Sunday.March2. 1958 THE M{, AN DAILY MAGAZINE Sunday, March2, 1958 THE MICHIGAN- DAILY MAGAZINE ......,.......1 ..........,. , , Organic Architecture Rumania Tod ay Modern Life Must Find Expression in Homes Frank Lloyd Wright Party and Government RelationshiF Observed in Communist State A TESTAMENT. By Frank Lloyd Wright. New York, 1957: Hori- zon Press, 255 pp. $12.50. By BERNARD H. STOLLMAN "So, my boy, do not trouble yourself as to whether or not others understand your words as you do. Seek rather to un- derstand yourself-regardless of words; and in due time, if so t be written in the great book of destiny, others will perceive in your works more or less of what' you, more or less adequately, have thought, felt, lived, loved and understood." -Louis Sullivan THOUGH many controversial characters have passed upon the American scene in the past sixty years, few have been the cause of as much heated debate as has the Chicago architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. His name has become a household word throughout this country as well as many other parts of the world. Though most Americans know of him, very few have any idea why he should be a topic for discussion at all. He is popularly pictured as a self-proclaimed radical, a su- preme egotist who has little use for the work of others. A Testament is, in many ways, the culmination of the more than sixty years that Wright has been practicing his profession. The ideas presented in it are not new; the book contains nothing Wright has not stated previously in his books or lectures. It contains none of the close analyses of American civilization present in Genius and the Mobocracy and The Future of Architecture nor does it examine the materials of building as close- ly as did The Natural House. Basically, A Testament is an outline, a brief summing up of everything Wright has ever writ- ten and said. Yet his generaliza- tions are more poetic and less di- dactic in tone. He speaks not to convince but simply because the statements are true, lasting, in- evitable. This is not the teacher cautioning, it is the master prophesying. Though accused of being a self- appointed radical and the origi- nator of a new kind of architec- ture, this is not wholly true. Few realize "organic" architecture had its beginnings in the late 19th cen- tury under the hand of another less well-known architect. Wright himself never received a degree in architecture; the closest he ever came was a course in civil engi- neering at the University of Wis- consin. However, Wright had no desire to be an engineer. In his senior year he left school and went to Chicago to look for a job with an architectural firm. It was there that he met and worked for Louis Sullivan, undoubtedly the great- est architect of the period. Though H .H. Richardson had hinted at it with his Marshall Field Department Store in 1885, it was Sullivan who first originated the idea of "organic" as applied to architecture. He was sickened by the restatement of classical and renaissance themes. He wanted an architecture that was distinctly American, an indigenous one that expressed the American concept of By CAROL PRINS Daily Magazine Editor RUMANIA, tucked away within the confines of Central Europe, has been the scene of invasion and conquest from the time of the Emperor Trajan in 101 A.D. through centuries of subservience to Goths, Vandals, Turks and Russians to a more recent con- quest by Russian Communist coup In February 1945. Conquest came a a result of bulk of the legislative work is performed by the Presidium of the Assembly which is elected from and by the Assembly. The 17 nan group is the "collective president of the Rumanian People's Republic." Actually the Presidium is completely subservi- ent to the Party whose wishes it faithfully carries out. It-was the relationship between the Rumanian Worker's Party and the government of the Rumanian I /4 . frx MUEHLIG'S HAS MAJESTIC'S DISTINCTIVE DACRON-COTTON SHIRT IN FIVE COLORS 6 SHIRT WRIGHT WORK-The latest achievement of the noted architect is located near 7 Mile Road in Detroit. Says author Stollman, "it leaks, but it wouldn't be a Wright house unless it did." freedom. Wright soon realized that what "Lieber Meister," Wright's name for Sullivan, was suggesting was not just a possible solution to the problem of the meaning of architecture. It was the only solu- tion; the reality or essence of architecture, not simply another way of looking at it. The history of-architecture simply had been a search for this truth - democracy offering the first real opportunity to bring it into concrete, physical form. However, introducing the public to organic architecture proved to ulation votes. Don't you know the world smiles at you" was the professor's query to the Ru- manians.1 The pattern of a one party to- talitarian dictatorship is revealed in elections for -the President of the Presidium of the Grand Na- tional Assembly of Rumania held following the death of President Grodza. Party First Secretary Gheroghui-Dej simply got up and proposed then Foreign Minister Maurer for the post. Formallyit was an extremely democratic process. There were seconding speeches. and a very, very secret ballot. The delegates dropped written ballots into a deep closed box. The result, of 470 voters, 470 ballots were cast for Maurer. Pollock pointed out though there is a certain amount of con- sent in the electoral process, it is a case of a small well organized minority dominating the situation. This minority constituting about 10 per cent of the total population of the country is in the main youth group leaders, some wqrkers, privileged bureaucrats and hard- core party members. RUMANIA is definitely a police state ,with Russian troops sta- tioned there although not visible to the observer. Large numbers of Rumanian soldiers are seen in the cities 'and countryside how- ever. The minority policy of the gov- ernment was discussed at some length by Pollock. German minor- ities numbering well over 400,000 of the total population of 17 mil- lion have existed in Rumania since the 13th century. "Marks of Ger- man civilization are evident in such towns as Sigisoara or Chers- burg which reminds one-a little of Nuremberg," Pollock comment- ed. The Hungarian minority exists in an autonomous region in the center of Rumania and numbers one and a half million. Jewish, Serbo-Croations, U k r a i n i a n s, Greeks and Turks make up small- er ethnic groups. THE POLICY of the government at the present encourages and attempts to preserve the ethnic minorities. The reason, Pollock says, is that the country despite its attempted industrialization is still dependent on agriculture. Un- rest among cultural minorities would upset the economy and the security of the ruling party. The "new-economic course" introduced in 1953 features an attempt to in- crease agricultural production by direct government payments to farmers. The government realized its dependence on the peasantry which includes a large portion of minority ethnic groups for its economic welfare. Economically the country doesn't seem to be hurting too much, Pollock noted, saying he did not see any distress. People appeared well-clothed and well- fed. He did note queues at food stores however, which usually in- dicates shortages. Shop windows were not filled and such luxury items as women's nylon stockings sold on the black market for $8 dollars (U.S.) a pair. 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