Olmsted Trees (Bilingual edition): Stanley Greenberg

Description

Frederick Law Olmsted (1822 - 1903) is considered as the father of landscape architecture in the United States and created several renowned urban parks and park systems around the country. With a stunning black and white series of trees by Stanley Greenberg dating to the beginnings of these parks this volume offers an intimate encounter with Olmsted, his motifs and heritage. Central Park in New York, the Emerald Necklace in Boston, park systems in Chicago, Milwaukee, Buffalo, Rochester and Louisville - trees have been essential elements of all of Olmsted's park designs. New York-based photographer Stanley Greenberg pays tribute to them with his portrait series of these beautiful and dignified giants. Three essays by renowned experts on history, sociology and landscape architecture complement the narrative and present an interdisciplinary vision on Olmsted's achievement.

Mindy Thompson Fullilove is a social psychiatrist and professor of urban policy and health at The New School.

"Greenberg's 100 black-and-white photographs captured in 26 of Olmsted's city park projects portray elements that have only recently grown into their full expression, something the architect himself would not live to see."-- "Hyperallergic" "The combination of the black-and-white palette and the framing of the trees, many in close up, accentuate the bark, the knots, the growths, the branching and other characteristics of the oldest trees in Olmsted's parks in and beyond New York. Some of the trees are gnarly, almost like alien creatures rather than trees . . . . The photographs are beautiful . . . ."-- "A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books" "Olmsted Trees, by the photographer Stanley Greenberg, celebrates bark that resembles barnacles, lizard skin or cooled lava . . . . Torqued trunks have knobs and cavities that evoke human eyes and animal snouts, while roots bulge like giant paws kneading the earth. The trees shrug off signs of human intervention, dwarfing fencing and playground equipment, and appearing unfazed by carvings of lovers' initials."-- "The New York Times"