wi\ SID f - National Gallery of Art October 21,1972-January 7,1973

Transcription

1 FREDERICK LAW n wi\ SID f - National Gallery of Art October 21,1972-January 7,1973

2 F r e d e r i c k L a w O l m s t e d / U. S. A. m Have you always supposed that New York's Central Park is a strip of natural, undeveloped Manhattan? Like so many^&her grand urban settings, it ia&atural not by accident btif by**esign: The V ' parkis actually a rtran-made environmeiftir^on^ns^prkof V "A Frederick Law Olmsted. 0n*ire15QU*&nw birth, the National Gallery o<^14aluies him as arreffwf wfio had an extraordinary impact on tfw^shape of the American landscape if you have seen Central Park, or Chicago's Jackson Park, or a Detroit's Belle(Js4e then you ajp already acquainted with Olmsted; Creator of seventeeqjoajor urban parks, he also designed the > grounds ofthe United States Capitol in.washington, laid out an entire open space system for Boston, planned complete residential communities in Riverside (near Chicagojand in Atlanta, and college campuses in both the West andshe East.

3 Map of Central Park, 1876 No simple gardener Olmsted was a man of uncommon foresight. At a time when critics could only decry urban demoralization, he viewed cities as centers of opportunity, as great democratic institutions. He brought nature into cities to "civilize" them, to counteract what he called the "oppression of town life." Olmsted's parks were, by his own estimation, a hundred years ahead of public demand.1 Not only did he bring the "natural" into cities, he also sought to preserve the invaluable scenic wilderness. While chairman ofthe original Yosemite Park Commission in 1865, Olmsted advanced the idea of national parks, and his efforts contributed to the founding of the national park system. He actively campaigned to preserve the beauty of the setting of Niagara Falls. In his landmark suburban plans, he combined both the city and the countryside into balanced living environments. No simple gardener, Olmsted took the worst possible sitesswamps, polluted lagoons, and dumps and through careful drainage, reclamation and planting, transformed them into healthful retreats. Belle Isle Park, for example, was a malarial marsh before Olmsted applied his special combination of engineering know-how and design sensitivity to produce a center for urban enjoyment. Manipulating the environment to enhance public pleasure and to promote public health, Olmsted created a lasting legacy and founded the profession of landscape architecture in America. Olmsted in Yosemite cover: Frederick Law Olmsted about courtesy Olmsted Associates, Inc., Brookline, Mass.

4 LOfe ^._4UUU4Ut JJLJJLj ii I (irl I; it tt I MAP OK TIIK ENTBAiL FABE. mnnnninmndin' run An observer and his vision Bom in Hartford, Connecticut in 1822, Olmsted sampled surveying, bookkeeping, scientific farming, and journalism before embarking upon his design career. Extensive travel played a major role in shaping his future. In Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England (1852), he described his impressions of English landscape and methods of agriculture. Forthe NewYork Daily Times, he reported on the antebellum South and its best known institution, slavery. Later issued as The Cotton Kingdom (1861), his analysis represents a major contribution to American social history. Riding on horseback through the South, sailing before the mast to China, or exploring the rolling countryside of his native New England, Olmsted was a keen observer and student of all he saw and his later career reflects his broad experience. The rural America of Olmsted's early years became city-centered America before his death in 1903.The closing of the frontier marked the end of an era when Americans could take for granted unlimited lands and continued expansion. Olmsted viewed the cities as a new frontier. He predicted that cities, or towns, would grow larger than the world had ever known. "The further progress of civilization," he said, "is to depend mainly upon the influences by which men's minds and characters will be affected while living in large towns."2

5 JUUUUUUUUUUiJi'JLiLJUiUIL ii if i f Trl it ii ii i If nnr ;«u.f An antidote for urban ills Working with Calvert Vaux, Olmsted prepared the now famous "Greensward" plan for Central Park in 1858 and embarked on a new career as a landscape architect. In that role, he introduced green oases into grim cities, creating a satisfying aesthetic experience on the scale of the cityscape. He saw in nature the raw materials of his art and with its elements constructed the architecture of the landscape. In recommendations to Boston's Commissioner of Parks in 1880, Olmsted cited "pleasing rural scenery" as an antidote for urban ills, including "excessive nervous tension, over-anxiety, hasteful disposition, impatience, [and] irritability."3 In that report he wrote, "It is, for example, of the enjoyment of this pleasure, and not simply of air and exercise, that Emerson says, 'It soothes and sympathizes,' that Lowell says, 'It pours oil and wine on the smarts of the mind,' and which Ruskin describes as 'absolute peace.' "4 Olmsted's art was three-dimensional, unframed, in mixed media, and alive. He employed rural scenery to create depth and perspective, to modulate color and adapt scale, to evoke mystery, and to set up surprise. Unlike many environmental sculptors creating earthworks today, he was thoroughly practical; his landscapes pleased the senses and also provided badly needed settings for the more active forms of recreation. He drew a distinction between what he termed "receptive" and "exertive" recreation and created opportunities for both: malls, meadows, walkways, paths and streets, beaches, boating facilities, tennis courts, ball parks and playing fields. Observing urban dwellers crowded onto narrow sidewalks and squeezed onto front steps on hot evenings, Olmsted recognized the importance of accessibility in planning recreation areas. He watched the wealthy traveling great distances to seek out secluded, private recreation, trying to escape cities choked with garbage and noise. What he saw led him to promote parks where all could mingle on common ground. He implemented his ideas successfully in NewYork, Chicago, Milwaukee, Buffalo, Louisville, and numerous other growing metropolitan areas.

6 Exhibition plan Circlescan Theatre-in-the-Round Books, Memorabilia, Letters Biltmore Estate Urban Parks Buffalo Washington, D.C. National Parks Stanford University Riverside, Illinois Chicago Boston NewYork Introduction

7 From building scale to city scale The graceful curves of Olmsted's park plans are reflected in his plan for the grounds of the U.S. Capitol.They complement the terrace which he designed to give the structure its visual support and proper definition. The park plans served further as models for city and suburban plans. In laying out the suburb of Riverside in 1869 Olmsted created a community within an expanded park setting. He devised a curvilinear street pattern to provide a variety of vistas and to serve as a relaxing contrast to what he considered to be the dehumanizing grid systems of most cities. While meeting recreational needs, as man-made settings, Olmsted's parks also improved the overall quality of city living. In Boston he extended the single site park into a series of open spaces, the nation's first municipal park system. Developing an area such as Boston's Fens, which would otherwise have remained a public nuisance due to its odors and the danger of flooding and disease, he improved the health of the city and its inhabitants.thus it was the need for improved sanitation and drainage that prompted much of the development of the gracious greenbelt known as Boston's "Emerald Necklace," which winds from the Common, along Commonwealth Avenue, out through the Fens, past Jamaica Pond, to the Arnold Arboretum and Franklin Park (1885). U.S. Capitol: Construction of west front, arches and terraces, courtesy Olmsted Associates, Inc., Brookline, Mass.

8 Coupling ecology and art Instead of imposing order on the landscape, Olmsted worked in harmony with it, responding to the character of each site. The English garden tradition which is reflected in so many of his parks and campuses in the East, was totally inappropriate for use in the Far West. Thus, despite the wishes of his client, Olmsted would not recommend a grassy, tree-shaded campus for Stanford University in Palo Alto, where, he advised, the hot, dry climate and the terrain demanded special pavement for outdoor areas, the use of local vegetation for scale and color, and architecture adapted to provide shade as well as harmonious design. For all projects, small or large, Olmsted carefully analyzed the ecology and its ramifications. In 1888, he issued a stern warning to Buffalo that pollution would ruin Lake Erie and the lakeshore as recreational resources unless rapid action was taken to control industrial development. "Buffalo owes its importance as a city to its position on Lake Erie," he asserted. "It has no work of art and can have no work of art that will compare with it in value."5 Applying sound ecological principles to planning, Olmsted was far ahead of his time. Coupling ecology with art, he was almost unique. It was not without sustained battles with politicians and private clients, however, that he was able to implement his schemes. Addressing the American Social Science Association in 1870, he stated, "The most brutal pagans to whom we have sent our missionaries have never shown greater indifference to the sufferings of others than is exhibited in the plans of some of our most promising cities, for which men now living in them are responsible."6 Bicyclists on the campus of Gallaudet College, Washington, D.C. courtesy Gallaudet College Library Buildings under construction, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, November 1888

9 New perspectives While landscape architect at Central Park, Olmsted was constantly harrassed by city hall. When an influential New Yorker came to him proposing a race track for Central Park, Olmsted felt obliged to raise landscape considerations." 'Oh, damn the landscape!'" the man cried," 'We came here, sir, as practical men, to discuss with your Board a simple, practical, common-sense question. We don't know any thing about your landscape, and we don't know what landscape has to do with the matter before us.' "7 In NewYork, as in so many other cities, Olmsted not only provided designs, but had to educate people as to their value and proper use. He carefully listed regulations for park management, including a seven mile an hour speed limit for animals traveling in the park. He also wanted, but could not get, special keepers for Central Park not only to protect the park, but also to interpret it for users, to assist them in learning about the environment. Olmsted's view of the city as a place of learning is a very contemporary one. Likewise, his love for nature and the out-ofdoors is one which is presently finding a rebirth in American life. When he provided tennis courts in Franklin Park, he gave Boston something it had never had before, something very much in demand today.through neglect, however, many of his greatest works suffer now. Parks and recreation are generally among the lowest of municipal priorities and few cities are able to plan ahead five years, let alone one hundred. Olmsted's creative vision was broad-ranging and prophetic. He revealed new perspectives and added a vital dimension to the art of the American landscape and to American living. Tennis courts. Franklin Park. Boston, courtesy Olmsted Associates, Inc. Brookline. Mass.

10 1 Frederick Law Olmsted, Frederick Law Olmsted; Landscape Architect, , ed. by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. and Theodora Kimball, I (NewYork: Benjamin Blom, Inc., 1970), Olmsted, "Public Parks and the Enlargement of Towns," in Civilizing American Cities, ed. by S.B. Sutton, (Cambridge, Mass.: The M.I.T. Press, 1971), Olmsted, "Seventh Annual Report of the Board of Commissioners of the Department of Parks for the City of Boston for the year 1881," in Sutton, Ibid. 5 Olmsted, "The Projected Park and Parkways on the South Side of Buffalo," in Sutton, Olmsted, "Public Parks," Olmsted, "The Spoils of the Park," in Olmsted, Jr. and Kimball, 135. Text by Jane Canter Loeffler Designed by Kathleen Haven & Michael Lauretano... YN%*' Plan for Boston park system, courtesy Olmsted Associates, Inc., Brookline, Mass. O.s. _ *m :«-" «*»*