'L.A.
SPRINGER 1855-1940 Tuinarchitect, Dendroloog'
Constance D.H. Moes
236 pagina's
Prijs: Euro 39,90
ISBN 90 69060353
Dit is nou één
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bladert en ziet afbeeldingen, details, veelheid aan alles, en kijkt
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holt naar huis. Om daar te bladeren, lezen. Heen en
terug. Ander materiaal erbij pakkend. Vergelijken, verder
zoeken, herkennen, genieten. In één woord, heerlijk.
Van Het Kanaal van NVTL
U las reeds in een vorig Kanaal over de tentoonstelling in het Teijlers
Museum te Haarlem (16 november tot 19 januari) gewijd aan Leonard
Springer en zijn oeuvre en over het boek dat verscheen: L.A. SPRINGER
1855-1940 Tuinarchitect, Dendroloog.
Deze publicatie is de eerste volledige monografie over een Nederlandse
tuinarchitect. Leonard Springer stond aan de wieg bij de oprichting van
de Bond voor Nederlandse Tuinarchitecten (opgegaan in de huidige NVTL)
en heeft zich zijn leven lang ingezet voor het op een hoger plan
brengen van het vak tuinarchitectuur. Zijn omvangrijke oeuvre is in de
geschiedenis van de Nederlandse tuin- en landschapsarchitectuur
ongeëvenaard. Vele parken en buitenplaatsen die hij in de
negentiende en aan het begin van de twintigste eeuw aanlegde, zijn niet
alleen toonaangevend voor zijn tijd, maar bestaan nog altijd. Behalve
tuinarchitect, was Springer ook een groot kenner van bomen en
publiceerde hij vele artikelen over dendrologische en
tuinarchitectonische onderwerpen. Daarnaast legde hij de theoretische
basis voor de Nederlandse tuinhistorie en speelde hij een belangrijke
rol in de emancipatie van het vakgebied.
De publicatie van Constance D.H. Moes telt 324 pagina’s, is rijk
geïllustreerd met ontwerpen en plattegronden en is daarmee voor
ontwerpers een naslagwerk bij de actuele ontwerpopgaven met betrekking
tot herbestemming, behoud en restauratie van negentiende-eeuwse
parkarchitectuur. Zo bevat het onder meer een uitgebreide lijst van de
in de negentiende eeuw gebruikte boom- en heestersoorten,
getranscribeerd naar de huidige naamgeving. Redactie: Anne Mieke
Backer, Erik de Jong en Carla Oldenburger-Ebbers.
Met bijdragen van: Anne Mieke Backer, Eric Blok, Marleen Dominicus-van
Soest en Theo Janson en Erik de Jong.
NVTL-leden kunnen het boek bestellen voor € 34,90 in plaats van
voor de winkelprijs van € 39,90, door overmaking van het bedrag op
giro 5520546 ten name van Uitgeverij De Hef.
Het boek wordt dan naar het op de overschrijvingskaart vermelde adres
gestuurd. Ook verkrijgbaar in de boekhandel na het overleggen van uw
NVTL contributie-overschrijving.
Van The
Garden History Society
Constance D. H. Moes, L. A. Springer: Tuinarchitect, Dendroloog
(Rotterdam: de Hef, 2002), 326 pp., illus. in colour and
black-and-white, €39.90 (pbk), ISBN 90-6906-035-3
Leonard Anthony Springer (1855–1940) was one of the most prolific
and important garden and landscape architects in the Netherlands,
working during a fascinating period, the change from the romantic
nineteenth to the modern twentieth century. Springer is a household
name for Dutch lovers of historic gardens, but few know much about his
work, his ideas and the practice of landscape architecture at that
time. Furthermore, many of his existing gardens and parks are under
threat, prompting a detailed study of his influences and work by the
publisher de Hef and an exhibition at the Teylers Museum, Haarlem.
The book is written by an art historian who draws on Springer’s
own comprehensive archive, not only of his own work and correspondence,
but also of primary source material such as old prints and books about
landscape architecture and gardening. Springer was also a plant
collector with an expert knowledge of trees and taxonomy. He was an
outspoken person who lived for his work and wanted to share his
knowledge, and he also tried to persuade others of his beliefs (which
sometimes made him unpopular), publishing many critical articles in
journals and newspapers. In 1939, he donated his work and books to the
Library of the Agricultural University of Wageningen (now Wageningen
UR), forming the basis of the Special Collections’ unique record
of Dutch landscape architecture and garden history.
According to Constance D. H. Moes, Springer’s life was not always
a rose garden. His father was a famous painter of historic townscapes
and his uncles and nephews were involved with architecture and civil
engineering, whilst his real passion was trees and forestry. Unable to
pursue this as a career, Springer was inspired by the landscape
architect Jan David Zocher the younger’s involvement in
Amsterdam’s Vondelpark, near to where he grew up, to work with
trees as a landscape architect. He went to the newly started Linnaeus
Horticultural School that prepared boys mainly for gardening and
nurseries, teaching himself the basics of landscape gardening and
European garden history by studying books and prints from abroad.
German garden models in the mixed style with gardenesque elements had a
significant influence on him. Springer promoted the profession of
landscape architecture, disassociating himself from nurserymen who
designed gardens as a sideline and battling against the growing
influence of architects and urban planners who left the landscape
architect to fill in the green spaces instead of designing the site as
a whole. This struggle resulted in his involvement with the start of a
professional organization of landscape architects, the Bond van
Nederlandse Tuinarchitecten (BNT), in 1922.
As a landscape architect, Springer espoused the gardenesque landscape
style in which he could best express his love for trees and shrubs. At
the end of the nineteenth century his fame increased with designs for
major projects such as cemeteries and public parks in Amsterdam,
Groningen, Tilburg and Deventer, and grand landscapes on large estates,
especially in the east of the country where the taste was still for
old-fashioned gardens. But times were changing and leisurely garden
walks were being replaced by areas for sporting activities, features
that Springer found difficult to handle. He reluctantly witnessed a new
generation embrace the Architectural Style, designing gardens
appropriate for the modern villa. Springer was active for more than
five decades becoming the celebrated master of Dutch landscape
architecture, his love of nature making him the first designer of a
garden with indigenous plants, Thijsse’s Hof at Bloemendaal.
This well-illustrated book on Springer depicts not only his life and
work, but also lesser known socio-cultural aspects of Dutch society and
landscape. Springer’s career spanned the period of transition in
which the love of gardening and nature was no longer restricted to
estate owners or the upper middle class but became popular among the
common people. Although this book and the exhibition have already
helped raise people’s awareness of the importance of safeguarding
Springer’s green spaces in their neighbourhood, an index of his
gardens and parks would have been a useful addition to the text.
Nonetheless, the public response indicates recognition of the quality
of Springer’s work and the importance of garden history for the
twenty-first century.
LIESBETH MISSEL
Wageningen UR Library, PO Box 9100, 6700 HA Wageningen, The Netherlands