Research Highlights

I study modern gardening art, especially those of German-speaking countries. If we look at the range of modern artists in the West who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, regardless of country, it is surprising that many of them—painters, sculptors, architects, and artisans alike—were inclined to devote themselves to gardening, many with ample botanical knowledge. Some of these artists even managed full-scale greenhouses. My current research begins with the consideration that these artists did not regard gardening as merely a hobby to pass the time, but rather a manifestation of an extreme, and in fact, essential, interest in the concept of modern plastic art production itself.

Plastic art, such as painting and sculpture, is the art of space. In that sense, garden art is also a spatial form. However, at the same time, they also possess strong temporal aspects when living plants grow and die, water flows, the wind blows, or birds chirp. These aspects pose questions regarding the creation and integration of spatial and temporal experiences. Many modern artists were very conscious of the integrated topology of space-time in the plastic arts, especially at the level of production theory. Moreover, they were fully aware that it is human sensitivity that perceives the garden space both physically and mentally. This sensitivity is what makes a garden’s integrated topology stand out so vividly and why these artists were so enthusiastic, both in body and mind, about creating gardens as a way of designing the natural environment.

In the academic discipline of art history, which emerged in the 19th century, garden art was subordinate to architecture, often seen as a “staffage,” so to speak. In this tradition, garden art is examined under the same methods used for analyzing permanent architecture. Rather than studying the garden as such an immovable piece of scenery, I want to capture its more dynamic characteristics. Based on this interest, my research looks specifically at “reformed” gardens that have, since the latter half of the 19th century, rejected traditional historicism to pursue an approach of naturalism, which emphasizes the existence of living organisms. Since an understanding of gardening is indispensable for understanding the essential characteristics of these gardens, I am building academic relationships with German horticultural scientists, garden historians, and garden conservation experts. My goal is to explore the possibilities of the science of garden art as it relates to the science of art at the end of the 19th century through a new research methodology for interpreting such garden art through its most important essence—the integrated topology of space-time.

(2020/12/21)