd-wright-s-houses-are-nice-places-to-visit-but-you-wouldn-t-want-to-live-there/)

9.

^ The Faraway Music by Svetlana Allilueva, 1986. p. 86.10.^ Waltlockley.com (http://www.waltlockley.com/taliesin%20lessons/taliesin.htm)11.^ Book Review of The Fellowship (Amazon Book Review (http://www.amazon.com/review/R2WJUXQ31FOMQX/))

12.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Olgivanna_Lloyd_Wright&oldid=547029099"Categories: 1898 births 1985 deaths

This page was last modied on 26 March 2013 at 06:30.Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlikeLicense; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to theTerms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of theWikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-prot organization.


4 of 4 2014-05-28 21:48

Olgivanna Lloyd Wright

Documents

Transcript of Olgivanna Lloyd Wright