From left: My drawing from class. Frank Lloyd Wright. American System-Built Houses for The Richards Company, project, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Plan of model C3. c. 1915–17. Lithograph. Gift of David Rockefeller, Jr. Fund, Ira Howard Levy Fund, and Jeffrey P. Klein Purchase Fund. © 2011 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
“You have one minute. Grab a piece of scrap paper and draw a house.” And with that simple direction, Professor Jennifer Gray began MoMA’s continuing education class, Dwell: Histories of Modern Housing.
I frantically drew, erased, and redrew my house, wondering what the other students were conjuring up and scribbling down. I was curious if the drawings would be as different as the classmates, who ranged from a Czech woman to a Brooklyn architect to a retired empty-nester to me, an art director at an advertising agency. They weren’t. And that was exactly the point of this seemingly rudimentary exercise.