{"id":58193,"date":"2019-04-16T12:50:55","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T16:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/?p=58193"},"modified":"2019-05-17T10:57:31","modified_gmt":"2019-05-17T14:57:31","slug":"beatrix-farrands-american-landscapes-a-documentary-world-premiere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nybg.org\/blogs\/plant-talk\/2019\/04\/from-the-library\/humanities-institute\/beatrix-farrands-american-landscapes-a-documentary-world-premiere\/","title":{"rendered":"Beatrix Farrand’s American Landscapes\u2014A Documentary World Premiere"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Gathered in front of the Tulip Tree Allee shortly before the screening, Film Director Stephen Ives (center) is surrounded by (left to right) John Beardsley (Film Interviewee), Lynden Miller (Film Narrator), Film Producer Anne Cleves Symmes and Sir Peter Crane (Moderator).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Friday, March 15, 2019 marked the Sixth Annual Humanities Symposium. To celebrate the occasion, the Humanities Institute, together with NYBG\u2019s Department of Adult Education, invited audiences to the screening of an important new documentary, Beatrix Farrands\u2019s American Landscapes.<\/em><\/p>\n

Opening the program was Carrie Rebora Barratt, Chief Executive Officer and William C. Steere Sr. President of NYBG, who enthusiastically welcomed the audience stating that the film screening could not have been timelier as March was Women\u2019s History Month<\/em>. She continued to say that celebrating Beatrix Farrand\u2014the only female charter member of the American Society of Landscape Architects\u2014was to acknowledge the vital role women have played and continue to play in American history and culture today.
\n
\nBarratt went on to say that Farrand, a pioneer in landscape architecture, had created inspirational landscapes throughout the nation. Her works included gardens at the Morgan Library, the White House, the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden in Maine, Acadia National Park, Dumbarton Oaks, Campus designs at Princeton and Yale; and our own fabulous Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden here at NYBG! In her closing statement she gave a warm thanks to the Mellon Foundation for continued support of the Humanities Institute and to the members of the Beatrix Farrand Garden Association who dedicate their work honoring Farrand\u2019s gardening legacy.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Seated on the stage, the panel invited questions from the audience in a packed Ross Hall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

President of the Oak Spring Foundation and Moderator for the event, Sir Peter Crane, took the stage to introduce the Emmy-award winning director Stephen Ives and his wife, horticulturist Anne Cleves Symmes, an inspired garden educator at the Beatrix Farrand Garden Association.<\/p>\n

As the film opened to a bright; sun drenched scene, a hush came over Ross Hall and the viewers found themselves in Farrand\u2019s \u201cSecret Garden,\u201d her first public garden at Hyde Park where a garden educational workshop for teenagers was taking place. The enthusiastic responses from the workshop participants revealed the continued relevance of Farrand\u2019s layouts today. The film\u2019s main narrator is Lynden Miller\u2014Farrand\u2019s 21st<\/sup> century \u2018dubbel-ganger\u2019\u2014whose eyes are the lens through which the viewer experiences her landscapes. As New York\u2019s best-known public garden designer and restorer of the Conservatory Garden and Bryant Park her career story is cleverly interwoven with that of Farrand\u2019s and enhanced by current interviews with various experts and scholars in the field Inviting along an enthralled audience, Miller set out on a journey to unearth Farrand\u2019s visionary legacy explaining in a clear and direct way what is unique and often surprising about Farrand\u2019s garden designs and plantings. Recalling her own garden creations, restorations, mistakes and successes, Lynden leisurely walks through Farrand\u2019s creations, pointing out the excellent horticultural choices, daring view-lines, uncanny spatial sensibilities and sophisticated ways in which she developed her ideas, \u201cwhile always keeping maintenance in mind!\u201d  <\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Lynden Miller responds to questions about Farrand\u2019s choice of plants and their role in historic garden restoration.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The superbly made documentary matches its heroine\u2019s sense for perfection in all details: aesthetic refinedness and technical prowess do wonders in bringing to life Farrand\u2019s whole age, while showing her visionary landscapes. The smart intermixing of original photos and 19th<\/sup>-century reels of New York City make for a fascinating story from beginning to end. There were beautiful headshots of Beatrix Farrand and her family members\u2014many somewhat melancholic looking\u2014as well as pristinely restored pictures Farrand made while visiting European gardens to develop her knowledge of garden architecture. Her own garden designs were presented in a uniquely inventive way: during the various stages of their completion. Most impressive is Dumbarton Oaks\u2019 creation history, a tour de force<\/em> of landscape architecture across various terraces and extending over a period of twenty years. \u201cThe Bliss\u2019s happily enough had real \u2018stick ability,\u2019 Peter Crane observed dryly. <\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Sir Peter Crane, Lynden Miller, John Beardsley and Stephen Ives enjoy an animated exchange recalling shared adventures during the making of the film.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A lively conversation followed the film. Joining Crane and Ives for the discussion were Lynden Miller and John Beardsley, Program Director of the Center for Garden and Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.; and (though not included in the panel discussion), landscape architect and eminent Farrand scholar Patrick Chass\u00e9, and well-known cultural critic and garden writer Paula Deitz (Hudson Review).<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Visitors admire Beatrix Farrand\u2019s original correspondence in the Mertz Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Director Stephen Ives started the conversation by stating that the most challenging aspects of making this film \u201cis that you don\u2019t have your hand on the weather and most of it is filmed outside, with planes flying over every time an interviewee just says something truly profound. Filming is a collaborative effort, and in fact I like to start with a big shout-out for the film\u2019s funders and makers, the editors, sound experts and musicians (the Beatrix Farrand Ensemble), without whose generosity and artistic input this documentary would not have been possible.\u201d  How to remember someone like Beatrix Farrand? \u201cFarrand created a truly distinctive American voice in landscape design, the legacy of which continues today and into the future,\u201d said Lynden Miller \u201cA good example of her living legacy,\u201d John Beardsley added, \u201cwould be Michael van Valckenburgh, whose landscapes are clearly inspired by Farrand\u2019s style and palette, her sense for native gardens and rigor of maintenance. No wonder, he rubbed shoulders with her when working at Dumbarton Oaks in the 1970s!\u201d<\/p>\n

At the end of the program the crowd slowly cleared from the Ross Hall as audience members shared their thoughts on the film. \u201cWhat an amazing visual and auditory accomplishment,\u201d a horticultural student remarked A Garden Member explained \u201cI loved this formula of walking along with Lynden Miller, hearing her comments, it really explains well the essence of Farrand\u2019s life and work,\u201d \u201cFarrand was very courageous, wasn\u2019t she? It feels like I know her personally now,\u201d said a student from Columbia Architectural School.<\/p>\n

Completing the morning\u2019s program, visitors enjoyed a special viewing in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of Farrand\u2019s original designs for the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden and the private correspondence with Nathaniel Lord Britton, founder of the New York Botanical Garden.<\/p>\n

\"Blueprint\"<\/a>
Blueprint of Beatrix Farrand\u2019s Rose Garden (1916), showing the unusual triangular form with central circle for a gazebo and proposed arrangement of paths and rose beds. Archives, NYBG, Plan 432. See also S. Fraser and V. Sellers eds., Flora Illustrata, p. 276.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To view Beatrix Farrand\u2019s American Landscapes<\/em>, check this listing of upcoming events<\/a>. You can see a trailer for the film below.<\/p>\n