Guy Cooper

It promised a lot. Even from the title. But I don't think it really delivers. In a way, I found it a rather lazy book. The formula is: select a bunch of landscape architects with some sort of reputation. Take a number of photographs of their work...well actually, the authors didn't even do this...they used other people's photographs....and write a bit of a script describing what's in the pictures. And there you have it. There is a brief section at the beginning that attempts to draw some thoughts together about the private garden in the 21st Century but it seems a little trite.....the gardens are re-habilitating industrial sites and using new materials: plastic, fibre optic lighting and fog machines.
I was rather disappointed in the quality of the photographs. Given that they were the work of various photographers who, presumably could visit the site at a time of their choosing, the selection was rather pedestrian. the pictures were just taken when the photographer happened to be there. Midday or bright sun...rather than carefully chosen to set the gardens off to their best effect....maybe early morning, or late afternoon ..or with the mist rising etc. this sort of thing has been much better done with other gardening books I've read recently. And usually the one photographer has travelled around the various gardens and spent a lot of time waiting for the best effects.
Yes there are some nice gardens and some nice pictures among these, For me the outstanding garden is clearly the cover garden: the Charles Jenks and Maggie Keswick collaboration....with it's sweeping terraces and curved pools. Lovely stuff. (Just not for my backyard).
I guess, I got a bit of an idea what some architects are doing with landscape...but that was about it. I do not come away feeling that there is some underlying movement..or even techniques. that there is a "theory" of gardens in the 21 Century. Just some examples. So for me a bit disappointing. I give it 2.5 stars.… (mehr)