Edward Hyams (1910–1975)

WIth a title like this I've come to expect great photography as well as great scholarship. Maybe the scholarship is there but there is a certain formulaic regularity about the whole volume that detracts from it. Ok it was written in 1969 so is now 55 years old and lots of technical developments have taken place over this time....especially with colour printing. Where I'm looking at gardens of the world, I want to be inspired and the photographs are the best way of doing this. I have a number of books on gardens ...many of the books quite modern but it's still rare to find a photographer who will take the time to get up before dawn and still be lingering at duck to take advantage of the lighting. All too often the photos are taken in the middle of the day (when the photographer happened to be there) and they suffer from overly harsh contrast and lighting.And this book falls prey to this problem. Basically, I think the subject is too broad. For example, with Japan, rather than focus on just one superb garden the authors try to cover-off a whole series of gardens in different parts of the country. Hence you get a few words about many different gardens but not enough to get some real understanding gf the garden. Actually, I found the book deeply unsatisfying som as I'm having to downsize by library anyway, this particular book will be going to the Lifeline sale. I give it two stars.… (más)

Sono particolarmente legato a questo libro. Per varie ragioni. Mi ricorda della vecchia Inghilterra, quella dei Beatles, Mary Quant, Mr Profumo, Harperbury, St. Albans, Shabu & Reneè, Puck & Joseanne e poi ancora Arthur Young e le Country Houses, la Rivoluzione Agricola e il Landscaping... per finire alla mia tesi sulla Rivoluzione Agricola nel '700 inglese. E mi ricorda anche del mio grande Maestro, l'anglista Fernando Ferrara. Capability Brown mi ricorda anche il moderno Veltroni col suo "Yes, we can". Ma Capability, "faceva" davvero. Trasformava terreni aridi in prati e giardini, paesaggi incantati e terreni arati e coltivati. "Yes, he really could". "Uolter" "can't"... Vedi dove ti porta un libro? Da Capability Brown a Veltroni....… (más)