The Life of Olgivanna Lloyd Wright

While much has been written about the life and the innovative organic architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, little scholarly attention has focused on Wright’s third wife, Olgivanna, the individual who sparked a renaissance in Wright’s career from the time of the couple’s first meeting in 1924. Mystery has long surrounded public knowledge of Montenegrin born, Olgivanna Lazovich, granddaughter of a noteworthy Montenegrin patriot, and daughter of the Supreme Court Justice of Montenegro (her father) and a general in the Montenegrin army (her mother).

This book marks the release of Olgivanna Lloyd Wright’s previously unpublished autobiography. It traces her journey from Montenegro, to Russia, to Paris, where she studied with George Ivanovich Gurdjieff at the Institute of the Harmonious Development of Man, to the United States, through her 35-year partnership with Frank Lloyd Wright, and her unrelenting efforts to keep her husband’s ideas and dreams alive after his death. The Wrights’ life together was marked with turmoil and disappointment, yet the couple also traveled in an exciting circle of friends and acquaintances and was enriched by the youthful spirit and creativity of the young apprentices who came to study at the Taliesin Fellowship.