The Fountainhead

The Fountainhead is a 1943 novel by Ayn Rand (ISBN 0452283760). The book was Rand's first major success and its royalties and movie rights made Rand famous and financially secure. The book was rejected by 12 publishers before a young editor at the Bobbs-Merrill Company publishing house wired to the head office, "If this is not the book for you, then I am not the editor for you". The Fountainhead was made into a Hollywood film in 1949, with screenplay by Rand herself.

Architectural theme

Ayn Rand dedicates this book to "the noble profession of architecture." She chose the architectural profession for the analogy it offered to her ideas, especially in the context of the rise of the Modern Movement in architecture. In her hands, this profession becomes a convenient vehicle for propagating her views — that the ego is supreme, and individualism and selfishness are virtues to be treasured.

Related Topics:
Architecture - Analogy - Modern Movement - Individualism - Selfishness

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The characters of Peter Keating and Howard Roark are placed in, as far as their careers go, antithesis to each other. Keating still practices in an eclectic/neo-classical/historical mould even when the building typology is modern like a skyscraper and is therefore dishonest and imitative. He is also accommodating of changes suggested by others. This mirrors the various eclectic directions and the general willingness to adapt at the turn of the twentieth century. Roark, however, rejects history, searches for truth and honesty and tries to express these in his works. He takes an uncompromising stand when changes are suggested in his buildings. This mirrors the trajectory of Modern architecture with its origins from dissatisfaction with earlier trends and its emphasis on individual creativity. The celebration of Roark's individuality can be seen in parallel with the eulogizing of modern architects as uncompromising and heroic "masters." It is possible that the character of Roark is based on the famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright - though Rand herself denied this.

Related Topics:
Eclectic/neo-classical/historical - Typology - Skyscraper - Twentieth century - Creativity - American - Frank Lloyd Wright

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If Roark is Wright, then it is reasonable to propose that his nemesis Ellsworth Toohey is a composite of Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, although the image of Toohey is a lot more blatantly negative, and it is shown that he is aware of this in a conversation he has with Peter Keating. In an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in 1932, Hitchcock and Johnson first lauded Wright as a precursor to what they dubbed the International Style, of the generally politically left-leaning Bauhaus architects. A few years later, they revised their view of Wright, seeing him as a "Romantic individualist."

Related Topics:
Henry-Russell Hitchcock - Philip Johnson - Museum of Modern Art - 1932 - International Style - Bauhaus - Romantic

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