Barbara Israel grew up in Far Hills, New Jersey, not far from Blairsden, a splendid turn-of-the-century estate with cascading Italianate gardens. Her early interest in gardens, design and ornament was fostered not only by her childhood expeditions to Blairsden, but also by countless days spent playing in her grandmothers' welcoming gardens. It was clear from the start-- Barbara's enthusiasm for gardens would be a defining aspect of life.
In the early 1980s, Barbara and her husband, Tom, purchased an 1860s farmhouse in Katonah, New York where she had the opportunity to cultivate a garden of her own. Her challenge was to restore, maintain and expand the planted areas of the property, including a formal garden that was reputedly designed by the Olmsted Brothers in the early 20th century. Barbara's penchant for hands-on gardening and her love of research spurred a quest to find historically appropriate ornament to complement her outdoor space. In 1985, while under the mentorship of William Doyle, founder of Doyle Galleries in New York City, she traveled to an estate where she purchased one statue that gave spirit and focus to her Katonah property and thirty-nine others that would launch her career.
As a dealer, Barbara collects the finest examples of garden ornament, guided by her appreciation for classical forms and her love of unusual, once-in-a-lifetime finds. Her collection pays homage both to historic European models and to American creativity and invention. Barbara Israel is the sole antique garden ornament dealer at the highly prestigious Winter Antiques Show. The company also exhibits at The New York Botanical Garden Antique Garden Furniture Show, the most selective and longest-running garden antiques show in the country. In 2006, Barbara started Garden Traditions, her line of reproductions that is now sold at select retailers across the country.
Barbara's book, Antique Garden Ornament: Two Centuries of American Taste, was published by Harry N. Abrams in 1999 and is still considered the most complete reference of its kind. Illustrated with more than 100 color photographs of ornament in historic gardens and an exhaustive catalogue of patterns organized by type, it chronicles the history of American garden ornament from 1740 to 1940.
Barbara has served as a consultant to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on their collection of nineteenth-century cast iron, and has sold pieces to the Winterthur Museum, the Smithsonian Institution and the Baltimore Museum of Art, as well as to many important private clients. As an active board member of Historic Hudson Valley, Barbara is helping to preserve landmark properties and their antique garden ornaments. She has appeared on television programs and webcasts including Good Morning America, Sunday Morning Today, Antiques Roadshow FYI and, most recently, on MSN's Collect This!. Barbara has also been featured in The New York Times, Elle Décor, House & Garden, Garden Design and The Baltimore Sun. She continues to lecture extensively on all aspects of garden ornament.
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Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Israel, an antiques dealer specializing in vintage garden furniture, fountains, and statuary, is well known in her field, with such clients as the Winterthur Museum, the Smithsonian, and the Baltimore Museum of Art. In this book, which the publisher claims is the most complete reference of its kind, she documents the history of American garden ornament from the mid-1800s to the 1940s. Individual chapters discuss the history and the evolution of a variety of objects such as urns, statues, fountains, and sundials, while later sections of the book provide an illustrated checklist of more than 300 antique objects, a list of manufacturers, and information on the maintenance and security of ornaments. For gardeners hungry to see the actual objects in situ, there is a list of 52 notable gardens in the United States (with addresses and phone numbers only). This book should appeal to a broad audience from gardeners and landscape architects to antique collectors, dealers, and historians.
-Margarete Gross, Chicago P.L.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
-Margarete Gross, Chicago P.L.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
A scholarly voice has emerged which is bound to have great impact in the field. Barbara Israel's ANTIQUE GARDEN ORNAMENT: TWO CENTURIES OF AMERICAN TASTE is the first serious look at US Garden history and design as they relate to their manmade decorations. While many books have examined European gardens and ornament and american artistry, Israel, a respected 15-year garden ornament dealer and consultant, takes a classificatory look at this side of the Atlantic--with wonderful results. -- Antiques And The Arts Weekly, November 19, 1999.
In ANTIQUE GARDEN ORNAMENT, Barbara Israel, a noted dealer and historian, corrects any misaprehension you may have that furnishing an American garden with urns, fountains and statuary is primarily a late-20th-century preoccupation. Filled with Mick Hales' wonderfully evocative photographs, Israel's book comprehensively surveys the history of American garden ornamentation from Colonial times to the present day. --Town & Country Magazine, December 1999.
In ANTIQUE GARDEN ORNAMENT, Barbara Israel, a noted dealer and historian, corrects any misaprehension you may have that furnishing an American garden with urns, fountains and statuary is primarily a late-20th-century preoccupation. Filled with Mick Hales' wonderfully evocative photographs, Israel's book comprehensively surveys the history of American garden ornamentation from Colonial times to the present day. --Town & Country Magazine, December 1999.
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fantastic book!,
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This review is from: Antique Garden Ornament (Hardcover)
At long last, an authoritative book on garden ornament in America! Barbara Israel delivers a beautiful tome with scholarly punch in her Antique Garden Ornament: Two Centuries of American Taste. Many books exist on gardens and landscape history, but none addresses the issue of the statues, fountains, and furniture used within them with such depth and clarity as Ms. Israel. In addition to the chapters themselves, the catalogue of objects in the back of the book and the list of makers provide a greatly needed reference for this growing field. I highly recommend this book.
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