“Sullivan and Wright: A Duality of Difference”

AboutJ. William Rudd's comparative essay contrasts the architectural compositional principles of Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright despite their shared roots in Henry Hobson Richardson's rational planning and their mentor-protege relationship. Using Heinrich Wolfflin's formal categories (closed form/open space, articulation/integration, formal plasticity/spatial continuity), Rudd contrasts Sullivan's National Farmers' Bank (Owatonna) and Wainwright and Guaranty Buildings, emphasizing self-contained, object-like mass, with Wright's Fallingwater, Robie House, and Johnson Wax Research Tower, emphasizing spatial flow. Sullivan's emphasis on "MAN" as a generic humanistic ideal is contrasted with Wright's emphasis on individual sovereignty, and the two architects' differing client bases (Sullivan's largely commercial/urban commissions versus Wright's largely private/suburban ones) are quantified from published building lists.

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