Posted
2:06 PM
by Gene
An interesting statement in a Jonathan Yardley review of a book about Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater:
The acclaim that rained down upon the house was carefully engineered
, probably with [Edgar] Kaufmann [the house's owner] himself as master puppeteer but with important supporting roles played by Architectural Forum, Henry Luce's Time-Life magazine conglomerate [sic]
and the Museum of Modern Art. [Emphasis added. The late
Architectural Forum magazine was once part of Time-Life.]
All news hacks need are a few careful stroking words to get them to purr that something's great. We should keep this in mind whenever we consider the hacks' latest favorite: is it great on its merits, like a Fallingwater, or great only because a bunch of craven easily misled scribblers said so?