In 1930, architect George Howe, lamented that “America has always been the land of the lone prophet, without much but posthumous honor in their own country.” He believed the first American architects to fully comprehend the “spiritual consequences” of their work were Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan and Will Price. “Their names were known in Europe, while they still remained comparatively obscure among their fellow countrymen.”
Wright and Sullivan emerged from the obscurity that Howe decried. But why didn’t Price? Laverty will examine the pivotal, but mostly forgotten, role that Rose Valley resident Will Price played in American art, American architecture, and American self-identity. He will review recent successful efforts to shine a light on this “lone prophet” and discuss what Price can teach us today.