Apollo Advent Calendar: Day 20

Apollo is counting down to Christmas by celebrating some of the greatest acquisitions, gifts and bequests of 2013. We’ll take a closer look each day at one of the outstanding objects, works of art or collections shortlisted for the Apollo Awards Acquisition of the Year.

Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino
13 pieces of furniture designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959)
Pictured: Husser House Dining Suite, 1899
Oak table, 71.1×152.4×137.2cm
Eight chairs, ht 132cm each
Purchased with the Virginia Steele Scott Acquisition Fund for American Art

Frank Lloyd Wright’s design for Joseph W. Husser’s Chicago home anticipated his later ‘Prairie School’ style. The tall-backed chairs in the nine-piece dining-room suite would have formed vertical accents within the sweeping interior of the Hussers’ residence. This suite, and four other chairs – one each from Wright’s Avery Coonley House, Arthur Heurtley House, Francis W. Little House and Ward W. Willits House, all in Illinois – have been on long-term loan to the Huntington since 2009 from the family of Joyce and Erving Wolf. Many of Wright’s early projects, such as Husser House, have been demolished, so the Huntington’s announcement that these design components will remain on permanent display is welcome.