hile the U.S. economy boomed in the 1920s, Wright was in debt, although friends and colleagues tried to help, the Depression damaged his few remaining commission leads. Meanwhile, in Europe, young modernist architects were pioneering what Philip Johnson and Henry Russell-Hitchcock would call the “International Style,” whose standardized spare forms, smooth anonymous surfaces were inspired by technology and machines. At age 62, he seemed washed up. However with Olgivanna, he created the Taliesin Fellowship, for which enthusiastic young architecture students each paid $650 a year to help Wright with his work. For the first 23 students, there was very little architectural drawing and much manual labor, such as waiting tables, gardening and repairing old buildings—but the students were enthusiastic for the opportunity to just be close to Wright. With time, Olgivanna’s formidable backbone and the successful fellowship program boosted Wright’s spirits. Wright had done very little work in the 1920s and then Edgar J. Kauffmann, Sr., father of an early Wright apprentice, approached him in 1934 to create his weekend getaway, Fallingwater, Wright was overjoyed.