A Gardener's Labyrinth
Christopher Lloyd; Fergus Garrett
by Tessa Traeger
2001
NPG P1026(27)
Past exhibition archive
25 June - 19 October 2003
Porter Gallery
Admission Free
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.
David Charles Henshaw Austin
by Tessa Traeger
2001
NPG P1026(1)
Alan Bloom
by Tessa Traeger
2000
NPG P1026(4)
Beth Chatto
by Tessa Traeger
2000
NPG P1026(8)
Valerie Finnis (later Lady Montagu Douglas Scott)
by Tessa Traeger
2000
NPG P1026(12)
Charles Alexander Jencks
by Tessa Traeger
2001
NPG P1026(18)
Tony Lord
by Tessa Traeger
2002
NPG P1026(28)
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.
Publication
A Gardener's Labyrinth: People Plants and Places by Tessa Traeger and Patrick Kinmonth will be published in June by Booth Clibborn Editions, 304pp, price £59.95 (hardback). For further information please contact Andrew Ferguson at Purple Public Relations Ltd on 020 7439 9888 or email [email protected].
Related portraits
- Valerie Finnis (later Lady Montagu Douglas Scott) (NPG P1026(12))
- Nigel Marshall (NPG P1026(29))
- Anna Pavord (NPG P1026(32))
- Martin Puddle; Charles Puddle (NPG P1026(35))
- Beth Rothschild (NPG P1026(36))
- John Sales (NPG P1026(38))
- Marjorie Olein ('Mollie'), Marchioness of Salisbury (NPG P1026(39))
- Mike Snowden (NPG P1026(42))
- Barry Unwin (NPG P1026(47))
- Jacqueline Ann Gear (NPG P1026(14))
- Beth Chatto (NPG P1026(8))
- Penelope Hobhouse (NPG P1026(17))
- Lady (Priscilla) Mary Rose Keen (née Curzon) (NPG P1026(19))
- Joy Larkcom (NPG P1026(24))
- Andrew Lawson (NPG P1026(25))
- Alan Bloom (NPG P1026(4))
- Pamela Schwerdt; Sibylle Kreutsberger (NPG P1026(21))
- David Charles Henshaw Austin (NPG P1026(1))
- Isabel Bannerman (NPG P1026(2))
- Julian Bannerman (NPG P1026(3))
- Arabella, Lady Lennox-Boyd (NPG P1026(26))
- Angelica Campbell (née Lazansky von Bukowa), Countess Cawdor (NPG P1026(7))
- Christopher Lloyd; Fergus Garrett (NPG P1026(27))
- Sir Ghillean Tolmie Prance (NPG P1026(34))
- Graham Stuart Thomas (NPG P1026(45))
- James Compton (NPG P1026(9))
- Ian Hamilton Finlay (NPG P1026(11))
- Bob Flowerdew (NPG P1026(13))
- Andy Goldsworthy (NPG P1026(15))
- Christopher David Brickell (NPG P1026(5))
- Charles Alexander Jencks (NPG P1026(18))
- Dame Miriam Louisa Rothschild (NPG P1026(37))
- Gilly Drummond (NPG P1026(10))
- Tony Lord (NPG P1026(28))
- Brian Mathew (NPG P1026(30))
- Julia Trevelyan Oman (Lady Strong) (NPG P1026(31))
- Dan Pearson (NPG P1026(33))
- Anne Eleanor Scott-James (Lady Lancaster) (NPG P1026(40))
- Sir Timothy Bartel ('Tim') Smit (NPG P1026(41))
- Geoff Stokes (NPG P1026(43))
- Sir Roy Strong (NPG P1026(44))
- Xa Tollemache (Alexandra Dorothy Jean, Lady Tollemache) (NPG P1026(46))
- David Wheeler (NPG P1026(48))
- Keith Wiley (NPG P1026(49))
- Kim Wilkie (NPG P1026(50))
- John Brookes (NPG P1026(6))
- David Gerald Hessayon (NPG P1026(16))
- Carol Klein (NPG P1026(20))
- Roy Lancaster (NPG P1026(22))
- Robin Lane Fox (NPG P1026(23))
Related sitters
- David Charles Henshaw Austin
- Isabel Bannerman (née Eustace)
- Julian Diamond Bannerman
- Alan Herbert Vauser Bloom
- Christopher David Brickell
- John Brookes
- Angelica Campbell (née Lazansky von Bukowa), Countess Cawdor
- Beth Chatto (née Little)
- James Compton
- Gillian Turner ('Gilly') Drummond (née Clark, later Laing)
- Ian Hamilton Finlay
- Valerie Finnis (later Lady Montagu Douglas Scott)
- Bob Flowerdew
- Fergus Garrett
- Jacqueline Ann Gear
- Andrew Charles ('Andy') Goldsworthy
- David Gerald Hessayon
- Penelope Hobhouse
- Charles Alexander Jencks
- Lady (Priscilla) Mary Rose Keen (née Curzon)
- Carol Klein
- Sibylle Kreutsberger
- Roy Lancaster
- Robin James Lane Fox
- Joy Larkcom
- Andrew Lawson
- Arabella, Lady Lennox-Boyd
- Christopher Lloyd
- Tony Lord
- Nigel Marshall
- Brian Mathew
- Anna Pavord
- Dan Pearson
- Sir Ghillean Tolmie Prance
- Charles Puddle
- Martin Puddle
- Beth Rothschild
- Dame Miriam Louisa Rothschild
- John Sales
- Marjorie Olein ('Mollie'), Marchioness of Salisbury
- Pamela Schwerdt
- Anne Eleanor Scott-James (Lady Lancaster)
- Sir Timothy Bartel ('Tim') Smit
- Mike Snowden
- Geoff Stokes
- Sir Roy Strong
- Graham Stuart Thomas
- Xa Tollemache (Alexandra Dorothy Jean, Lady Tollemache)
- Julia Trevelyan Oman (Lady Strong)
- Barry Unwin
- David Wheeler
- Keith Wiley
- Kim Wilkie