Hunt, J.D., 2000, Greater perfection: the practice of garden theory, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia
- Author : Hunt, J.D.
- Year : 2000
- Title English : Greater perfection: the practice of garden theory
- Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
- Publisher's Location : Philadelphia
- ISBN : 978-0500019795
- Pages : 288
- Abstract : If gardening is most usually thought of as a practical activity, John Dixon Hunt's book explores the theoretical or conceptual basis of garden art. This involves taking a coherent and large-scale view of the garden in human culture throughout different times and places and treating the garden as the epitome of place-making or what is nowadays termed landscape architecture.Greater Perfections explores the meanings of "garden" and its relationship to other interventions into the natural world. It looks at the role of verbal and visual languages in place-making as well as the fashion in which gardens have been represented in the visual and literary arts. But above all, it offers a new and challenging account of the role of representation in garden art itself.Though his book draws upon many different historical traditions and archival materials (including a rich array of visual illustration), Hunt undertakes one main historical excursus: into the exciting theoretical world of the late seventeenth century, in and around the figure of John Evelyn. This example of the contemplation or deep scrutiny and understanding of design from with in its own praxis sustains the final section of the book on contemporary landscape architecture. Hunt calls for a new history of landscape architecture as the basis for redirecting its energies and vision into built work, some recent examples of which are considered (From: http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/13318.html)
- Comments : From the publisher: John Dixon Hunt, the noted garden historian, disparages landscape architects for pragmatically lacking a theoretical basis for design. He states: 'Landscape architecture is unable to understand the principles of its own practice as an art of place-making'. As may be expected from Dixon Hunt, Greater Perfections, the Practice of Garden Theory is a dense all-inclusive scholarly discourse drawing on a depth of historical literature on gardens, philosophy and art, from distant past ages to the now, from East to West, revealing theories and insights applicable to the present. It includes roles for fiction, time/poetry, narrative, abstract representation, symbolism, feelings, visitor interactive response, maintenance and a recent steady movement towards the natural, ending with a chapter on new practice. This book includes a wealth of illustrations, many from original manuscripts juxtaposed interestingly with contemporary designs and existing landscapes. He extrapolates from well and lesser-known sources including Cicero, Pliny, John Evelyn, Beale, Taegios, Hartlib, Repton, Walpole, Foucault, Adriaan Geuze, Martha Schwartz and Bernard Lassus, to argue that gardens though considered a 'lesser art', if studied carefully, provide conceptual and theoretical lessons which will vastly improve the practice of contemporary landscape architects. One of the major themes is that of the 'three natures': wilderness (the savage state); the agrarian/urban (human intervention on the land); and garden art (cultural intervention) in imbuing meaning when placed within the boundary (the frame). 'Representation ... is a recurring and crucial strategy in place-making from Babylon to Bercy'.