Gurdjieff's cult? Yes, in the sense of "getting people to pay him to teach his weird philosophy/choreography," although it didn't appear to be a wildly successful grift; he basically opened franchises in the U.S. after his 15 minutes of profit fame in Europe dried up, but the trend didn't last much longer in the U.S., either. The book focuses more on the mysticism and controlling aspects of Gurdjieff's cult— he was big on manual labor and faith healing and weird dances and this bizarre exercise where he commanded everyone to freeze in place and they had to do so, no matter how painful the position or how long he made them hold it; this once involved flinging themselves off the stage at one of the group's public dance exhibitions.
Frank Lloyd Wright's cult? Yes, 100%, absolutely a financial grift. He opened Taliesin ostensibly as an architecture school, made students pay more than Harvard's then-tuition rate, and then had them doing farm labor and construction work to build the school (because all of the actual workers he'd hired left when he didn't pay them!) instead of actually teaching them anything.
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profitfame in Europe dried up, but the trend didn't last much longer in the U.S., either. The book focuses more on the mysticism and controlling aspects of Gurdjieff's cult— he was big on manual labor and faith healing and weird dances and this bizarre exercise where he commanded everyone to freeze in place and they had to do so, no matter how painful the position or how long he made them hold it; this once involved flinging themselves off the stage at one of the group's public dance exhibitions.Frank Lloyd Wright's cult? Yes, 100%, absolutely a financial grift. He opened Taliesin ostensibly as an architecture school, made students pay more than Harvard's then-tuition rate, and then had them doing farm labor and construction work to build the school (because all of the actual workers he'd hired left when he didn't pay them!) instead of actually teaching them anything.