“Broken Glass: Mies van der Rohe, Edith Farnsworth, and the Fight Over a Modernist Masterpiece,” Carlos Jiménez recommends RDA Friday Reads (RECOMMENDATION)

Carlos writes, “The Farnsworth House, Mies’s 1951 masterpiece, has been an object of adulation, controversy, and disparagement ever since its completion along the banks of the Fox River in Plano, Illinois. Alex Beam’s detailed narrative of the circumstances and personalities that shaped the iconic house is revealing but also serves as a cautionary tale. “Broken Glass” becomes a recurring metaphor as the story moves from idealized aspirations to the irreparable loss of friendships and trust. The house remains protected by its steel and glass shield, just as we come to know of the human flaws that almost consumed it. As the story nears its end, an unexpected, poetic surprise awaits us as we learn that Dr. Farnsworth spent her final years living in luxuriant bliss in a fourteenth century villa outside of Florence. There she embarked on studying and translating the works of Eugenio Montale. Perhaps she found in one of the Nobel laureate’s poems the house that she so much desired along the banks of a less indifferent river.” Thanks for your submission, Carlos!

Photo of the Farnsworth House by Rich Stapleton.