This book looks closely at the work and influences of some of the least studied figures of the era: established and less well-known female landscape architects who pursued modernist ideals in their designs.
With the information it provides, the book fosters future research on the subject that may, in the end, even lead to a com - bined, if not holistic, approach to both the historiographical and practical side of garden design. - Karin Seeber, Journal of Landscape Architecture
Editors Dümpelmann (Harvard Univ.) and Beardsley (Dumbarton Oaks) provide an insightful introductory essay about this pioneering collaboration. The book is thoughtful throughout. Each chapter is thoroughly footnoted, and a substantial bibliography is included as well. Summing Up: Essential. Graduate, research, and professional collections. - CHOICE, E. H. Teague, University of Oregon
Sonja Dümpelmann and John Beardsley are to be commended for bringing an abundance of lesser-known landscape production to our attention. This book should inspire further scholarly scrutiny, not only of the work introduced in this collection but also of related efforts to explore (to repeat their phrase) "the place of women in the emergence of modernist landscape architecture." - Caroline Constant, Landscape Architecture Magazine
Dümpelmann and Beardsley's edited collection traces a broad arc of female landscape architects contributing to the emergence of modern movements globally in the decades before and after World War Two. The stories they have gathered, which take us from Germany to New Zealand and beyond, offer new perspectives not only on these pioneering figures, but also on the history of landscape architecture as a whole, enabling a richer, more complex understanding of the development of a profession. - Despina Stratigakos, Department of Architecture, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
This book's excellent essays rely on original source material to fill gaps in the backgrounds of important women landscape architects on five continents. Again and again the essays emphasize how these women's knowledge of plants and horticulture contributed to the design of twentieth century modernist spaces. Of particular note are essays that underline the contributions of female designers to Europe's early modernist landscapes. Not only is the book a "must read" for anyone interested in modern landscape design, its introduction should be required reading in all landscape architecture history classes. - Linda Jewell, Professor of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning, UC Berkeley
These essays not only introduce us to women landscape architects who deserve our attention, but also provide food for thought about the relationship between modern architecture and landscaping, and the concept of modernity itself. - Susannah Charlton, C2O Magazine
