Portrait of Frederick Law Olmstead (1895) by John Singer Sargent. Olmstead is considered by many to be the father of American landscape architecture.
Portrait of Frederick Law Olmstead (1895) by John Singer Sargent. Olmstead is considered by many to be the father of American landscape architecture.
Olmstead’s 1874 landscape design plan for the United States Capitol, was a 15-year installation project.
Olmstead on his life and work:
The most interesting general fact of my life seems to me to be that it was not as a gardener, a florist, a botanist, or one in any way specially interested in plants and flowers, or specially susceptible to their beauty, that I was drawn to my work. The root of all my work has been an early respect for and enjoyment of scenery, and extraordinary opportunities for cultivating susceptibility to its power. I mean not so much grand or sensational scenery as scenery of a more domestic order — scenery which is to be looked upon contemplatively and is producing of musing moods.