Docomomo US/MN and the Goldstein Museum of Design (GMD) at the University of Minnesota will present Frank Lloyd Wright’s Lost Chairs, a free public lecture by architectural historian Eric Vogel on Saturday, June 20, 2026, from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM at the Goldstein Museum of Design in St. Paul. The gallery will remain open until 5:00 PM for visitors to explore the exhibition Illusive Objects, on view through July 2, 2026.
The program is presented in conjunction with the groundbreaking exhibition Frank Lloyd Wright: Modern Chair Design, organized by the Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA) October 4, 2025 – January 25, 2026. The exhibition reexamined Wright’s contributions to furniture design by bringing a selection of his lost and unbuilt chair designs to life through contemporary fabrication.
Supported by original drawings, archival materials, and historical photographs, the exhibition included first-ever realizations of designs connected to projects such as the A.D. German Warehouse in Richland Center, Wisconsin, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Presented alongside historical works, the fabricated chairs approached reconstruction not as replication, but as an active investigation into Wright’s design process, material experimentation, and architectural philosophy.
Eric Vogel, guest curator of the exhibition, will discuss the research, curatorial development, and broader cultural significance of the project, while exploring Frank Lloyd Wright’s enduring influence on modern furniture design and architecture.
Vogel is currently scholar-in-residence at the Taliesin Institute in Scottsdale, Arizona. He is a designer, educator, architectural historian, and former Chair of the 3D Design Department at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. He holds a degree in art history from Harvard University and a master’s degree in architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture. He is currently pursuing a mid-career PhD at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at UW-Milwaukee. As board president of Docomomo US/Wisconsin, Vogel is also leading the research and film project Milwaukee Moderns.
“Frank Lloyd Wright’s Lost Chairs offers a fascinating lens into Wright’s creative process and the relationship between architecture, furniture, and preservation,” said Docomomo US/MN board member Stephen Magner. “We are excited to partner with the Goldstein Museum of Design to bring this conversation to Minnesota audiences.”
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Lost Chairs
A Talk by Eric Vogel
Saturday, June 20, 2026
3:00 PM to 4:00 PM
2:00 PM Reception
Goldstein Museum of Design
10 McNeal Hall
1985 Buford Ave
St. Paul, MN 55108
Free and open to the public.
Questions:
Stephen Magner Docomomo US/MN Board Member
646-717-3447
docomomo.us.mn@gmail.com
