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Marion Mahony Griffin
Marion Mahony Griffin (née Marion Lucy Mahony; February 14, 1871 – August 10, 1961) was an American architect and artist. She was one of the first licensed female architects in the world, and is considered an original member of the Prairie School. Her work in the United States developed and expanded the American Prairie School, and her work in India and Australia reflected Prairie School ideals of indigenous landscape and materials in newly formed democracies. The scholar Debora Wood stated that Griffin "did the drawings people think of when they think of Frank Lloyd Wright (one of her collaborating architects)." According to architecture critic, Reyner Banham, Griffin was "America’s (and perhaps the world’s) first woman architect who needed no apology in a world of men."
She produced some of the finest architectural drawings in America and Australia, and was instrumental in envisioning the design plans for the capital city of Australia, Canberra. Towards the end of her life, she wrote The Magic of America, an autobiography accompanied with various illustrations dedicated toward showcasing her life's work and values.
Mahony was born in 1871 in Chicago, Illinois, to Jeremiah Mahony, a journalist, poet, and teacher from Cork, Ireland, and Clara Hamilton, a schoolteacher. After the Great Chicago Fire in 1880, her family moved north of Chicago to nearby Winnetka. Scholars note that it is very likely that her family was heavily involved in the intellectual and Unitarian community there at the time, as both her parents were deeply ambitious about education and art. Winnetka's Unitarian Chapel often held discussions about the arts, politics, and social issues heavily revolving around democracy. Mahony often recalled her childhood in Winnetka in her autobiography, "The Magic of America", describing how she had become fascinated by the freeing nature and quickly disappearing landscape as suburban homes filled the area.At the time, Winnetka was known to be more "like a pioneer town than a suburb." This landscape inspired Mahony's focus on nature in her architectural practices, and her family's involvement in the intellectual community further influenced her democratic principles and philosophy.
After Mahony's father died by suicide in 1882, her mother decided to move out of Winnetka to the West Side of Chicago where she became an elementary school principal in a Chicago Public School to support her children. Her mother became a pioneer in public education, and was involved in many women's groups across the city. Mahony described her mother as "the most democratic of human beings", firsthand seeing her involvement with many social reformers, activists, artists, and intellectuals. She grew up with a range of female role models in Chicago. Anna Wilmarth, who was part of their inner circles personally funded Mahony's education at the Massuchusetts Institute of Technology after she was influenced by her cousin, architect Dwight Perkins, to pursue an architectural degree. After Sophia Hayden, Mahony was the second woman to have studied architecture and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1894.
After completing her degree at MIT, Mahony returned to Chicago and started her professional career at her cousin, Dwight Perkins' practice in Chicago’s Steinway Hall, a shared office of more progressive artists and architects during the time. Perkins himself was a former MIT student, however he never completed his architectural degree. Although Mahony was more educated than him, he fostered the significant improvement of her drafting and design skills as she gained hands-on experience. Subsequently, she became the first licensed female architect in Illinois in 1898. Through Perkins, Mahony met and was hired by Frank Lloyd Wright as his first employee in 1895. She was later hired and worked with Wright from 1895–1909 in both Chicago and his Oak Park studio. She went to work designing buildings, furniture, stained glass windows, and decorative panels. Barry Byrne, a coworker of Mahony's described her as “the most talented member of Frank Lloyd Wright’s staff."
From the progressive educational philosophies, and inner circles of women and social reformers that she was exposed to from a young age, Mahony's values heavily revolved around collaboration and spilled into most of her architectural work. In a field of competitive individualists, she saw architecture as a collective endeavor. In her autobiography she emphasized the advantages of working together, especially in creating spaces that were meant to bring people together. Further, her philosophy, reflecting the later formed Prairie School ideals, was rooted in the human relationship to nature and democracy. Almost always, she integrated architecture with the natural world, creating perspectives of landscapes working together with structures in her renderings. In her autobiography, her biggest discussions were centered around democracy, character, integrity, and the right to artistic expression.
Although Mahony was considered an illustrator or delineator of the work of other architects, her "rich and fruitful" graphic representation and style combined perspective, plan, and section on one sheet for the first time. Through this original style, Mahony challenged traditional rendering conventions during the time. She combined art and architecture in her draftsmanship, and was known to have an "exceptional feel" for linear compositions that integrated architecture with nature. Her interest in Japanese prints gave her several unique compositional techniques of color, depth, emphasis, and line weight that played a crucial role in the development of the Prairie School. This new presentation of designs was revolutionary in presenting architectural work to the world. Mahony's work became a powerful marketing tool, that enabled conversations with clients as they had become able to visualize the plans presented.
In the fifteen years that Mahony had worked for Wright, she was an important contributor to his reputation and brand identity, particularly to the influential Wasmuth Portfolio, for which Mahony had "contributed nearly half [of the drawings] which appear attributable." Her rendering of the K. C. DeRhodes House in South Bend, Indiana, in particular, was praised by Wright and many critics. Her presentation drawing of the home was exceptionally skillful with clear-cut lines, and her original use of stylized trees and flowers to frame the structure. The foliage was just as sharp as the structure presented, further highlighting her integration of architecture with the natural world.
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Marion Mahony Griffin
Marion Mahony Griffin (née Marion Lucy Mahony; February 14, 1871 – August 10, 1961) was an American architect and artist. She was one of the first licensed female architects in the world, and is considered an original member of the Prairie School. Her work in the United States developed and expanded the American Prairie School, and her work in India and Australia reflected Prairie School ideals of indigenous landscape and materials in newly formed democracies. The scholar Debora Wood stated that Griffin "did the drawings people think of when they think of Frank Lloyd Wright (one of her collaborating architects)." According to architecture critic, Reyner Banham, Griffin was "America’s (and perhaps the world’s) first woman architect who needed no apology in a world of men."
She produced some of the finest architectural drawings in America and Australia, and was instrumental in envisioning the design plans for the capital city of Australia, Canberra. Towards the end of her life, she wrote The Magic of America, an autobiography accompanied with various illustrations dedicated toward showcasing her life's work and values.
Mahony was born in 1871 in Chicago, Illinois, to Jeremiah Mahony, a journalist, poet, and teacher from Cork, Ireland, and Clara Hamilton, a schoolteacher. After the Great Chicago Fire in 1880, her family moved north of Chicago to nearby Winnetka. Scholars note that it is very likely that her family was heavily involved in the intellectual and Unitarian community there at the time, as both her parents were deeply ambitious about education and art. Winnetka's Unitarian Chapel often held discussions about the arts, politics, and social issues heavily revolving around democracy. Mahony often recalled her childhood in Winnetka in her autobiography, "The Magic of America", describing how she had become fascinated by the freeing nature and quickly disappearing landscape as suburban homes filled the area.At the time, Winnetka was known to be more "like a pioneer town than a suburb." This landscape inspired Mahony's focus on nature in her architectural practices, and her family's involvement in the intellectual community further influenced her democratic principles and philosophy.
After Mahony's father died by suicide in 1882, her mother decided to move out of Winnetka to the West Side of Chicago where she became an elementary school principal in a Chicago Public School to support her children. Her mother became a pioneer in public education, and was involved in many women's groups across the city. Mahony described her mother as "the most democratic of human beings", firsthand seeing her involvement with many social reformers, activists, artists, and intellectuals. She grew up with a range of female role models in Chicago. Anna Wilmarth, who was part of their inner circles personally funded Mahony's education at the Massuchusetts Institute of Technology after she was influenced by her cousin, architect Dwight Perkins, to pursue an architectural degree. After Sophia Hayden, Mahony was the second woman to have studied architecture and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1894.
After completing her degree at MIT, Mahony returned to Chicago and started her professional career at her cousin, Dwight Perkins' practice in Chicago’s Steinway Hall, a shared office of more progressive artists and architects during the time. Perkins himself was a former MIT student, however he never completed his architectural degree. Although Mahony was more educated than him, he fostered the significant improvement of her drafting and design skills as she gained hands-on experience. Subsequently, she became the first licensed female architect in Illinois in 1898. Through Perkins, Mahony met and was hired by Frank Lloyd Wright as his first employee in 1895. She was later hired and worked with Wright from 1895–1909 in both Chicago and his Oak Park studio. She went to work designing buildings, furniture, stained glass windows, and decorative panels. Barry Byrne, a coworker of Mahony's described her as “the most talented member of Frank Lloyd Wright’s staff."
From the progressive educational philosophies, and inner circles of women and social reformers that she was exposed to from a young age, Mahony's values heavily revolved around collaboration and spilled into most of her architectural work. In a field of competitive individualists, she saw architecture as a collective endeavor. In her autobiography she emphasized the advantages of working together, especially in creating spaces that were meant to bring people together. Further, her philosophy, reflecting the later formed Prairie School ideals, was rooted in the human relationship to nature and democracy. Almost always, she integrated architecture with the natural world, creating perspectives of landscapes working together with structures in her renderings. In her autobiography, her biggest discussions were centered around democracy, character, integrity, and the right to artistic expression.
Although Mahony was considered an illustrator or delineator of the work of other architects, her "rich and fruitful" graphic representation and style combined perspective, plan, and section on one sheet for the first time. Through this original style, Mahony challenged traditional rendering conventions during the time. She combined art and architecture in her draftsmanship, and was known to have an "exceptional feel" for linear compositions that integrated architecture with nature. Her interest in Japanese prints gave her several unique compositional techniques of color, depth, emphasis, and line weight that played a crucial role in the development of the Prairie School. This new presentation of designs was revolutionary in presenting architectural work to the world. Mahony's work became a powerful marketing tool, that enabled conversations with clients as they had become able to visualize the plans presented.
In the fifteen years that Mahony had worked for Wright, she was an important contributor to his reputation and brand identity, particularly to the influential Wasmuth Portfolio, for which Mahony had "contributed nearly half [of the drawings] which appear attributable." Her rendering of the K. C. DeRhodes House in South Bend, Indiana, in particular, was praised by Wright and many critics. Her presentation drawing of the home was exceptionally skillful with clear-cut lines, and her original use of stylized trees and flowers to frame the structure. The foliage was just as sharp as the structure presented, further highlighting her integration of architecture with the natural world.