Mies and Farnsworth may not be as legendary an artistic duo as Jagger and Richards or McCartney and Lennon, but despite a turbulent personal, financial and artistic relationship the two managed to create a seminal piece of architectural art. Following a fortuitous encounter in 1945, Dr. Edith Farnsworth asked architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe to design a modern home for her.
The ensuing process put a strain on their relationship and ultimately ended in a court case, but the result was the Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois which is today a National Historic Landmark. In his new book “Broken Glass: Mies Van Der Rohe, Edith Farnsworth, and the Fight Over a Modernist Masterpiece,” Alex Beam recounts the story of how the house was ultimately built. On Thursday, he joined Boston Public Radio to discuss the book.
Beam is a columnist for the Boston Globe, his latest book is “Broken Glass: Mies Van Der Rohe, Edith Farnsworth, and the Fight Over a Modernist Masterpiece”
