In February of 1905, Wright made his first journey to Japan. During his trip, Wright experienced firsthand the architecture of local temples, shrines, gardens and residences. He documented these buildings and landscapes in an extensive photographic record of his time in the country. The images are the only existing photographic record of Wright’s travels.
In the traditional Japanese architecture and landscapes he witnessed, Wright found confirmation of the organic principles of design that he pioneered in his Chicago Prairie buildings which became monuments of a new democratic architecture and great landmarks of American modernism.
Great Buddha at Nofukuji Temple, Kobe
Frank Lloyd Wright, 1905
Silver gelatin print, 3 ½ x 4 in., Collection of the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust