Jens Jensen: Maker of Natural Parks and Gardens

by Robert E. Grese

Overview

Jens Jensen was one of America's greatest landscape designers and conservationists. Using native plants and "fitting" designs, he advocated that our gardens, parks, roads, playgrounds, and cities should be harmonious with nature and its ecological processes—a belief that was to become a major theme of modern American landscape design. In Jens Jensen: Maker of Natural Parks and Gardens, Robert E. Grese draws on Jensen's writings and plans, interviews with people who knew him, and analyses of his projects to present a clear picture of Jensen's efforts to enhance and preserve "native" landscapes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801859472
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	06/25/1998
Series:	Creating the North American Landscape
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	328
Sales rank:	634,759
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.69(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Robert E. Grese teaches landscape architecture in the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Editorial Reviews

Why, then, has Jensen continued to attract considerable attention? Robert Grese's book addresses this and other questions with clarity and intensity. Long in the making, this book was well worth the wait. It is a labor of love, and a product of profound intellect and insight . . . This volume reflects not only Grese's authoritative knowledge of Jensen's life and work but also stresses the many and valuable lessons that Jensen's legacy holds for us now and into the future.
—Landscape Architecture

While Grese clearly sees Jensen's work as an 'inspiration for a whole new generation of designers,' he also recognizes the potential for carrying Jensen's vision much further today . . . Grese's book is a superb study, thoroughly researched and well written. It is attractively designed and durably bound, with quality reproduction of photographs and plans . . . This is clearly an essential addition to our landscape literature and a book that belongs in the library of every serious landscape architect and conservationist.
—Landscape Journal

Robert Grese has written a most sympathetic appraisal of Jensen's life and work. It provides an indispensable guide to the projects he carried out, compiled from plans, photographs and other documents in various archives.
—Ecumene

A meticulous piece of research, thoroughly documented with an extensive bibliography, a complete listing of Jensen's design work, and definitions of names and terms of all the people and ideas relevant to Jensen and his work. The book places Jensen in the context in which he worked and ties landscape architecture to the reform movements of society to which he was so committed. It is an excellent book for readers interested in the Midwest landscape and the people who shaped cities and parks in the twentieth century.
—Michigan Historical Review

From the Publisher

A meticulous piece of research, thoroughly documented with an extensive bibliography, a complete listing of Jensen's design work, and definitions of names and terms of all the people and ideas relevant to Jensen and his work. The book places Jensen in the context in which he worked and ties landscape architecture to the reform movements of society to which he was so committed. It is an excellent book for readers interested in the Midwest landscape and the people who shaped cities and parks in the twentieth century.

Michigan Historical Review

While Grese clearly sees Jensen's work as an 'inspiration for a whole new generation of designers,' he also recognizes the potential for carrying Jensen's vision much further today . . . Grese's book is a superb study, thoroughly researched and well written. It is attractively designed and durably bound, with quality reproduction of photographs and plans . . . This is clearly an essential addition to our landscape literature and a book that belongs in the library of every serious landscape architect and conservationist.

Landscape Journal

Why, then, has Jensen continued to attract considerable attention? Robert Grese's book addresses this and other questions with clarity and intensity. Long in the making, this book was well worth the wait. It is a labor of love, and a product of profound intellect and insight . . . This volume reflects not only Grese's authoritative knowledge of Jensen's life and work but also stresses the many and valuable lessons that Jensen's legacy holds for us now and into the future.

Landscape Architecture

Robert Grese has written a most sympathetic appraisal of Jensen's life and work. It provides an indispensable guide to the projects he carried out, compiled from plans, photographs and other documents in various archives.

Ecumene

Jensen (1860-1951) was one of America's greatest landscape designers and conservationists. Grese (landscape architecture, U. of Michigan) evaluates Jensen's work against the background of landscape design traditions that included Andrew Jackson Downing and Frederick Law Olmsted, as well as earlier movements in Europe. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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