The Tender Detail tells a story about the repression of ornament in architecture. The protagonists are Louis H. Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, perhaps the two most important architects and designers of ornament in American history. Through a close reading of their buildings and their writings, the book explores how both Sullivan and Wright worked to solve the problem of late nineteenth-century ornamentation. It shows how, while their solutions differed widely, they nonetheless shared something in common: for both men, ornament involved sentimentality. Examining ornament through the lens of sentimentality explains much about how these two architects understood and used ornament, and it brings important new insights into the nature of ornament itself, the value of affect, and the agency and ontology of objects. Illuminated by personal stories from Sullivan and Wright's autobiographies, The Tender Detail is a study of the intertwined lives of two of America's greatest architects, which will appeal to both architectural historians as well as architectural designers, and reflect contemporary interest in ornament in architecture and design.

Book Information
ISBN 9781350099616
Author Daniel E. Snyder
Format Hardback
Page Count 304
Imprint Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC