Art Books Design History

#art history #books #gardening #plants

An Expansive New Book Cultivates Our Global Love for Gardens

September 19, 2023

Kate Mothes

An abstract artwork of plants by Ebony G. Patterson

Ebony G. Patterson, “…below the crows, a blue purse sits between the blades, shoes among the petals, a cockerel comes to witness…” (2019), mixed media, 110 × 98 × 6 inches. Image courtesy of the artist, Monique Meloche Gallery, and Hales New York/London

Spanning more than four millennia of horticultural heritage, a forthcoming tome from Phaidon celebrates the diverse mediums, trends, and traditions of gardens around the globe. Brimming with more than 300 full-color illustrations, Garden: Exploring the Horticultural World encompasses how geography, time periods, and purpose influence myriad landscape designs and gardening culture, along with numerous other art forms.

Garden highlights a vast range of art and ephemera, including plans for historic royal properties, how-to guides, maps, and representations in pop culture. From a Japanese tea garden fashioned from LEGO to an 18th-century Mughal garden in India to Monsieur Plant’s hydroponic system inside an iMac, the expansive tome showcases the immense breadth and imagination in gardens of all shapes and sizes.

Pre-order your copy on Bookshop.

 

Casey Boyden, “Japanese Tea Garden” (2007), LEGO, 10 1/4 × 17 3/4 × 11 3/4 inches. Image courtesy of the artist

An 18th-century drawing of a Mughal garden.

Hafiz Nurallah, “A View of Shalimar Bagh, Srinagar, from the Polier Album” (c.1780), opaque watercolor heightened with gold on paper, 9 ½ × 14 ½ inches. Image courtesy of Sotheby’s

An iMac with plants inside

Christophe Guinet (Monsieur Plant), “Plant Your Mac!” (2020), mixed media, 23 5/8 × 12 5/8 inches. Image © the artist

An 18th-century map of the physic garden in Chelsea, London

John Haynes, “The Physic Garden, Chelsea: A Plan View” (1751), engraving with watercolor, 24 ¼ × 18 ¾ inches. Image courtesy of the Wellcome Collection, London

A 16th-century medicinal plants book

Bernardino de Sahagún, “General History of the Things of New Spain: The Florentine Codex” (1577), ink on paper, each page 12 ¼ × 8 ¼ inches, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence. Image courtesy of Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division

A spread of the book 'Garden'

A photograph by Claire Takacs of a trompe-l'oeil painted landscape seen through a rocky tunnel

Claire Takacs, “Trompe l’oeil, Schwetzingen Palace, Mittelbau Schloss, Germany” (2016), photograph, dimensions variable. Image © the artist

A spread of the book 'Garden' featuring a horizontal historic garden map

The cover of the book 'Garden'

#art history #books #gardening #plants

 

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