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 A
Gardener's Labyrinth
Portraits
of People, Plants and Places by Tessa Traeger and Patrick Kinmouth
at the National Portrait Gallery, London, 25th June to 19th
October 2003
 Buy
the accompanying book, A Gardener's Labyrinth: Portraits of
People, Plants and Places, from Amazon.co.uk.
Or buy it from Amazon.com.
Following a recent commission
from the National
Portrait Gallery to photograph important British horticulturalists
for its collection, Tessa Traeger and Patrick Kinmonth have
photographed over 50 sitters working in the field, including
gardeners, garden history writers, plant finders, garden designers
and artists who are shaping new attitudes to plants and gardens.
The exhibition represents a cross-section
of every aspect of gardening in the British Isles and is divided
into sections in which the history of the British garden and
a view of the contemporary gardener will be examined and considered:
The Garden Proposed examines
the attitudes and inspirations that inform contemporary garden
design, from the gardens of Dan Pearson and Penelope Hobhouse
to the new developments in British land art and the work of
Ian Hamilton Finlay and Andy Goldsworthy.
The Garden Described features
leading garden historians and writers, including Anna Pavord,
Robin Lane Fox and Roy Strong.
The Garden Planted explores
the different worlds of plant husbandry, from nurserymen to
specialist rose growers, the Chelsea Flower Show expert and
the organic gardener, and includes Beth Chatto, Valerie Finnis,
Bob Flowerdew and Christopher Lloyd.
The Garden Preserved reveals
a particularly British aspect, -the living heritage of great
gardens in all their diversity. Portraits of gardens and their
owners, head gardeners and garden pioneers, including Angelika
Cawdor (Cawdor Castle) and John Sales (Stourhead) chart both
the grandest restorations and the most dramatic transformations.
The Garden Explored deals
with the extraordinary tradition and continuing British excellence
in plant scholarship, expedition and exploration which, since
the eighteenth century, has been a remarkable aspect of the
British garden. Christopher Brickell of the Royal Horticultural
Society and Tim Smit of the Eden Project feature, amongst others,
in this section.
Alongside each portrait will
be a photograph of the garden most closely associated with the
sitter, including Kew Gardens (Ghillean Prance), The Garden
of Cosmic Speculation (Charles Jencks), Gresgarth Hall (Arabella
Lennox-Boyd) as well as Sissinghurst (Ann Scott-James), Waddesdon
Manor (Beth Rothschild), Mottisfont Rose Garden (Graham Stuart
Thomas), Bodnant (Martin Puddle HG) and Helmingham Hall (Xa
Tollemache).
Tessa Traeger is one of the outstanding
still-life photographers of her generation and has exhibited
regularly since 1978 in Paris, London, Hamburg and New York.
She is especially known for her photographs taken on large format
cameras, many of which were published during her long association
with British Vogue. Her collaborator on this project, Patrick
Kinmonth, is known as a writer on photography, artistic director
and opera designer. The exhibition is curated and designed by
Patrick Kinmonth, who has also written the accompanying publication.
Quick
Facts
National Portrait Gallery opening hours
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday: 10am - 6pm (Gallery
closure commences at 5.50pm)
Late Opening: Thursday, Friday: 10am - 9pm
(Gallery closure commences at 8.50pm)
Admission: free
Recorded information: 020 7312
2463
General information: 020 7306
0055
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