Ceiling Lamp, from the Francis W. Little House, Peoria, Illinois

This lamp’s shade is a complex grid of intersecting rectangles and squares overhanging a cube-shaped light box. Large and small squares of colored iridescent glass dot the shade’s perimeter and corners. In its form, the lamp embodies the home it was designed to illuminate. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie School structures, like the Little House, are long and low with gently sloping roofs, sheltering overhangs, and projecting terraces. These design features echo the midwestern landscape’s “quiet level.” Leaded glass lanterns, sconces, table lamps as well as windows and screens were important elements in Wright’s Prairie School homes. These and other custom-designed furnishings, such as this ceiling lamp, developed from a shared language of motifs and produced a unified design experience. Wright was an influential member of the Prairie School, the Midwest’s greatest contribution to the American Arts and Crafts movement. Wright transcended both his midwestern roots and an American context. He became an international figure who was widely published and emulated, and whose influence can be measured around the globe.