Islamic Gardens - The Expression of Garden and Style with which I Most Strongly Resonate from this Semester

Julián Huertas

16 May 2015

Professor Musgrave

Garden Art in European History

Blog Post Ten:

Which expression of garden art / garden style that we have studied this semester resonated most strongly with you personally?  Explain why.

            The expression of garden art and style that we studied this semester that I most strongly resonated with was that of Islamic gardens. In this final blog post, I will discuss and analyze the features, elements, and style of these types of gardens and how they relate to my academic, spiritual, and aesthetic interests.

            As a studio art and art history major at school, I have taken courses focusing on Islamic art. Never before, however, have I specifically studied Islamic gardens. In class, we discussed how lack of anthropomorphic forms, arabesque, geometry, and calligraphy elements of Islamic art and how these components are evident in Islamic gardens.  I knew before studying Islamic gardens here at DIS that the text and layout of the Qur’an is a form of art within itself, which is demonstrated in the text of the Blue Qur’an from Tunisia in Kufic calligraphy shown at the MET Museum.  As we analyzed how the text of the Qur’an sets a blueprint for Islamic gardens, this expanded my interest in Islamic art to the Islamic garden as an art form. For this reason, I resonated strongly with Islamic gardens because it increased my already current interest in Islamic art.

            Although I am an individual who is not religious, I resonate strongly with the garden in regard to its spiritual and religious expression. Unlike gardens of other cultures, the Islamic garden is supposed to represent an earthly paradise. There are over 120 references in the Qur’an of jannat al-firdaws, which translates to “gardens of paradise.”  Thus, the Islamic garden is supposed to be a physical manifestation of the heavenly afterlife that a faithful Muslim enters after death. Even though I am not religious, I can identify with the importance of this spirituality. When I enter quiet, secluded exterior or interior spaces, I always to take the time to sit down and reflect.  The Islamic garden offers a Muslim a space to find a spiritual connection with him/herself and his/her own faith.  In a similar manner, I seek a spiritual connection with myself and the nature of the quiet, secluded space allows for this reflection to occur.

            Lastly, I resonate with Islamic gardens simply due to their beautiful aesthetic appeal. There are many water features such as fountains, pools, and water rills and channels. The chahar bagh creates a quadripartite design and square garden beds with plants and flowers. There are generally fruit trees, evergreens, and/or shrubs in these gardens as well. Thus, the gardens are pretty to look at it and to imagine myself walking around in. This is not to say there is not aesthetic beauty in other gardens, but I take more aesthetic interest in these types of ornate, geometrical features rather than the rolling landscapes of the English Landscape garden or the open and lack of ornate modernist gardens.  It is for these reasons that I most strongly resonate with Islamic gardens from this semester.

Here is a link for the MET Museum's Blue Qur'an. It is produced on parchment, which is made from animal's skin, and is written in gold and silver ink to demonstrate the beauty in the text and layout of the Qur'an.

The text of the Blue Qur'an (late 9th- to early 10th-century) from Tunisia in Kufic calligraphy demonstrates how the text and layout of the Qur'an can be a form of art within itself.

The nature of the quiet, secluded space in this Islamic garden in the Palace of Generalife allows for reflection on the self and Islamic faith to occur.

This is an example of a modern garden in the UK. It is beautiful in its own right with its open space and precise lines, but it is quite different than Islamic gardens. I personally find the ornate water and plant features of Islamic gardens to have more aesthetic beauty than this type of modern garden.

The Arts and Crafts Character, Form, and Contents of Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens Gardens

Julián Huertas

9 May 2015

Professor Musgrave

Garden Art in European History

Blog Post Nine:

Citing examples, define and describe the character, form and contents of the Arts and Crafts garden created by the Gertrude Jekyll & Edwin Lutyens partnership.

The Arts and Crafts Movement as whole began around the 1870s when the skill and fashion of traditional craftsmanship became widely appreciated. The movement was anti-industrial as people believed that the machine could not mass-produce an object as beautiful as an individual craftsman could. Due to its anti-industrial nature, the Arts and Crafts movement supported economic and social reform.  Within this movement, a gardener – Gertrude Jekyll – and architect – Edwin Lutyens – formed a partnership in 1889 that formed new ways of designing gardens.

Gertrude Jekyll was trained as an artist and became a gardener. She teamed up with Edwin Lutyens the architect, and the team together created a new form of garden design. As an artist, Jekyll is known for being the first to use painterly color theory when planting flowerbeds. When working together, Jekyll and Lutyens merged the house and garden with external surroundings.  In general, they are known for having geometrical patterns in the gardens along with outdoor rooms, hedges, vistas, pergolas, courts, flower-filled rills, water features such as pools and fountains, and circular steps. They incorporated the character of the space and its owners into the design.

An example of Jekyll and Lutyens’ work is Munstead House in Surrey.  Lutyens designed the house for Jekyll, which became her residence. They began their work in 1897, and this is where Jekyll first began using her painterly color theory for flowerbeds. She utilized irises and lupine flowers, which come in a variety of warm and cold colors. In addition to the color theory, Jekyll’s skill as a garden designer can be seen into how she calculated the plants for the garden in regard to flower time and plant form and height. This is not easy, yet Jekyll accommodated into the design of the garden.  Another example of the team’s work is at the garden of The Deanery in Sonning. They worked from 1899-1901. In a general sense, Lutyens did the house and garden framework as Jekyll did the beds and plants. Jekyll designed a spring garden, red garden, and rose garden within the house’s garden. The garden was ornate and each flower had its “correct neighbor” so that it would successfully grow in large compartments together and merge with the wild plants of the surrounding countryside.

Another distinct work is the garden at the Manor House in Upton Grey. The team worked from 1908-1909 and designed plans for four and a half acres of the garden on a sloping site. There is a wild garden, which has grass paths, wild flowers, different species of roses, and a small group of trees. There is also a formal garden, which has a rose garden with herbaceous borders and has no curved organic lines. She utilizes the painterly color theory as the flowers go from cool blues and whites to hot reds and oranges and back to cool colors again.

Although we are currently a little more than a century removed from the Arts and Crafts Movement, several features are still relevant to contemporary garden design in the UK. The garden designer John Brooks is working in Britain to combine interior and exterior surroundings to conform to the character of the site, just like Jekyll and Lutyens. He has studied gardens in warmer European climates and has adapted the features of these types of garden to be suitable for the UK climate and way of life. Additionally, Professor Musgrave discussed in class that in part of his PhD he analyzed why British gardens largely have not conformed to the modernist trend. On a basic sense, I got the impression that it is because there is too much of an interest, love, and fascination with non-modern plants and flowers in Britain. Modernist gardens do not incorporate these types of features.  In a similar manner to this, Jekyll had a love for these types of plants and flowers, and, thus, it appears that this type of concept in current UK gardens persists to this day.

Here is the website for the contemporary UK garden designer John Brookes. His portfolio is demonstrating how he is combining interior and exterior surroundings to conform to the character of the site, just like Jekyll and Lutyens.

The dynamic duo themselves, Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens. They met in 1889, when Jekyll was 46 and Lutyens was 22. Their personalities and characters clicked, and they formed a team that would change garden design in the Arts and Crafts Movement for the UK and the rest of Europe.

The garden of The Deanery in Sonning. In a general sense, Lutyens did the house and garden framework as Jekyll did the beds and plants. Jekyll designed a spring garden, red garden, and rose garden within the house’s garden. The garden was ornate and each flower had its “correct neighbor” so that it would successfully grow in large compartments together and merge with the wild plants of the surrounding countryside.

The garden of the Manor House at Upton Grey. There is a wild garden, which has grass paths, wild flowers, different species of roses, and a small group of trees. There is also a formal garden, which has a rose garden with herbaceous borders and has no curved organic lines. She utilizes the painterly color theory as the flowers go from cool blues and whites to hot reds and oranges and back to cool colors again.

The Influence, Form, Content, and Stlye of Victorian Villa Gardens

Julián Huertas

1 May 2015

Professor Musgrave

Garden Art in European History

Blog Post Eight:

Describe the form, content and style of the Victorian villa garden. Include in your answer the inspirations for this garden type.

            The Inspiration for the Victorian garden type derives on a whole from the rise of Britain as the world’s first super power. As the United Kingdom colonized other regions of the world, industrialized, and accumulated a mass amount of wealth, there was a substantial redistribution of wealth among different socioeconomic classes that led to new trends of urbanization and suburbanization in the UK. The middle class gained more money and expanded, and there was greater emphasis on family life and homely privacy in lifestyle. This change brought about new form, content, and style to Victorian villa garden design in the UK.

            A new profession developed in the UK for workers in garden design – the florist/commercial flower grower. This development occurred as plants and gardens became viewed as household decorations.  This synched with the increase of family life and homely privacy. The form and content of gardens and plants became quite ornate as it was a representation of wealth and taste, education, and good taste in the contemporary fashion.  Specifically in regard to style, bedding, complex geometric patterns, and gravel paths became key components of Victorian gardens. The invention of the lawnmower in 1832 and importation of artificial fertilizers allowed for ornate styles to be created and mass-produced.  Additionally, arboretums and conservatories became popular as ways to experiment and display the growing of foreign, exotic plants, such as ferns, evergreens, foliage plants, tropical rhododendrons, and – especially – orchids. These types of plants displayed education and worldly knowledge as they were both native and non-native species to Britain.

            The form and content of Victorian gardens can be traced to Biddulph Grange and Chatsworth garden.  In 1840, James Bateman began his work at Biddulph Grange. In this garden, Bateman went all in to the point that he went bankrupt after twenty years from financing the garden. He made the garden resemble more like a theme park, with different areas representing different locations of the world, such as plants and styles from Egypt, Italy, and Japan. Art and nature contrast in this type of garden. In Chatsworth garden, however, art and nature coexist. In 1824, Sir Joseph Paxton began his expansion of Chatsworth that came to include the arboretum, Great Conservatory, Rockwork, and Emperor Fountain over the next twenty years. The arboretum had the largest collection of trees in Europe, and the Great Conservatory had the largest glass building of the world at the time that also happened to be heated.  These two gardens influenced the form, content, and style for Victorian gardens. They demonstrate the focus on beauty, ornateness, novelty, the foreign and exotic, and education and knowledge.

Here is a website/article that discusses a theme similar a to a video we watched in class - the symbolism behind different flowers in the Victorian Era.

The Industrial Revolution in the UK changed anything in specific regard to the UK, there was a substantial redistribution of wealth among different socioeconomic classes that led to new trends of urbanization and suburbanization in the UK. This significantly affected Victorian villa garden design.

A Victorian villa garden. The form and content of gardens and plants became quite ornate as it was a representation of wealth and taste, education, and good taste in the contemporary fashion.  Specifically in regard to style, bedding, complex geometric patterns, and gravel paths became key components of Victorian gardens.

A part of James Bateman's Biddulph Grange, representing the influence of Japan garden design.

Map and layout of Chatsworth House after its expansion. The the arboretum, Great Conservatory, Rockwork, and Emperor Fountain are the most prominent features of the garden.