DOI Artikel:
Szafrańska, Małgorzata: "Przesiewacze piasku": uwagi na temat powstania i ewolucji histrii ogrodów
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14572#0040
34
MAŁGORZATA SZAFRAŃSKA
SAND SIFTERS.
REMARKS ON GARDEN DEVELOPMENT AND EVOLUTION OF ITS HISTORY
Abstract
The aim of the article is to présent the reasons of coming into existence and évolution of the garden history. It was a process
intermingled with a development of an idea of garden seen as a work of art. Changing understanding of garden nature influenced
the changes in the horizon of subject topics and the tools of their interprétation.
In the Greek-Roman antiquity the reflection on the history of gardens as such did not exist. Garden, as a phenomenon, be-
longed to the scope of religious or utilitarian meanings. At the very most there were only some références to the tradition of agri-
cultural work, commented on as a moral exemplum. fn the médiéval texts about gardening and agriculture we could find the réfé-
rences to the ancient past, but only in a practical context. In the 16th and 17th centuries a humanistic canon of ancient gardens
(including mythical ones) became established, as well as of rulers and politicians - gardeners, which was quotcd in the introductions
to gardening guides and handbooks.
Of crucial importance for the history of gardens was récognition of garden as a work of art. This happened in the mid-18th
century as an unintended result of many years of debatę about a new English park, focused on the great work of Le Nôtre. The dis-
cussion resulted in the development of a language pertaining to the description of garden and assertion that its création is a work of
art (an article by Louis de Jaucourt in the French Encyclopaedia).
From this time on the historiography of gardens expanded, finding its place mainly in magazines about a new, becoming es-
tablished style of scenie park (for example Christian Cay Lorenz Hirschfeld). The example of previous réalisations, referred to and
described for the first time, served mainly the purpose of exemplum in aesthetic polemic. What is important, however, is this that
scenie park was never seen as a succession of geometrie style - as it is often to be found in the modern garden handbooks. In the
18th century and later on thèse two styles were understood as two parallel conventions (compared with painting and architecture),
which were used according to the taste of a customer and designer or to the planned fonction and spatial context of a garden.
A crucial contribution - although appreciated only in our times - to the understanding of the essence of a garden were made
by the relevant remarks of Kant and texts of the Romantics. They opened the way for comprehending garden as an autonomous
work, independent from the nature, far removed from its imitations, and rather subjected to imagination. This attitude allowed for
revealing of an art element (artificiality) in each garden - even in a scenie one, and for a final equality of thèse two, contradictory
styles: geometrie and natural (Hegel).
A first great history of gardens was written by John Claudius Loudon (1822), which for the first time was illustrated not only
with landscapes, but also with plans. Although Loudon's was interested in ail continents, nevertheless he focused on contemporary
gardens, gardening, and plant market. The presented materiał he divided territorially into gardens of particular areas, which he jus-
tified by the influence of political institutions, social standards and climate and natural conditions. He also paid attention to the sig-
nificance of theoretical texts for research into the garden history.
The next milestone in the development of the history of gardens was a comprehensive work by Arthur Mangin (1867). For
the only time ever the subject of the whole book was a garden art in the world in the rétrospective view. This great volume for the
first time revealed a possibility to study the garden history as an autonomous subject of historiography. Thèse wonderfol fantasies,
as we can say today, show the extent and character of the 19th-century knowledge about the past of gardens.
The turn of the 19* and 20lh century were the times when the seriously treated history of gardens abandoned design handbooks
and found its own authors, who did not associate the exploring of the past with designing creativity. In the face of fading historicism
in art, history became increasingly less important for garden designers and became expanded on the side of their activity, in other
territory, approximating scholarly history. That was also the time of the development of a practice of garden conservation, stimulat-
ing historical research. We can say that, when a monumental History of Garden Art was published by Marie-Luise Gothein (1912),
and two historical texts by E. Jankowski on Polish and European gardens (1923 and 1938) important for Polish writings, there became
established: a subject and method of garden history.
After the World War II the history of gardens developed quickly, and abounded with monographs of objects and biographies
of their creators, anthologies of source texts, thematic conférences, and - with lapse of time - also exhibitions in great muséums.
Following the lead of art history, it adopted its methods and research perspectives. A new way of perceiving gardens became estab-
lished as a contextual horizon. A work of garden art got delaminated; its relations with politics, economy, and literaturę were being
analysed. A work of art as a sign, art as a language - thèse terms obvious today fought slowly their way in the minds of garden his-
torians thanks to the works by Marcello Fagiolo, Elisabeth MacDougall, David R. Coffin.
In the history of gardens of the 1990s and the récent years there is to be seen, apart from a traditional, formai chronicie de-
scription of the designs and their authors, three more cognitive tracks of research. Thèse are, firstly, former works of contextual trend,
placing garden among the social, économie and cultural phenomena and as far as political aspects of landscape shaping and subjects
neglected for a long time, such as the relationship between the German architecture of landscape and ideology of National Social-
ism. Second way of gardens description resulted from the contemporary tendency to transform a synthesis into sets of éléments,
provoking the receivers to participate in the formulation of integrating conclusions. Third line is a peculiar 'return to a garden' and
an attempt to find sufficient research déterminants within the work itself rather than its historical context.
The récent works by philosophers (Ferriolo, Nys, Laroze), and art historians and historians of literaturę, as Hunt, open up new
research vistas. Thèse are mainly the questions about the essence of garden, its existence within evolving cultural environment and
about the character of perception - sensual, mental and imaginative ones.
Translated by Grażyna Waluga
MAŁGORZATA SZAFRAŃSKA
SAND SIFTERS.
REMARKS ON GARDEN DEVELOPMENT AND EVOLUTION OF ITS HISTORY
Abstract
The aim of the article is to présent the reasons of coming into existence and évolution of the garden history. It was a process
intermingled with a development of an idea of garden seen as a work of art. Changing understanding of garden nature influenced
the changes in the horizon of subject topics and the tools of their interprétation.
In the Greek-Roman antiquity the reflection on the history of gardens as such did not exist. Garden, as a phenomenon, be-
longed to the scope of religious or utilitarian meanings. At the very most there were only some références to the tradition of agri-
cultural work, commented on as a moral exemplum. fn the médiéval texts about gardening and agriculture we could find the réfé-
rences to the ancient past, but only in a practical context. In the 16th and 17th centuries a humanistic canon of ancient gardens
(including mythical ones) became established, as well as of rulers and politicians - gardeners, which was quotcd in the introductions
to gardening guides and handbooks.
Of crucial importance for the history of gardens was récognition of garden as a work of art. This happened in the mid-18th
century as an unintended result of many years of debatę about a new English park, focused on the great work of Le Nôtre. The dis-
cussion resulted in the development of a language pertaining to the description of garden and assertion that its création is a work of
art (an article by Louis de Jaucourt in the French Encyclopaedia).
From this time on the historiography of gardens expanded, finding its place mainly in magazines about a new, becoming es-
tablished style of scenie park (for example Christian Cay Lorenz Hirschfeld). The example of previous réalisations, referred to and
described for the first time, served mainly the purpose of exemplum in aesthetic polemic. What is important, however, is this that
scenie park was never seen as a succession of geometrie style - as it is often to be found in the modern garden handbooks. In the
18th century and later on thèse two styles were understood as two parallel conventions (compared with painting and architecture),
which were used according to the taste of a customer and designer or to the planned fonction and spatial context of a garden.
A crucial contribution - although appreciated only in our times - to the understanding of the essence of a garden were made
by the relevant remarks of Kant and texts of the Romantics. They opened the way for comprehending garden as an autonomous
work, independent from the nature, far removed from its imitations, and rather subjected to imagination. This attitude allowed for
revealing of an art element (artificiality) in each garden - even in a scenie one, and for a final equality of thèse two, contradictory
styles: geometrie and natural (Hegel).
A first great history of gardens was written by John Claudius Loudon (1822), which for the first time was illustrated not only
with landscapes, but also with plans. Although Loudon's was interested in ail continents, nevertheless he focused on contemporary
gardens, gardening, and plant market. The presented materiał he divided territorially into gardens of particular areas, which he jus-
tified by the influence of political institutions, social standards and climate and natural conditions. He also paid attention to the sig-
nificance of theoretical texts for research into the garden history.
The next milestone in the development of the history of gardens was a comprehensive work by Arthur Mangin (1867). For
the only time ever the subject of the whole book was a garden art in the world in the rétrospective view. This great volume for the
first time revealed a possibility to study the garden history as an autonomous subject of historiography. Thèse wonderfol fantasies,
as we can say today, show the extent and character of the 19th-century knowledge about the past of gardens.
The turn of the 19* and 20lh century were the times when the seriously treated history of gardens abandoned design handbooks
and found its own authors, who did not associate the exploring of the past with designing creativity. In the face of fading historicism
in art, history became increasingly less important for garden designers and became expanded on the side of their activity, in other
territory, approximating scholarly history. That was also the time of the development of a practice of garden conservation, stimulat-
ing historical research. We can say that, when a monumental History of Garden Art was published by Marie-Luise Gothein (1912),
and two historical texts by E. Jankowski on Polish and European gardens (1923 and 1938) important for Polish writings, there became
established: a subject and method of garden history.
After the World War II the history of gardens developed quickly, and abounded with monographs of objects and biographies
of their creators, anthologies of source texts, thematic conférences, and - with lapse of time - also exhibitions in great muséums.
Following the lead of art history, it adopted its methods and research perspectives. A new way of perceiving gardens became estab-
lished as a contextual horizon. A work of garden art got delaminated; its relations with politics, economy, and literaturę were being
analysed. A work of art as a sign, art as a language - thèse terms obvious today fought slowly their way in the minds of garden his-
torians thanks to the works by Marcello Fagiolo, Elisabeth MacDougall, David R. Coffin.
In the history of gardens of the 1990s and the récent years there is to be seen, apart from a traditional, formai chronicie de-
scription of the designs and their authors, three more cognitive tracks of research. Thèse are, firstly, former works of contextual trend,
placing garden among the social, économie and cultural phenomena and as far as political aspects of landscape shaping and subjects
neglected for a long time, such as the relationship between the German architecture of landscape and ideology of National Social-
ism. Second way of gardens description resulted from the contemporary tendency to transform a synthesis into sets of éléments,
provoking the receivers to participate in the formulation of integrating conclusions. Third line is a peculiar 'return to a garden' and
an attempt to find sufficient research déterminants within the work itself rather than its historical context.
The récent works by philosophers (Ferriolo, Nys, Laroze), and art historians and historians of literaturę, as Hunt, open up new
research vistas. Thèse are mainly the questions about the essence of garden, its existence within evolving cultural environment and
about the character of perception - sensual, mental and imaginative ones.
Translated by Grażyna Waluga