Johnson's Frank Lloyd Wright art glass exhibit parallels Martin House show at Hartell Gallery

The "Tree of Life" window from the Darwin D. Martin House, ca. 1905, was fabricated by the Linden Glass Co. It is on loan from the Darwin D. Martin House through the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and is on view at the Johnson Museum through Nov. 13. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections

The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell presents "Frank Lloyd Wright Art Glass from the Darwin D. Martin House," which will be on view through Nov. 13. It is being presented in conjunction with the exhibition "Mori on Wright -- Designs for Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House Visitors' Center" at the Hartell Gallery in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning, which is on view through Nov. 5.

The Johnson Museum installation and the accompanying materials were made possible by a generous contribution from Bill Cooke Chevrolet-Cadillac Inc. and Bill Cooke Imports Inc. of Ithaca.

Two examples of Wright art glass will be on display at the Johnson Museum: a pair of panels, ca. 1905, from the Johnson's permanent collection; and a "Tree of Life" window, ca. 1905, loaned by the Darwin D. Martin House in Buffalo. This pairing of art glass panels, designed for different areas of the Martin house, shows how Wright redefined the boundary between interior and exterior space and explores his revolutionary use of color and light in architecture.

"The art glass pattern dubbed the 'Tree of Life' is one of the most well-known and frequently reproduced motifs in Wright's entire oeuvre," said Eric Jackson-Forsberg, associate curator for the Martin House Restoration Corporation. "The pattern consists of a base, or pot, from which a central trunk extends to an upper branch configuration of radiating diagonals."

In windows like this one, Wright transformed plant forms into abstracted patterns that he described as "metal 'grilles' with glass inserted, forming a simple rhythmic arrangement of straight lines and squares."

There were more than 60 "Tree of Life" windows and doors originally in the Martin House. These windows are now represented in the collections of such institutions as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Corning Museum of Glass and the National Gallery of Australia.

The Johnson Museum's pair of art glass panels from the Martin House illustrates how Wright defined his use of glass with a new term -- "light screen" -- as his panels defy traditional definitions of windows or cabinet doors. When closed, the panels form light-catching accents that contributed to the unified design of Wright's interior; when opened, they provide views from, and through, one room to the next.

Wright (1867-1959) designed the Martin House Complex in Buffalo at the height of his celebrated Prairie period. Constructed between 1903 and 1905, the Martin House Complex was the centerpiece of Wright's "Buffalo venture" -- the setting for his first commissions in the eastern United States. The complex represents the first time in Wright's extensive career that he had the opportunity to design multiple residential structures linked as an integrated whole. A restoration initiative by the Martin House Restoration Corp. now under way will return the complex to its condition of 1907, including the reconstruction of lost buildings and the reproduction of numerous furnishings.