Maya Lin: A Biography

by Donald Langmead

Overview

This book provides an informal biography of the wunderkind who became one of America's greatest living artists and most well-known architects.

Many are familiar with the art and architectural design work of Maya Lin, but the compelling details of her personal background are less well known. This book not only focuses upon Lin's substantial achievements throughout her life, but also presents Maya Lin's "prehistory," describing family events in China that led to her parents' flight to the United States.

Author Donald Langmead guides readers through Lin's ancestry and family connections in precommunist China; her childhood and youth in Athens, Ohio; the story behind the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC; her career after 1982 (by decades); and emphasis on environmental conservation. Written for a young adult and general readership, Maya Lin: A Biography provides an up-to-date description of how she became one of the most famous and respected artists in America.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313378539
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/17/2011
Series:	Greenwood Biographies
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.40(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Donald Langmead, PhD, was adjunct professor at the University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia. He held doctoral and master's degrees in the history of architecture and a postgraduate qualification in city planning.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword vii

Introduction and Acknowledgments ix

Timeline: Events in the Life of Maya Lin xiii

Chapter 1 "Where Are You Really From?": Chinese Ancestry 1

Chapter 2 A Tradition in Architecture: Lin Huiyin and Liang Sicheng 15

Chapter 3 Escaping China: Maya Lin's Parents 27

Chapter 4 "People Here Are Nice": Athens, Ohio 39

Chapter 5 Outside, Looking In: Childhood and Youth 49

Chapter 6 Almost for "a Lark": An Undergraduate at Yale 63

Chapter 7 Design in Mashed Potato: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Competition 75

Chapter 8 Annus Horribilis: Building the Vietnam Veterans Memorial 89

Chapter 9 Accretions and Aggravations: Continuing Conflicts in Washington 105

Chapter 10 New Haven, New York: New Beginnings 117

Chapter 11 Out of the Wings: The Architect as Artist 131

Chapter 12 A Hectic Decade: The 1990s 145

Chapter 13 A New Millennium 159

Further Reading 173

Index 181