Frank Lloyd Wright: Modern Chair Design
The Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA) exhibit Frank Lloyd Wright: Modern Chair Design highlights the famed designer’s novel approach to modern furniture design through more than forty of Wright’s most significant domestic furniture pieces — many on view for the first time — as well as sketches, animated renderings, and archival photographs. The exhibit runs Oct. 4-Jan. 25, 2026.
Based on the research of architectural historian Eric Vogel, scholar-in-residence at the Taliesin Institute, the exhibition reveals that Wright’s furniture design deserves as much study as his architectural works.
According to Vogel, when Wright rebuilt Taliesin, his Wisconsin home and studio, after two major fires, he paired the new architecture with new and unprecedented furniture forms which were rejected by his clients.
“MOWA has recreated several of these lost or never-produced works, offering the viewer a unique opportunity to experience these bold forms in person,” said Vogel.
“By viewing Wright’s furniture, specifically his chair designs, through the lens of Taliesin as a creative incubator, this exhibition reveals the experimental nature of his process and offers a fresh perspective on his architectural vision,” said Thomas Szolwinski, MOWA’s Associate Curator of Architecture and Design.
“In the wider history of exhibitions dedicated to Wright, this show marks an important moment of re-examination and rediscovery.”
The exhibit includes collaborations between acclaimed woodworkers such as Wright’s great-grandson, S. Lloyd Natof, who used Wright’s original archival materials and drawings to create lost or unbuilt chairs, along with the first construction of Wright-designed chairs for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Cafe.
“The Museum of Wisconsin Art is delighted to contribute new research and conversations about this iconic figure in American architecture,” said Laurie Winters, MOWA’s James and Karen Hyde
executive director.
In conjunction with the exhibit, MOWA will have a series of activities, lectures and tours related to Frank Lloyd Wright: Modern Chair Design. See wisconsinart.orgfordetails.
About MOWA
The Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA) explores the art and culture of Wisconsin. Founded in 1961, MOWA is a top museum of regional art in the U.S., with over 5,000 works of contemporary and historic art by more than 350 artists.
A major cultural institution in the Greater Milwaukee area, MOWA’s two permanent venues, the “Mothership” in West Bend and MOWA | DTN in downtown Milwaukee’s Saint Kate-The Arts Hotel, feature dynamic, innovative and socially relevant art by contemporary Wisconsin artists. MOWA attracts approximately 200,000 guests annually.