Ellen Shipman and the American Garden - by Judith B Tankard (Hardcover)

About the Book

Describes Shipman's remarkable life and fifty of her major works, including the Stan Hywet Gardens in Akron, Ohio; Longue Vue Gardens in New Orleans; and Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University. Richly illustrated, this expanded edition reveals her ability to combine plants for dramatic impact and create spaces of the utmost intimacy.

Book Synopsis

Between 1914 and 1950, Ellen Shipman (1869-1950) designed more than 600 gardens in the United States, from Long Island's Gold Coast to the state of Washington. Her secluded, lush formal gardens attracted a clientele that included Fords, Edisons, Astors, and du Ponts. Shipman's imaginative approach merged elements of the Colonial Revival and Arts and Crafts movements with a unique planting style enlivened by Impressionistic washes of color.

In Ellen Shipman and the American Garden author Judith B. Tankard describes Shipman's remarkable life and discusses her major works, including the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens in Jacksonville, Florida; Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens in Akron, Ohio; Longue Vue House and Gardens in New Orleans, and Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University. Richly illustrated with plans and photographs, the book explores Shipman's ability to create intimate spaces through dense plantings, evocative water features, and classical ornament. Tankard also examines Shipman's unusual life, which was enriched by her years in the artists' colony of Cornish, New Hampshire, and her association with the architect Charles A. Platt. Shipman was notable for establishing a thriving New York City practice and mentoring women in the profession. Many of the assistants she trained in her all-female office went on to become successful designers in other parts of the country.

Review Quotes

Ellen Shipman and the American Garden includes over 200 black-and-white and color photos as well as reproductions of Shipman's garden plans. One certainly can absorb the main features of Shipman's career by just paging through the illustrations, but to be entertained and inspired by her life and artistry, this well-written book deserves a careful read.-- "The American Gardener"

The reader closes this book with a renewed admiration for the gardens of Ellen Shipman, having gained a deeper appreciation for the fashion in which she so successfully wove the memory of childhood hours in her grandparents' garden in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the tutelage of Charles A. Platt, the critical experience of gardening at Brook Place in Plainfield, New Hampshire, and the example of Gertrude Jekyll into an approach to garden design that was identifiably her own.-- "Magnolia"

About the Author

Judith B. Tankard is is an art historian, preservation consultant, and the author or coauthor of nine illustrated books on landscape history, including Beatrix Farrand: Private Gardens, Public Landscapes. She taught at the Landscape Institute at Harvard University for more than twenty years and edited the Journal of the New England Garden History Society.