- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804759458
- eISBN:
- 9780804775878
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804759458.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
This chapter argues for the integration of Chinese ways of seeing nature into conceptions of the British natural world, and charts the ways that improved conditions of plant exchange changed the ...
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This chapter argues for the integration of Chinese ways of seeing nature into conceptions of the British natural world, and charts the ways that improved conditions of plant exchange changed the British conception of the native and natural more generally. This increased ability to transplant Chinese specimens to the British landscape paralleled a shift in the theoretical conception of the British garden. During the eighteenth century, British gardening style depended on Chinese influence enough to be termed jardin anglo-chinois by European observers. But by the mid-nineteenth century, despite the greatly increased presence of Chinese plants such as rhododendrons and azaleas in the British landscape, British garden designers insisted on the native inspiration of their forms. The chapter links a deepening British mistrust of the visual effects used by the Chinese in creating their gardens to a broader British disavowal of the influence of Chinese landscape design. In rejecting the obfuscations of Chinese designs, however, British writers affirmed those designs' grounding logic: that stylized landscape systems relayed real information about a country's political liberties.Less
This chapter argues for the integration of Chinese ways of seeing nature into conceptions of the British natural world, and charts the ways that improved conditions of plant exchange changed the British conception of the native and natural more generally. This increased ability to transplant Chinese specimens to the British landscape paralleled a shift in the theoretical conception of the British garden. During the eighteenth century, British gardening style depended on Chinese influence enough to be termed jardin anglo-chinois by European observers. But by the mid-nineteenth century, despite the greatly increased presence of Chinese plants such as rhododendrons and azaleas in the British landscape, British garden designers insisted on the native inspiration of their forms. The chapter links a deepening British mistrust of the visual effects used by the Chinese in creating their gardens to a broader British disavowal of the influence of Chinese landscape design. In rejecting the obfuscations of Chinese designs, however, British writers affirmed those designs' grounding logic: that stylized landscape systems relayed real information about a country's political liberties.
Martin F. Quigley
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- December 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199563562
- eISBN:
- 9780191774713
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199563562.003.0011
- Subject:
- Biology, Ecology
Although species diversity may be a useful shorthand for addressing ecosystem health and function in relatively circumscribed areas, plant species richness and its effect in small designed landscapes ...
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Although species diversity may be a useful shorthand for addressing ecosystem health and function in relatively circumscribed areas, plant species richness and its effect in small designed landscapes in an urban matrix are not easily quantified. Functional and structural diversity at higher taxonomic levels are more appropriate measures for assessing diversity. Even when horticultural layouts include both remnant native species and appropriate introduced species, urban gardens do not contribute significantly to ecosystem function in cities or suburbs.Less
Although species diversity may be a useful shorthand for addressing ecosystem health and function in relatively circumscribed areas, plant species richness and its effect in small designed landscapes in an urban matrix are not easily quantified. Functional and structural diversity at higher taxonomic levels are more appropriate measures for assessing diversity. Even when horticultural layouts include both remnant native species and appropriate introduced species, urban gardens do not contribute significantly to ecosystem function in cities or suburbs.
Peter J. Holliday
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- June 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190256517
- eISBN:
- 9780190256548
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190256517.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, History of Art: pre-history, BCE to 500CE, ancient and classical, Byzantine
American Arcadia: California and the Classical Tradition examines the mythologizing of California as a Mediterranean haven recalling ancient Greece or Rome. It explores how Californians shaped their ...
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American Arcadia: California and the Classical Tradition examines the mythologizing of California as a Mediterranean haven recalling ancient Greece or Rome. It explores how Californians shaped their world using the rhetoric of classical antiquity, from the first Anglo settlers in the nineteenth century to the present. It looks at how Americans sought to establish an American Arcadia to contrast with the harsh winters, despoiled landscape, and dark industrial cities they left in the East and Midwest. Indeed, the classical metaphor proved so alluring that some individuals shaped their very physical and spiritual selves according to classical types. American Arcadia examines the evidence of material culture—painting, sculpture, photography, and especially architecture and landscape design—to explore these themes. More important, the book emphasizes the stories and people behind the works to understand how they came into being, what they meant to their makers, and how they affected contemporary and later observers. Although its primary focus is on Los Angeles, early promoters defined the Southland loosely, so it also covers a broad geographical scope. Furthermore, there are no other sustained examinations of the deployment and reception of classical metaphors in shaping California’s identity. The book provides a new appreciation for a way of seeing our history and ourselves, and for a mode that was once familiar—for a time even central—in America and that not only helps explain artworks from our past but also how our contemporary world developed.Less
American Arcadia: California and the Classical Tradition examines the mythologizing of California as a Mediterranean haven recalling ancient Greece or Rome. It explores how Californians shaped their world using the rhetoric of classical antiquity, from the first Anglo settlers in the nineteenth century to the present. It looks at how Americans sought to establish an American Arcadia to contrast with the harsh winters, despoiled landscape, and dark industrial cities they left in the East and Midwest. Indeed, the classical metaphor proved so alluring that some individuals shaped their very physical and spiritual selves according to classical types. American Arcadia examines the evidence of material culture—painting, sculpture, photography, and especially architecture and landscape design—to explore these themes. More important, the book emphasizes the stories and people behind the works to understand how they came into being, what they meant to their makers, and how they affected contemporary and later observers. Although its primary focus is on Los Angeles, early promoters defined the Southland loosely, so it also covers a broad geographical scope. Furthermore, there are no other sustained examinations of the deployment and reception of classical metaphors in shaping California’s identity. The book provides a new appreciation for a way of seeing our history and ourselves, and for a mode that was once familiar—for a time even central—in America and that not only helps explain artworks from our past but also how our contemporary world developed.
Yuriko Saitō
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- June 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190456320
- eISBN:
- 9780190456351
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190456320.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
In Japan, as in the west, gardens represent an idealized form of nature in which human beings reshape the natural world according to specific aesthetic paradigms. Unlike Western formal gardens, which ...
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In Japan, as in the west, gardens represent an idealized form of nature in which human beings reshape the natural world according to specific aesthetic paradigms. Unlike Western formal gardens, which are characterized by symmetry and rigid order, Japanese gardens present a more “natural” appearance by articulating the native characteristics of the materials, such as rocks and plants. The philosophy of Zen Buddhism, as well as the time-honored garden design principle of “following the request” show how Japanese garden designers are inspired by—and possibly improve upon—nature in their art and how a respectful attitude toward nature is expressed aesthetically in Japanese gardens.Less
In Japan, as in the west, gardens represent an idealized form of nature in which human beings reshape the natural world according to specific aesthetic paradigms. Unlike Western formal gardens, which are characterized by symmetry and rigid order, Japanese gardens present a more “natural” appearance by articulating the native characteristics of the materials, such as rocks and plants. The philosophy of Zen Buddhism, as well as the time-honored garden design principle of “following the request” show how Japanese garden designers are inspired by—and possibly improve upon—nature in their art and how a respectful attitude toward nature is expressed aesthetically in Japanese gardens.
