Contemporary Photography and the Garden: Deceits and Fantasies FROM THE PUBLISHER
Gardens have inspired artists for hundreds of years. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, photographers ranging from Eugène Atget to Edward Steichen were drawn to gardens for their beauty and their metaphorical associations. A century later, in the mid-1980s, an unusually large number of artists returned to the garden as a subject for their photography.
This lovely book devoted to the garden photography of contemporary artists accompanies an exhibition organized by the American Federation of Arts. The photographs-by Gregory Crewdson, Len Jenshel, Erica Lennard, Sally Mann, Catherine Opie, Jack Pierson, and other acclaimed artists-demonstrate a remarkably wide range of artistic responses to the garden. Whether presenting it as a haven of tranquility and lyrical beauty or drawing on it as a dark visual metaphor for the manipulation of nature, these photographs express the artists' investigation of the forms, atmosphere, and symbolism of the garden. Essays by Thomas Padon, Robert Harrison, Ronald Jones, and Shirin Neshat bring historical and contextual insight to the fascination many contemporary artists have with this popular subject.
Author Bio: Thomas Padon, curator of the exhibition, is deputy director for exhibitions and programs at the American Federation of Arts, where he has organized many major traveling art exhibitions. Robert Harrison teaches philosophy, French and Italian literature, and European cultural history at Stanford University. Ronald Jones is an artist and critic who teaches at art schools in Frankfurt and Stockholm. Shirin Neshat is a New York-based artist whose photographs and videos have appeared in many international exhibitions.
SYNOPSIS
Though a subject of artists for centuries, gardens became particularly popular with photographers during the 1980s. Four essays on gardens as metaphors and the nuances of their interpretation accompany the color and b&w images presented in this oversize volume (12x12"). It is published in association with the American Federation of Arts (Padon is Deputy Director of Exhibitions and Programs for this organization), in conjunction with an exhibition scheduled to begin at the Middlebury College Museum of Art in 2005, and then to travel. Works from 16 American and European photographers—among them, Sally Mann, Len Jenshel, and Catherine Opie—offer a variety of visual responses to the complexities of gardens and the phenomenon of human-shaped nature. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
These are not your typical books about gardens. While each has its own perspective on the garden, conceptually and by design, both enjoy staking the garden as a place that is honored by artists or can become art. Art of the Garden, which accompanies an exhibition of the same name at Tate Britain, is a well-intentioned but weak assemblage of many painters' appreciation of gardens. It does feature some well-known art (often reproduced on too small a scale) but adds little to the greater bibliography of gardening. Many other books (e.g., Roy Strong's The Artist and the Garden) offer visually rich examples of plantings, design, and the art of gardening. The title of Padon's book is somewhat misleading since it is less about gardens and more a stage for edgy photographs about plants, remote vegetation, and parks. Padon (Nancy Graves) may have discovered a new niche, but the book he has assembled is a poor start. Unfocused images and extreme closeups prove more unnerving than revealing. A big, isolated tree and even a photograph of an electric chair all stretch the meaning of "garden," which would be fine if it opened up possibilities and understanding. This seems more an effort to dissociate a garden from its aesthetic pleasures and natural beauty. All in all, these are clumsy volumes that set out to overintellectualize gardens. Not recommended.-David Bryant, New Canaan Lib., CT Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
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