Derek Jarman's Garden (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "We've been hunting all year for old secateurs for Howard and found none..." (more)
Key Phrases: sea kale, Prospect Cottage, Hinney Beast

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It was an unprepossessing site?a bleak, desolate expanse of shingle facing a nuclear power plant in Dungeness, Kent. Battered by wind, the area had the strongest sunlight, lowest rainfall and longest growing season in Britain. On learning that he was HIV-positive, filmmaker Derek Jarman purchased a fisherman's cottage and began to build an unusual garden. This book is his record of how it evolved from 1986 until his death in 1994. Jarman (whose films include The Last of England, Wittgenstein and Blue) started by collecting stones from the beach and arranging them in circles; he added driftwood, antique tools and found objects for sculpture, then put in native shrubs and flowers. Completed, the garden evokes serenity and pleasure, reflecting Jarman's talents in the visual arts. Sooley's stunning photographs are a fitting memorial to man and garden.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Jarman, who died of AIDS in 1994, was a leading independent filmmaker best known for Caravaggio (1986) and Blue (1993). He was also a gardener. This book is his record of how he cultivated his garden from 1986 until his death. He created the garden outside a fisherman's cottage on the shingle at Dungeness, in southeastern England, beside a nuclear power plant. Jarman fashioned stone circles, sculpture out of driftwood and old tools, and a garden based on indigenous plants plus introduced shrubs and flowers that could survive in the area's inhospitable environment. Although his book is a tribute to a highly individual artist and to his struggle to create in the face of AIDS, both text and photographs are repetitive. Jarman says, "If a garden isn't shaggy, forget it." If you are not interested in highly individual and shaggy gardens, forget this book. Recommended only for specialized collections.?Daniel Starr, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Hardcover (January 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879516410
• ISBN-13: 978-0879516413
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,079,399 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Memorable evocation of a unique garden., June 4, 1999

By	P. F. Clayden "pclayden" (Dizzy London) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Beautiful photography and memorable prose (from Derek Jarman) make this far more than a coffee table book. The garden itself is superb. Having visited the garden in Dungeness I can confirm that it is as splendid as the book suggests. I understand that Derek wanted to be buried in a glass-topped coffin in the garden. I can understand his attachment.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than a Garden, a Metaphor., May 25, 2003

By A Customer

First there was a magazine article about Derek Jarmen's garden in Dungeness, UK published while he was alive. I wasn't aware of who he was except that I'd seen one beautiful music video directed by him in the film "ARIA".

Later someone told me of Derek Jarmen's emergence in the punk scene of 1970's London with his film "JUBILEE". And how at the time Derek lived in a big brick warehouse in the then abandoned (now gentrified) Southbank of the City near Tower Bridge, with a Victorian glass greenhouse for a bedroom set in the middle of the large loft space.

I remembered the article and wanted to see his garden. I remembered that soon after Derek Jarmen discovered he had HIV he bought the small cottage which is the subject of this book.

Seeing the garden was very revealing of Derek's mindset. To pronounce the name Dungeness correctly you must say the word "dungeon-ess". The few cottages there were built especially for those who were brought to this desolate area to work at the Dungeness Nuclear Power Plant. The Plant dominates the view because of the comparative height and size, and is obviously the most important "plant" in the garden. When you visit Derek's garden you will also be struck by how loud the humm of the nuclear plant is even though it is set a mile or so away, and the humm is constant -- it does not stop. The ground is covered with big 1- 2" diameter peebles. Nothing soft, nothing comfortable and with that constant humming that never stops.

The cottage itsself is a simple wooden structure that is stained black with windows painted a bright "Caution" yellow. Most buildings in Britain are made of brick or stone because of all the rain; wooden houses are extrememly rare and stand out as seeming impermanent and impractical because they do so easily rot in that wet climate.

This is a wonderful book about gardening and beauty, about set design and sculpture, and about the cyle of life.

5.0 out of 5 stars More than a Garden, a Metaphor., May 26, 2003

By A Customer

First there was a magazine article about Derek Jarmen's garden in Dungeness, UK published while he was alive. I wasn't aware of who he was except that I'd seen one beautiful music video directed by him in the film "ARIA".

Later someone told me of Derek Jarmen's emergence in the punk scene of 1970's London with his film "JUBILEE". And how at the time Derek lived in a big brick warehouse in the then abandoned (now gentrified) Southbank of the City near Tower Bridge, with a Victorian glass greenhouse for a bedroom set in the middle of the large loft space.

I remembered the article and wanted to see his garden. I remembered that soon after Derek Jarmen discovered he had HIV he bought the small cottage which is the subject of this book.

Seeing the garden was very revealing of Derek's mindset. To pronounce the name Dungeness correctly you must say the word "dungeon-ess". The few cottages there were built especially for those who were brought to this desolate area to work at the Dungeness Nuclear Power Plant. The Plant dominates the view because of the comparative height and size, and is obviously the most important "plant" in the garden. When you visit Derek's garden you will also be struck by how loud the humm of the nuclear plant is even though it is set a mile or so away, and the humm is constant -- it does not stop. The ground is covered with big 1- 2" diameter peebles. Nothing soft, nothing comfortable and with that constant humming that never stops.

The cottage itsself is a simple wooden structure that is stained black with windows painted a bright "Caution" yellow. Most buildings in Britain are made of brick or stone because of all the rain; wooden houses are extrememly rare and stand out as seeming impermanent and impractical because they do so easily mildew in that wet seaside climate.

This is a wonderful book about gardening and beauty, about set design and sculpture, and about the cyle of life.