{"id":3760,"date":"2016-04-12T20:19:07","date_gmt":"2016-04-12T20:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.siteandinsight.com\/?p=3760"},"modified":"2016-04-12T20:19:07","modified_gmt":"2016-04-12T20:19:07","slug":"allusions-in-the-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/allusions-in-the-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"Allusions in the Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most recent post on the excellent British website ThinkinGardens<\/a> is about the use of allusions in gardens. Noel Kingsbury, one of three people\u00a0taking part in the conversation,\u00a0suggested that allusions were all well and good in gardens from other times and places but that in today’s gardens, they are outmoded.<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0Allusion in the West which previous generations of artists and garden makers used was based on Classical and Christian mythologies. Very few of [us] are now conversant with either. So \u2013 first question \u2013 how do we create and use a contemporary language of allusion?<\/p>\n

And the very practical question two \u2013 how do you \u2018get the message across\u2019? Either allusion works or it doesn\u2019t.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n

In effect, Kingsbury is saying that allusions to classical sources are elitist, that you either ‘get’ the allusion or you don’t based on your familiarity with classic\u00a0mythology, the Bible or Shakespeare, to note three of the most common sources of literary allusions in English.<\/p>\n

I disagree. For large numbers of people many allusions based on classical and Biblical sources are as ‘readable’ now as they were in the past. In fact some are so obvious\u00a0that they have become clich\u00e9s to be avoided.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The

The grass snake at Glen Villa is an obvious Biblical reference to the Garden of Eden. Winding its way up the tree, the snake also suggests paintings by Lucas Cranach and others. Using reflectors for the snake’s eyes gives the allusion a contemporary twist and adds a touch of humour.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Snakes in gardens, for instance. The idea is widely understood and when used in a garden could be heavy-handed. But at the same time it suggests something that every gardener believes, that while their gardens may be wonderful, they remain imperfect, a suggestion rather than a realization of paradise.<\/p>\n

At the Villa d’Este at Tivoli, statues of Hercules dating from the 1500s linked Cardinal d’Este and his\u00a0family with the strength and power of the demigod. Garden visitors of the period\u00a0would ‘get’ that message because they knew that the d’Este family claimed to be descended from Hercules, but even without that specific knowledge, the layout of the garden and the arduous climb to the palazzo at the top of the hill made the point clear.<\/p>\n

A statue of Hercules sends a\u00a0similar\u00a0message today. \u00a0Whether at Villa d’Este in Italy or at Vaux-le-Vicomte in France or at Kykuit in New York State, the presence of\u00a0Hercules tells us\u00a0something about the person who built and owns the garden — she or he is large and powerful; approach with care.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"This

This statue of Hercules dominating his surroundings is at the entrance to Kykuit, the country house of the Rockefeller family. Allusions to power and dominance, even over the landscape itself, are obvious.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kingsbury asks how we can\u00a0create and use a contemporary language of allusion. My response is that many garden designers, landscape architects and artists are doing this already, using today’s cultural landscape to allude to larger and broader concerns.<\/p>\n

Andy Goldsworthy, for example.\u00a0Permanence and impermanence, constant themes in gardens throughout the centuries, are central allusions\u00a0in his works whether they are made from stone, leaves, snow or the petals of flowers. For a thoughtful viewer, the ephemeral nature of much of what he does highlights\u00a0current concerns about the environment and our effect on it.<\/p>\n

Allusions to scientific discoveries and mathematical ideas feature in the works of Charles Jencks; these allusions stretch\u00a0our minds beyond the confines of the\u00a0particular garden, which is what allusions are meant to do.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"A

A Fibonacci sequence appears on the inside of this metal structure\u00a0at the top of the Universe Cascade in the Garden of Cosmic Speculation.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

More mundane allusions exist as well. In my village in rural Quebec, a tree stump by the road is painted with the picture of a woman with blue hair piled high. Could anyone who watches tv miss the allusion to the Simpsons or doubt that someone named Marge lived there?<\/p>\n

A more literary allusion appears at a junction in\u00a0the woods at Glen Villa where a sign on a tree trunk painted yellow announces that a choice must be made. Most people passing by will recognize the source — Frost’s poem\u00a0is so overworked that you can easily imagine it appearing on a poster on the ceiling of a dentist’s office. But seeing the sign, the walker may think again about the poem and about what it means. They may read it again. They may even understand that it doesn’t matter which path they take —\u00a0both lead to the same destination.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The

The dentist’s poster would almost certainly show an autumn scene with footprints receding along the less travelled path. No matter that the poem suggests\u00a0something different.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Allusions aren’t necessarily elitist or exclusionary although they can be. Much depends on what the viewer brings to the garden and to the effort she is willing to expend. Seeing something unfamiliar, does she simply pass by or does she stop to look, to think, to question?<\/p>\n

Many people visiting the English garden Rousham will wonder why a statue of a lion attacking a horse appears\u00a0at the end of the bowling green\u00a0in front of the house. Did General Dormer, the garden’s owner,\u00a0choose the statues for his\u00a0garden or was it the designer, William Kent? Is there a\u00a0connection between Dormer and a dying gladiator, or between him and the attacking lion? Or were they simply the statues that happened to be available\u00a0when Dormer or Kent\u00a0went shopping?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"he

The statue of a lion attacking a horse is particularly savage. Set against a backdrop of verdant\u00a0fields, it creates a note of tension and suggests a violent confrontation between peace and war. The notion of opposition and duality continues throughout the garden.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

A visitor to the contemporary Italian garden, Bosco della Ragnaia, may feel a sense of disappointment at not seeing lots of flowers. \u00a0Or she may look at the arrangement of trimmed shrubs and blocks of tufa and wonder why it\u00a0feels familiar. Is Sheppard Craig, the garden’s creator, alluding to something in the history of Italian gardens? And what about the name of the garden? Or the multiple references to opposing qualities — night and day, light and dark. Why does Craig\u00a0picture himself as Pan and who is represented in the small statues of goddesses\u00a0that appear throughout?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"It

In order to enjoy this garden, you don’t need to know that its\u00a0name refers to the\u00a0Renaissance practice of capturing\u00a0songbirds. Once you know, however, you may ask yourself\u00a0what\u00a0the garden is capturing now. Is it your mind?<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Allusion is one of many tools in a garden designer’s toolkit, as useful today as it was in the past. Ian Hamilton Finlay’s garden Little Sparta, considered one of the 20th century’s greatest, is \u00a0jam packed with allusions. Many will escape most viewers unless they bring a knowledge of the classics with them\u00a0or make a concerted effort to understand the allusions once they’ve left. Since many\u00a0allusion refer to war and warships, understanding them may require a knowledge of history which certainly can vary with the\u00a0age of the viewer. How many teens, for instance, will recognize the humour of the sign\u00a0pointing to the Siegfried Line that sends\u00a0them marching to the site below?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Do

Do you think Finlay hung out his washing here?<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

At Glen Villa, a wooden bridge that\u00a0joins our property to our neighbour’s becomes a visual reference to a linguistic metaphor — the idea of bridging gaps between people and countries and ideas. The signs are a\u00a0playful allusion\u00a0— appropriately so, since the word allusion comes from the Latin alludere, to jest or play with. The signs play with the idea of the metaphoric versus the concrete; the sign says that the bridge is not, and yet clearly it is. The signs allude less directly to Ren\u00e9 Magriette’s painting, The Treachery of Images, where a picture of a pipe is accompanied by the words,\u00a0Ceci n’est pas une pipe<\/em>. They may also\u00a0say something about our relations with our neighbour.<\/p>\n

Does it matter if the person crossing the bridge ‘gets’ these allusions or is the touch of humour enough in itself?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The

The sign in the distance finishes the phrase with the words, a metaphor. The English version is on the other side of this sign. Using the two languages is itself an allusion with\u00a0a particular relevance to Quebec.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Allusion is a short hand that simplifies complex ideas and emotions. And there are many ways to use allusions in a garden that go beyond statuary. A symbol carved on a rock, a name given to a garden feature, a window framing a view of a commonplace scene — all can allude to an idea, an attitude, a bias, an experience. By suggesting a separate or different\u00a0point of reference, allusions allow a\u00a0person experiencing a\u00a0garden to put what they are seeing, feeling and thinking into a broader context. Allusions take them beyond the garden walls and link them mentally to a wider world.<\/p>\n

By doing this, garden allusions engage the mind as well as the other senses. It is true that unless the garden visitor knows the story or event or person that is being referred to, the allusion will go unnoticed.\u00a0But is that necessarily\u00a0a bad thing?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The most recent post on the excellent British website ThinkinGardens is about the use of allusions in gardens. Noel Kingsbury, one of three people\u00a0taking part in the conversation,\u00a0suggested that allusions were all well and good in gardens from other times and places but that in today’s gardens, they are outmoded. \u00ab\u00a0Allusion in the West which…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,24,38],"tags":[565,320,410,37,566,475,265,476,567,568,61,569,570,571,572,401],"class_list":["post-3760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","category-design","category-glen-villa","tag-allusion","tag-bosco-della-ragnaia","tag-charles-jencks","tag-glen-villa","tag-hercules","tag-ian-hamilton-finlay","tag-kykuit","tag-little-sparta","tag-rene-magritte","tag-robert-frost","tag-rousham","tag-sheppard-craig","tag-the-garden-of-cosmic-speculation","tag-the-garden-of-eden","tag-the-treachery-of-images","tag-thinkingardens","category-34","category-24","category-38","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenvillaartgarden.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}