Abstract

The design principles of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim Museum in New York and Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, are analyzed in relation to the confluence between biblical consciousness and postmodernism. These two major works of American architecture exemplify the paradigm shift from the Hellenistic to the Hebraic roots of Western culture in the transition from modernism to postmodernism in architecture, art, and art education. The dynamic, vigorous, passionate, multiple perspectives of Hebraic thinking are compared to the static, moderate, harmonious, and single-point perspective of ancient Greek thought revived in Renaissance Europe. Postmodern directions in art education are explored in relation to the biblical definition of artist as including the roles of architect and teacher. The artists’ “ability to teach” (Exodus 35:34) integrates the passion and freedom of the individual artist with a collaborative enterprise of creating a shared environment of spiritual power.

How to Cite:

Alexenberg, M., (2003) “Wright and Gehry: Biblical Consciousness in American Architecture”, Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education 21(1), 97-106. doi: https://doi.org/10.2458/jcrae.5006