Bowers Museum exhibit celebrates architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s 150th birthday anniversary

In celebration of architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s 150th birthday last month, the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana opened the “Frank Lloyd Wright: Architecture of the Interior” exhibition, featuring reproduction drawings and photographs of homes he designed across North America.

The exhibition will run at Bowers Museum until Aug. 20.

Wright — who died in 1959 at age 91 — designed more than 500 completed structures, which also included churches, hotels, offices, skyscrapers, schools, and museums.

In 1991, the American Institute of Architects recognized Wright as “the greatest American architect of all time.”

The 19 drawings, eight photographs and four photographic murals exhibited at the museum present only the interiors of famous Wright-designed homes, such as the Frederick Robie House in Chicago and the Thaxter Shaw House in Montreal.

The displayed works, some in black and white and others in color, reveal living areas, dining spaces, and kitchens.

Precise lines in many of the drawings, which Wright drew himself, depict details like books on the shelf and leaves on plants.

“It’s our way of paying tribute to him,” said Victoria Gerard, Bowers curator of collections and special exhibitions. “We hadn’t really done an exhibit about design and we had his anniversary date in mind. Shows in the past haven’t really talked about his interior design so we also thought it’d be fun to share some lesser-known parts of his work.”

Bowers staff collaborated with the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and International Arts and Artists, a nonprofit based in Washington D.C., to bring in the reproduction drawings and photographs.

In 2015, the Santa Ana museum began to feature more works of photography on a consistent basis, Gerard said.

“We’ve found that [photography] is a more approachable medium,” Gerard said. “We’re so photo-centric now with social media — and with cameras on all our phones. In that way, people can relate.”

“Fallingwater,” a film directed by Lynda Waggoner, which tells the story of a country house Wright designed for a family in western Pennsylvania, also is playing within the exhibition at Bowers.

Several different programs to complement the show will take place at the museum until August, such as special tours with architects from the L.A. and O.C. chapters of the American Institute of Architects, a film screening, a presentation by author Alan Hess, and a one-night “Architecture of Food Dinner Program” at the Tangata restaurant at Bowers.

If You Go

What: “Frank Lloyd Wright: Architecture of the Interior”

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays through Aug. 20

Where: Bowers Museum, 2002 N Main St., Santa Ana

Cost: $13 for adults, $10 for seniors and students and free for children under 12 on weekdays. $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and students on weekends.

Information: (714) 567-3600 or visit bowers.org

Alexandra.Chan@latimes.com

Twitter: @AlexandraChan10