Frank Lloyd Wright is one of the most celebrated names in Modern architecture, but less widely known is Marion Mahony Griffin—the pioneering architect, artist and visionary whose talent played a formative role in Wright's early work and legacy.
Among the world's first licensed female architects, Mahony Griffin was one of the most gifted architectural artists of her generation. Wright's first employee and important early collaborator, Mahony Griffin created exquisite, Japanese print-influenced watercolor and pen-and-ink renderings that revolutionized architectural drawing and helped define the visual identity of the Prairie School. Her drawings graced the pages of Wright's famous 1910 Wasmuth Portfolio, the publication that introduced his work to Europe and shaped the course of Modern architecture worldwide. Combining architecture and landscape with extraordinary artistic sensibility, her drawings became works of art in their own right—yet her achievements extended far beyond Wright's studio.
Her dynamic creative partnership with husband and fellow architect Walter Burley Griffin produced an extraordinary body of work spanning architecture, interiors, landscape and urban planning—including a stunning, against-all-odds win in the international competition to design Australia's new national capital, Canberra, carrying their progressive ideas about Modern living from America to Australia and later India.
Join Annalisa Capurro, designer, architectural historian and Modernism Week Board Member, for an inspiring exploration of Marion Mahony Griffin's extraordinary life. Through exquisite drawings, historic photographs and fascinating stories, discover the trailblazing, still little-known architect and artist, whose vision shaped the Modern movement on three continents.
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