Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #323931 in Books
• Published on: 1999-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

From Library Journal
Israel, an antiques dealer specializing in vintage garden furniture, fountains, and statuary, is well known in her field, with such clients as the Winterthur Museum, the Smithsonian, and the Baltimore Museum of Art. In this book, which the publisher claims is the most complete reference of its kind, she documents the history of American garden ornament from the mid-1800s to the 1940s. Individual chapters discuss the history and the evolution of a variety of objects such as urns, statues, fountains, and sundials, while later sections of the book provide an illustrated checklist of more than 300 antique objects, a list of manufacturers, and information on the maintenance and security of ornaments. For gardeners hungry to see the actual objects in situ, there is a list of 52 notable gardens in the United States (with addresses and phone numbers only). This book should appeal to a broad audience from gardeners and landscape architects to antique collectors, dealers, and historians.
-Margarete Gross, Chicago P.L.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
A scholarly voice has emerged which is bound to have great impact in the field. Barbara Israel's ANTIQUE GARDEN ORNAMENT: TWO CENTURIES OF AMERICAN TASTE is the first serious look at US Garden history and design as they relate to their manmade decorations.

While many books have examined European gardens and ornament and american artistry, Israel, a respected 15-year garden ornament dealer and consultant, takes a classificatory look at this side of the Atlantic--with wonderful results. -- Antiques And The Arts Weekly, November 19, 1999.

In ANTIQUE GARDEN ORNAMENT, Barbara Israel, a noted dealer and historian, corrects any misaprehension you may have that furnishing an American garden with urns, fountains and statuary is primarily a late-20th-century preoccupation. Filled with Mick Hales' wonderfully evocative photographs, Israel's book comprehensively surveys the history of American garden ornamentation from Colonial times to the present day. -- Town & Country Magazine, December 1999.

From the Publisher
"The ultimate in garden style right now is antique garden ornaments."-Art & Auction Nothing adds drama to an outdoor space like a magnificent marble fountain or an impressive stone statue. With more and more collectors seeking out these fine pieces, there is a genuine need for this beautiful book-the first history of antique garden ornament in America ever published. The author presents a wealth of newly discovered information on American gardens and their ornament from 1740 to 1940. The superb colorplates, photographed especially for this book, show many historic American gardens for the first time. A black-and-white catalogue section, which serves as a collector's guide to some 300 individual objects, is followed by three essential appendixes, including a never-before-published list of more than 130 American and European garden ornament makers. 400 photographs, 100 in full color, 12 line drawings, 811/2 x 11" Barbara Israel is a highly regarded authority on garden ornament and one of the foremost dealers in the field. She lives with her family in New York City. Mick Hales is one of the best-known landscape and garden photographers working today. He lives in Carmel, New York. Mark Hampton, who died in 1998 shortly after writing the preface to this book, was an eminent and nationally known New York City interior designer.

Customer Reviews

A fantastic book!
At long last, an authoritative book on garden ornament in America! Barbara Israel delivers a beautiful tome with scholarly punch in her Antique Garden Ornament: Two Centuries of American Taste. Many books exist on gardens and landscape history, but none addresses the issue of the statues, fountains, and furniture used within them with such depth and clarity as Ms. Israel. In addition to the chapters themselves, the catalogue of objects in the back of the book and the list of makers provide a greatly needed reference for this growing field. I highly recommend this book.