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Triptych Window from the Coonley Playhouse, Riverside, Illinois

A triptych glass window in an oak frame with an asymmetrical geometric pattern of circles, squares, and rectangles in clear, red, green, blue, and black glass.

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  • A triptych glass window in an oak frame with an asymmetrical geometric pattern of circles, squares, and rectangles in clear, red, green, blue, and black glass.

Date:

1912 (removed 1967)

Artist:

Frank Lloyd Wright
American, 1867-1959

About this artwork

This colorful, whimsical triptych window is from the Avery Coonley Playhouse, a small structure that Frank Lloyd Wright designed as an addition to the Coonleys’ suburban Chicago estate, which he had previously completed in 1908. Louis Sullivan’s foremost student, Wright continued his teacher’s search for an indigenous American architecture. Like Sullivan, Wright drew inspiration from nature and natural forms, and both men were pioneers of the Prairie School of architecture, characterized by low-slung, horizontal lines and rambling, open spaces that reflect the gently rolling landscape of the Midwest. Odes to the middle-class American family at the turn of the century, Wright’s residences are organic, designed not only to adapt to a family’s changing structure but also to contain the sense of a unified and harmonious whole. Every detail of the Coonley complex, like all of Wright’s projects, bore his personal imprint, down to the creation and placement of the furniture and the design of this window. Referencing such Americana as the flag and colored balloons, Wright explored the use of glass both as a transparent screen uniting exterior and interior and as a decorative element, the colors and design of which anticipate the later abstractions of Piet Mondrian.

Status

On View, Gallery 200

Department

Architecture and Design

Artist

Frank Lloyd Wright (Designer)

Title

Triptych Window from the Coonley Playhouse, Riverside, Illinois

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1912

Medium

Clear and colored leaded glass in oak frames

Dimensions

Center panel: 35 1/4 × 43 in. (89.5 × 109.2 cm) Two side panels: 36 × 7 3/4 in. (91.4 × 19.7 cm) (each)

Credit Line

Purchased with funds provided by Dr. and Mrs. Edwin J. DeCosta and the Walter E. Heller Foundation

Reference Number

1986.88

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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