Showing posts with label NOTHING TO DO WITH FLOWERS?. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NOTHING TO DO WITH FLOWERS?. Show all posts
Saturday, December 14, 2019
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
'Still-life with a pineapple': a painting by Ilya Mashkov and a book by John Claudius Loudon.
There was a renewed interest in pineapple cultivation in Russia when Ilya Mashkov (1881-1944), Russian artist, painted Still-life with a pineapple in 1910.
Pineapple had been introduced to Russia in the 18th century. Special greenhouses and ingenious techniques were developed to cultivate this exotic fruit in the long and harsh Russian winters.
The first hothouses were dug below the freezing level of the soil (around 2 meters) and covered with a glazed structure made of logs. Many skilled gardeners were required to take care of the growth and fruiting of the plants.
By the end of the 18th century, pineapple were not only cultivated in noble estates but also in peasant farms and expensive Russian pineapples were successfully exported to European countries. Around eighty new varieties of pineapples were bred in Russia where their cultivation continued until the middle of the 19th century, when cheaper importations from tropical countries and a more expensive labour force made it less profitable.
The first hothouses were dug below the freezing level of the soil (around 2 meters) and covered with a glazed structure made of logs. Many skilled gardeners were required to take care of the growth and fruiting of the plants.
By the end of the 18th century, pineapple were not only cultivated in noble estates but also in peasant farms and expensive Russian pineapples were successfully exported to European countries. Around eighty new varieties of pineapples were bred in Russia where their cultivation continued until the middle of the 19th century, when cheaper importations from tropical countries and a more expensive labour force made it less profitable.
During his travel on the Continent between 1813 and 1814, John Claudius Loudon (1783-1823), the great English botanist, garden designer, horticulturalist and author, observed how "... the Pine Apple is cultivated most extensively in Russia; it occurs but seldom in France or Germany; and only in a few gardens in Italy." In his book The Different Modes of Cultivating the Pineapple from Its Introduction into Europe to the Late Improvements of T. A. Knight Esq. published in 1822, he reported about:
"Culture of the Pine Apple in Russia.
The Pine Apple is extensively cultivated in the imperial gardens in the neighbourhood of Petersburg and Moscow, and also in those of a few of the greatest nobility and mercantile men adjoining those cities. Nothing can be more wonderful than to contemplate the resources by which this plant, requiring not less than from 50 to 70 degrees of heat at all times of the year, is preserved in existence through a winter of seven months, during the whole of which the ground is covered with snow, and Fahrenheit's thermometer, often for weeks together, at 20 degrees below Zero.
The head gardeners of the emperor, and the great nobles of Russia, are, for the greater part, Britons; and the sort of houses they erect, and the mode of culture they follow, is as nearly as circumstances will admit, those of Speechly or Nicol.
The culture of the grape is, to a certain extent, combined with that of the Pine Apple; the former is trained on the rafters, and the latter grown in a pit, surrounded by flues and a path. In addition to the flues, many of the fruiting-houses have stoves built in them, on the German construction, which are used in the most severe weather. Sometimes there is a double roof of glass; but more generally the roof, ends, and fronts, are covered with boards; which not only prevents the weight of sudden falls of snow from breaking the glass, but by admitting of a coating of snow over them, prevents, in a considerable degree, the internal heat from escaping. This covering, or a covering of matts or canvass, as practised near Moscow, and from which the snow is raked off as fast as it falls, is sometimes kept on night and day for three months together. The plants being all the while in a dormant state, it is remarkable how little they suffer. ...
There are some German gardeners in Russia, who cultivate the Pine Apple in pits as in Holland; and crowns and suckers are forwarded in this way by them, and also by the British gardeners settled in that country."
Loudon does not mention that the 'golden pineapple', considered a vegetable related to cabbage at first, was served at the noble tables fried and stewed as side dish for meat and game, marinated in vinegar in interesting salads or as a drink fermented in barrels.
Pineapple cultivation gained new interest at the beginning of the 20th century but ceased after 1917.
Loudon does not mention that the 'golden pineapple', considered a vegetable related to cabbage at first, was served at the noble tables fried and stewed as side dish for meat and game, marinated in vinegar in interesting salads or as a drink fermented in barrels.
Pineapple cultivation gained new interest at the beginning of the 20th century but ceased after 1917.
Photos:
painting: Still life with a pineapple Original Title: Натюрморт с ананасом.
Ilya Mashkov (1881-1944), 1910, Oil on canvas
https://www.wikiart.org/
"Mr Loudon’s Improved Pinery"; pineapple greenhouse, 1810.
Engraving by J. Pass, showing a system for growing pineapples advocated John Claudius Loudon (1783-1843). Illustration from ‘Encyclopaedia Londinensis, or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature’ published in London, 1810-1829
https://thegardenstrust.blog
Further reading:
The Different Modes of Cultivating the Pine-Apple from its First Introduction into Europe to the Late Improvements of T.A. Knight, Esq., by a Member of the Horticultural Society, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Browns, 1822.
Sunday, November 17, 2019
To answer your questions... Julia Artico on making hay sculptures.
The simple, familiar shapes and unexpected material of her sculptures touch something deep, invite you to stop and smell the fragrance of hay, to touch it and breathe, to listen in silence and look with more open eyes and a new smile.
I asked Julia a few questions to better understand her work and she kindly answered me.
Julia Artico: I started working hay by chance about 15 years ago. Due to a mistake, I had no electricity; therefore, I could not do the carpentry workshop for which I had been hired. I had to quickly find a second-best with the material available at the time. It so happened that they had mown the grass that day, so I had wonderful and fragrant hay to play and let play. The first hay labs were born.
TravelinaGarden: Your works invite people to get closer to nature with the pure and dreamy eyes of a child who sees a mountain in a stone. Hay is the scent of summer but also the hard work and hardship of rural life. What would you like to convey with your work? How is it perceived by people who live and work in the countryside?
JA: The purpose of my work has always been to act as a bridge between human and nature, to draw attention to simple things and forgotten gestures.
Luckily for me, my installations are also very appreciated by those who live in the countryside and have more direct contact with land. As a matter of fact, I believe it is because they converse with the amazement of the inner child in us.
TravelinaGarden: How do you deal with the inevitable decay of your works whose duration is more limited compared to, for example, marble statues?
JA: Mine is the beauty of impermanence, a glance beyond. Every day, the transience of life and of phenomena teaches us: the beginning already contains the end.
TravelinaGarden: Is the manual aspect important in your creative process? Could you tell us something about the practical aspect of your creative process?
JA: Being able to bring what comes to my mind into matter IS EVERYTHING!! I could not think about the creative act without taking into account the manual aspect, feasibility and my inevitable limits.
I can tell you the genesis of my last installation: "Vita Nova", made for Villa Barbaro at Maser, Treviso, a Palladian villa frescoed by Veronese, a pearl of rare beauty. [see photo below]
I started from a pentad of words developed with the help of Salvatore Lavecchia and from the opera Bees by Rudolf Steiner. Hence the idea of inserting a hypothetical Vitruvian man made of rye, the element of bees, into a hexagon of metal. Daniele Barbaro, who commissioned the Villa, translated and commented on Vitruvio's work. In addition to draw attention to the problem of bees, the installation is a wish to all of us to push towards a more respectful balance with the kingdoms of nature.
I usually make my own hay because it needs to be mown by scythe, as it used to be, and dried in the sun. Clearly, even the most propitious moments for its storage are taken into account, otherwise the good result of my work could be compromised. In fact, I use only natural hay, without treatments.
I make scale models to understand if the idea works, and then I enlarge them. Inside structures can be either full or empty and I use both wood and metal to make them, depending on the customer and on their use. Hay is assembled with very fine strings that contain and shape it.
TravelinaGarden: How do you 'preserve' your work?
JA: I keep away from pouring rains empty works, which I can carry without difficulty. Full works that are not transportable come back to nature in a couple of years, depending on their volume.
TravelinaGarden: What are your projects for the near future?
JA: I am working on projects related to bees and their well-being.
In the chaos of our everyday life, we don't to pay attention to these little beings. They would deserve to no longer be exploited, because it must be remembered that honey is their livelihood and not our food. We subtract honey and give them sugar in return, which make them sick.
But we know that man does not understand, does not listen and thinks only to his immediate advantage. Bees and pollinators are on this earth to pollinate the food we eat, and if we continue like this, there will be no future for our children.
Thank you Julia and hope to see you soon!
from 'Hay Hauling on the Alpine Snow', p. 248
Our Life in the Swiss Highlands, by John Addington Symonds and his daughter Margaret, 1892
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Tra Cielo Terra e Acqua - Oltre il Paesaggio mistico
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Mothers - Blachernitisse Contemporanee
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The Game of the Goose - Orticolario, Como, 2018 |
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Vita Nova - Casa di Vita - Armonia del Tempo
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Photos:
TravelinaGarden, see captions for locations and dates of the different installations
Link:
JULIA ARTICO - CREATIVITA' NATURALE
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Julia Artico: Ho iniziato a lavorare il fieno per caso circa 15 anni fa. A causa di un disguido, non avevo la corrente elettrica e quindi non potevo fare il laboratorio di falegnameria per cui ero stata ingaggiata, ho dovuto ripiegare in tutta fretta sul materiale disponibile al momento. Il caso ha voluto che quel giorno avessero tagliato l’erba, quindi ho avuto a disposizione del meraviglioso e profumatissimo fieno per giocare e far giocare, sono nati così i primi laboratori del fieno.
TravelinaGarden: I tuoi lavori invitano ad avvicinarsi alla natura con gli occhi puri e sognanti di un bambino che vede una montagna in un sasso. Il fieno e' profumo di estate ma anche la fatica e durezza della vita contadina. Cosa vorresti trasmettere con i tuoi lavori? Come sono percepiti dalle persone che vivono e lavorano in campagna?
JA: Da sempre la finalità del mio lavoro è quello di fare da ponte tra l’umano e la natura, riportare l’attenzione sulle cose semplici e sui gesti dimenticati.
Per mia fortuna le mie installazioni sono molto apprezzate anche da chi vive in campagna ed ha un contatto più diretto con la terra. Credo che sia dovuto al fatto che in realtà dialogano con ilo stupore del bambino interiore che è in noi.
TravelinaGarden: Come ti poni rispetto all'inevitabile decadimento dei tuoi lavori la cui durata e' più limitata se paragonata, ad esempio, a delle statue di marmo?
Julia Artico: La mia è la bellezza dell’impermanenza, lo sguardo che va oltre. La transitorietà della vita e dei fenomeni ce lo insegna tutti i giorni l’inizio contiene già la fine.
TravelinaGarden: E' importante nel tuo processo creativo l'aspetto manuale? Ci puoi raccontare qualcosa dell'aspetto pratico del processo creativo?
Julia Artico: Riuscire a portare nella materia quello che mi passa per la mente E’ TUTTO!! Non potrei pensare all’atto creativo senza tener conto dell’aspetto manuale, della fattibilità e dei miei inevitabili limiti.
Posso raccontarti la genesi della mia ultima installazione “Vita Nova” realizzata a Villa Barbaro a Maser, TV. Villa Palladiana affrescata dal Veronese una perla di rara bellezza. [vedi foto]
Sono partita da una pentade di parole sviluppate con l’aiuto di Salvatore Lavecchia e dall’opera API di Rudolf Steiner, da qui l’idea di inserire un ipotetico uomo di Vitruvio realizzato in segale, l’elemento delle api, in un esagono di metallo. Daniele Barbaro, che fece costruire la villa, aveva tradotto e commentato il lavoro di Vitruvio.
L’installazione oltre a riportare l’attenzione sulla problematica delle api vuol anche essere un augurio a tutti noi che ci spinga verso un equilibrio più rispettoso con i regni di natura.
Sono solita fare da me il fieno che utilizzo per i miei lavori perché ha bisogno di essere tagliato a falce come una volta ed asciugato al sole. Chiaramente si tiene conto anche dei momenti più propizi per la sua conservazione, che diversamente pregiudicherebbero il buon risultato dell’opera, infatti non uso che fieno naturale senza trattamenti.
Per capire se l’idea può funzionare realizzo dei modelli in scala che poi vado ad ingrandire. Le strutture possono essere sia piene che vuote internamente e per realizzarle posso usare sia legno che metallo, dipende tutto dal committente e dall’uso che se ne deve fare. Il fieno viene assemblato con lo spago molto fine che lo contiene e lo modella.
TravelinaGarden: Come 'conservi' le tue opere?
Le opere che conservo al riparo dalle piogge battenti sono quelle vuote dentro che posso trasportare senza difficoltà. Quelle piene e non trasportabili rientrano in natura in un paio d’anni, dipende dai volumi.
TravelinaGarden: Quali sono i tuoi progetti per il futuro?
Julia Artico: Sto lavorando a dei progetti collegati alle api e al loro benessere. Nel caos della vita di ogni giorno non si riesce a portare attenzione su questi piccoli esseri che meriterebbero di non essere più sfruttati , perché va ricordato il miele è il loro sostentamento e non il nostro cibo . Noi sottraiamo il miele e diamo in cambio lo zucchero che le fa ammalare.
Ma si sa l’uomo non capisce, non ascolta e pensa solo al suo torna conto immediato. Le api e gli impollinatori sono su questa terra per impollinare il cibo che noi mangiamo, se continuiamo così non ci sarà un futuro per i nostri figli.
Saturday, April 13, 2019
Six maps sculpted in relief at Church of Santa Maria del Giglio, Venice.
Wandering in Venice is always a rewarding activity, above all when you have nothing else to do. This is how I discovered the Church of Santa Maria del Giglio and its imposing baroque façade conceived by Antonio Barbaro as celebration and perpetuation of his glory and fame.
Antonio Barbaro was born in 1627 in a poor family that lived not far from this church in Sestriere San Marco, but he became a well known character in the political and military life of Venice. In his last will, he left money, detailed instructions and a drawing to transform the façade of the church in a celebration of himself and his family; not an unusual practice in Venice in the Seventeenth century.
"The only religious symbols" writes Ruskin in his Stones of Venice "...being statues of angels blowing brazen trumpets, intended to express the spreading of the fame of the Barbaro family in heaven." The statue of Barbaro, "in armor, with a fantastic head-dress", stands over the entrance, between the personifications of the Glory, the Cardinal Virtues and the statues of his four brothers "in niches, two on each side of it, strutting statues, in the common stage postures of the period." Ruskin lingers on their description while I was more interested in the bas-reliefs of naval battles and of six plans of different towns that decorate the façade.
Ships, sails, waves and clouds sculpted in relief evoke scenes familiar to Barbaro and the plans of the fortified bastions of Zara (Zadar), Candia (Crete), Padua, Rome, the Island of Corfù and Spalato (Split) recall places related to these battles and to his life.
I keep wandering...
ZARA
CANDIA
PADOA
ROME
CORFU'
SPALATO
Photos:
TravelinaGarden, Venice 2018
John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice, Volume 3. 1853
http://www.gutenberg.org
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
A life in book dedications: Jane Webb Loudon (1807-1858)
The life of Jane Webb Loudon (1807-1858), writer on gardening and botany and magazine editor, in some of her book dedications.
Instructions in Gardening for Ladies.
London: John Murray, 1840
London: John Murray, 1840
J. C. Loudon, John Claudius Loudon (1783-1843), botanist, garden designer and prolific author. They married on 14th September 1830.
The Young Naturalist's Journey: or the Travels of Agnes Merton and Her Mama.
London: William Smith, 1840
Agnes Loudon Spofforth (1832-1863) only child of John and Jane Loudon. Agnes was a precocious and talented writer. She published "The Lost Gloves, or We Shall See. A Story for Little Girls" in 1845 and wrote six of the eleven stories in:
Tales for young people.
edited by Mrs Loudon
London: Bowdery & Kerby, 1846
The Ladies' Flower-Garden of Ornamental Annuals.
London, William Smith, 1840
Countess Radnor was Lady Mary Augusta Grimston (1821-1879) one of the maids of honour at the Coronation of Queen Victoria on 28th June 1838 and one of the Queen's bridesmaids on 10th February 1840. She married Jacob, Viscount Folkestone, afterwards Earl of Radnor on 30th October 1840. Their seat was Longford Castle, near Salisbury in Wiltshire.
She is mentioned in the Dictionary Of British And Irish Botanists And Horticulturalists.
The Ladies' Companion to the Flower Garden, being an Alphabetical Arrangement of all the ornamental plants usually grown in gardens and shrubberies, with full directions for their culture.
London: William Smith, 1841
Mrs. Lawrence was Louisa Lawrence (1803–1855), famous gardener and horticulturalist. A friend of JWL who knew her garden at Ealing Park, Middlesex, very well. Mrs Lawrence's husband, the famous surgeon William Lawrence, treated John Loudon.
The four flowers of the plate are named after JWL's husband: 1. Passiflora Loudoni, 2. Adesmia Loudonia, 3. Isopogon Loudoni 4. Loudonia aurea.
After Mrs Lawrence's death in 1855, the dedication changed.
London: Bradbury & Evans, 1858. 1858. Edition. 7th ed.
The Amateur Gardener's Calendar; Being a guide as to what should by done in a garden in each month of the year.
London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1847
After her husband's death, JWL received a pension of £ 100 per annum from the Civil List.
The book was revised by William Robinson in 1870. He writes,
Facts from the World of Nature: Animate and Inanimate.
London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1847
JWL dedicated this book to Charles Waterton (1782-1865), naturalist, taxidermist and author of "Wanderings in South America" and "Essays on Natural History". One of her husband's friends, Waterton had often welcomed John and Jane to his house, Walton Hall, in Yorkshire.
In 1844, Waterton had dedicated the second volume of "Essays on Natural History" to JWL. In the Preface, he writes:
JWL's last book has no dedication, but one of her beautiful covers: emerald green cloth with golden floral decorations.My own garden; or, The young gardener's year book
London: Kerby & Sons, 1855
Saturday, December 15, 2018
Monday, June 25, 2018
The Nine Elders of Huichang, The Palace Museum, Beijing
There are leafy trees with gnarled trunks, supple bamboos, a roaring waterfall and nine old men finely carved in a green jade boulder on display in the Forbidden City in Beijing.Subdued shades, irregularities and the smooth surface of the stone add to the beauty of this three-dimensional landscape carved in a jade mountain weighting more than 800 kilos. The skill of the craftsmen in creating this delicate work, in a hard and tough stone, is celebrated in the lines of poetry inscribed on a boulder that will last longer than any painting.
The scene evokes the meeting of the poet Bo Juyi (772-846) with eight of his friends in the spring 845 to celebrate their old age and longevity.
The Emperor Qianlong commissioned this work, completed in 1786, when he was 75 years old. 'The Nine Elders of Huichang' is one of the finest jade mountains he commissioned, all inspired by ancient paintings.
The painting 'The Nine Elders' created by Huang Biao in 1594, a copy of the most famous painting attributed to Liu Songnian, is included in the exhibition: 'Fineries of Forgery: "Suzhou Fakes" and Their Influence in the 16th to 18th Century' currently on display at the Palace Museum and it is available on-line. Comparing the shapes carved in the jade mountain with the coloured procession of elders on silk was a joyous and rewarding occupation, as I eventually discovered what the four elders, hidden in the back of the boulder and not visible, are doing among spring flowers.
Photos:TravelinaGarden, The Palace Museum Beijing, China, April, 2017
Further reading:
So, Jenny F. Brush on Jade: Emperor Qianlong and "jade painting." Chinese Jades from the
Cissy and Robert Tang Collection.
Art Museum, Institute of Chinese Studies, The Chinese Universtity of Hong Kong, 2015
Denney, Joyce. “Longevity in Chinese Art.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/long/hd_long.htm (August 2010)
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