Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer

Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer (1851-1934) was one of the premierfigures in landscape writing and design at the turn of the twentieth century, a moment when theamateur pursuit of gardening and the increasingly professionalized landscape design field werebeginning to diverge. This intellectual biography-the first in-depth study of theversatile critic and author-reveals Van Rensselaer's vital role in this moment in thehistory of landscape architecture. Van Rensselaer was one of the new breed ofAmerican art and architecture critics, closely examining the nature of her profession and bringing adisciplined scholarship to the craft. She considered herself a professional, leading the effortamong women in the Gilded Age to claim the titles of artist, architect, critic, historian, andjournalist. Thanks to the resources of her wealthy mercantile family, she had been given asophisticated European education almost unheard of for a woman of her time. Her close relationshipwith Frederick Law Olmsted influenced her ideas on landscape gardening, and her interest in botanyand geology shaped the ideas upon which her philosophy and art criticism were based. She alsostudied the works of Charles Darwin, Alexander von Humboldt, Henry David Thoreau, and many othernineteenth-century scientists and nature writers, which influenced her general belief in therelationship between science and the imagination.Her cosmopolitan education andelevated social status gave her, much like her contemporary Edith Wharton, access to the homes andgardens of the upper classes. This allowed her to mingle with authors, artists, and affluent patronsof the arts and enabled her to write with familiarity about architecture and landscape design. Identifying over 330 previously unattributed editorials and unsigned articles authored by VanRensselaer in the influential journal Garden and Forest-for which she wasthe sole female editorial voice-Judith Major offers insight into her ideas about theimportance of botanical nomenclature, the similarities between landscape gardening and idealistpainting, design in nature, and many other significant topics. Major's critical examination ofVan Rensselaer's life and writings-which also includes selections from hercorrespondence-details not only her influential role in the creation of landscape architectureas a discipline but also her contribution to a broader public understanding of the arts inAmerica.