Garden [Hardcover]

Fillipo Pizzoni (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 8, 1999

Gardens afford the opportunity to be one with nature, without being at it's mercy. As they combine various aesthetic influences--architecture and painting, theater and stage design, and poetry and philosophy--the art of the garden has produced incomparable masterpieces of landscaping all over the world. Every garden represents the spirit of its society, while it's cultural significance continues to evolve over time. Through a variety of unique ways to depict nature, gardens are not simply adornments of flora, but rather, they serve as documents of man's relationship with the natural world.

"The Garden: A History in Landscape and Art" presents its subject century by century (beginning in the medieval times), crosses international borders, and pinpoints each era's fascination with modeling the landscape.

Whether a place for complacent contemplation, a symbol of social standing, or an area for stylistic experimentation, the garden reflects the taste of its generation. This volume brilliantly catalogues the highlights of 400 years of landscape design. From the grottoes of the sixteenth century to the Arcadian ideal of the eighteenth, from the use of the English garden style in Russia to Scandinavian naturalism and the architectural landscape of Luis Barragan in Mexico-this book beautifully illustrates the importance of gardens in human history. Fascinating essays on the depiction of the garden in each century (whether in photographs, illuminated manuscripts, engravings, or aquarelles) speak of the values of the time. Richly illustrated, this volume is a work that finally gives due attention to these exquisitely constructed spaces.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Century by century, The Garden: A History in Landscape and Art offers a history of the gardens of the western world in a larger context than in most such historical treatments. Gardens as art, as cultural achievement, as man's relationship with nature--all are considered here in gardens from Germany to Mexico, from Italian grottoes to modern sculpture gardens. Ancient Moorish gardens of perfect symmetry, drippy stone carvings of the Medicis, and the simplicity of repeated rectangles in a 20th-century Scottish garden astonish with the sheer range of possibilities of landscape design.

The author, an Italian landscape architect who studied in London and specializes in historic restoration, has a bent toward classicism, and inexplicably has ignored Asian gardens altogether. One might ask what gardens of such size and scope can teach gardeners of today, whose home gardens are on such a different scale than these grand gardens?

First, the book is a feast of color photographs and drawings, a treat for the garden enthusiast to study just for the visuals. Most of all you'll find here, albeit with a rococo twist or Baroque ornamentation, all the familiar elements of garden-making today; fountains, pots, hedging, pathways, trees, shrubs, bridges, and flowers. The patterning of these familiar elements, how they've been used in spacing and enclosure, to create shelter or vista across the centuries can help to shape our eyes and aesthetics no matter what the nature of our own garden plots. --Valerie Easton

From Library Journal

Drawing on his experience as a landscape architect and historian, Pizzoni traces the history of garden design, recounting the international styles and aesthetic ideals of 400 years. From the mystery of secluded Islamic gardens and hidden Italian sanctuaries to the grandeur of the Renaissance complexities and Baroque extravaganzas; from Arcadian naturalism to structured 20th-century Modernism--all aspects of our relationship with nature are discussed, albeit with broad strokes and generalizations and very few new insights. Although the illustrations are excellent and the presentation visually pleasing, the author has little to add to the currently extensive literature on garden design as an art form or as a reflection of social change. A worthwhile purchase only for large general collections or those with an extensive holding of garden literature.
-Paula Frosch, Metropolitan Museum of Art Lib., New York
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 263 pages
• Publisher: Rizzoli; 1ST edition (October 8, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847822184
• ISBN-13: 978-0847822188
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,941,635 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A nice historical exploration, but not much to look at, June 20, 2000

By 

Bud Sewell "saintjerome" (Edmond, OK USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Garden (Hardcover)

This book is rather ambitious in scope, and unfortunately, it doesn't deliver.

In his introduction the author indicates that he intends to look at gardens of the Western world from the Middle Ages to the present day and to look at how "the individual can express himself" in his garden space. The text is very enlightening and accessible but, while viewing the elaborate and often immense landscapes of chateaux and castles, one doesn't get the impression that he can replicate anything remotely close in his own backyard.

In terms of scope, Pizzoni devotes only 4 pages to North American gardens, ignoring entirely the estates of the great industrialists' homes (eg Ford, Vanderbilt, Busch, Hearst). He also ignores the enormus influence Asian, especially Japanese gardens had on (at least ordinary) 20th Century gardeners.

Finally, I was very disappointed with the production value of the book. There are too many small, black-and-white photos and far too many of the color photos were very poor quality. Many were grainy or out-of-focus and generally remind one of the guidebooks peddled outside the gates of European landmarks. It's final transgression is its lack of an index.

The text really is well-done, though, and the author often can't be blamed for the production values, so because I can't give it 2.5 stars, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and give it 3.