Main entry:

Crawford, Julia (Garden designer), author.

Title & Author:

Mien Ruys : the mother of modernist gardens / Julia Crawford ; foreword by Noel Kingsbury ; with photography by Deyan Minchev.

Publication:

London : Lund Humphries, 2023.

Description:

144 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), portrait ; 26 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (page 142) and index.
Mien's formative years and influences -- Perspective: Theo Ruijs -- Initial experiments in garden design -- Perspective: Anet Scholma -- Geometry -- Perspective: Carolien Barkman -- The oblique line -- Perspective: Edwin van Onna -- Collaborations with architects -- Perspective: Freerk Halbesma -- Innovative materials -- Perspective: Jacqueline van der Kloet -- Use of plants -- Perspective: Conny den Hollander -- Legacy.

Summary:

"From 1923 until her death in 1999, Mien Ruys created over 3,000 gardens and landscapes. While most of these are in her native Netherlands, the influence of her designs and approaches spread far wider: many of us will have some of her ideas in our gardens, be it a railway sleeper, a diagonal line, a Phlomis russeliana or a water ball. Ruys was one of the leading proponents of modernist design: having trained and collaborated with architects such as Benjamin Merkelbach, Charles Karsten, Aldo van Eyck, Jan-Piet Kloos, Hein Salomonson and Gerrit Rietveld, she introduced clean lines, geometric shapes and innovative materials into garden and landscape design. Often working on much-needed social housing schemes, as well as schools, hospitals and nursing homes, her projects also shared a desire to offer users a better quality of life. One of her most well-known collaborations was with Gerrit Rietveld in Bergeijk on the De Ploeg factory and park, which has since been listed as a historic monument. Uniquely, she combined this modernist approach with an extensive knowledge of plants and planting (her father had close links with international gardeners such as Gertrude Jekyll). With a foreword by Noel Kingsbury, the book also includes interviews with gardening experts and landscape architects who knew Ruys or were influenced by her, which offer rich insight into her character and the timeless lessons that can still be learnt from her work."-- Provided by publisher.

ISBN:

1848225644 hardcover
9781848225640 hardcover

Subject:

Ruys, Mien, 1904-1999 Criticism and interpretation.
Gardens Design.
Landscape architecture.
Jardins Architecture.
Architecture du paysage.
landscape gardening.
landscape architecture (discipline)

Form/genre:

Biographies.

Added entries:

Kingsbury, Noël, writer of introduction.
Minchev, Deyan, photographer (expression)

Holdings:

Location: Library main
Copy: 1
Status: On Order