In this lavishly illustrated volume, Robin Karson traces the
development of a distinctly American style of landscape design
through an analysis of seven country places created by some of the
nation's most talented landscape practitioners.
In the mid-nineteenth century Frederick Law Olmsted, the
designer of New York's Central Park, developed an approach to
landscape design based on the principles of the English Picturesque
which also emphasized a specifically American experience of nature
and scenery. After Olmsted's retirement in 1897, these precepts
continued to ground a new generation of American landscape
architects through the next four decades, a period known as the
"country place era," a time of rapid economic, social, and cultural
change.
In the early twentieth century, new fortunes made it possible
for wealthy Americans to commission country estates as a means of
aggrandizing social status. These private havens also offered their
owners respite from crowded cities and a way to preserve and
celebrate places of distinctive landscape beauty. The commissions
provided burgeoning numbers of landscape architects with
opportunities to experiment with stylistic influences derived from
Beaux-Arts, Arts and Crafts, and even Asian principles.
The chapters in this book trace a progression in the period from
the naturalistic wild gardens of Warren Manning to the mysterious
"Prairie style" landscapes of Jens Jensen to the proto-modernist
gardens of Fletcher Steele. Other practitioners cov ered are
Charles Platt, Ellen Biddle Shipman, Beatrix Farrand, Marian
Coffin, and Lockwood de Forest Jr. The projects profiled follow a
broad geographic arc, from Stockbridge, Massachusetts, to Santa
Barbara, California. All seven landscapes are now open to
visitors.
Analyzing these designs in context with one another and against
the backdrop of the professional and cultural currents that shaped
larger projects -- such as parks, campuses, and planned communities
-- Karson creates a rich and comprehensive picture of the artistic
achievements of the period. Striking black-and-white images by
landscape photographer Carol Betsch illuminate the transporting
spirit of these country places today, while hundreds of drawings,
plans, and historical photographs bring the past to life.
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