Landscape – Great Idea! X-LArch III - Department für Raum ...
Landscape – Great Idea! X-LArch III - Department für Raum ...
Landscape – Great Idea! X-LArch III - Department für Raum ...
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24<br />
<strong>Landscape</strong>d, Modern, or Social?<br />
The Discussion about <strong>Idea</strong>s and<br />
Styles in Garden Architecture in<br />
the Österreichische Gartenzeitung<br />
between 1912 and 1920<br />
Ulrike Krippner<br />
University of Natural Resources and Applied Life<br />
Sciences, Institute of <strong>Landscape</strong> Architecture,<br />
Peter-Jordan-Straße 82, 1190 Vienna, Austria<br />
(e-mail: ulrike.krippner@boku.ac.at)<br />
Abstract<br />
This paper follows the discussion about garden<br />
design in the 1910s in the journal Österreichische<br />
Gartenzeitung, published by the Österreichische<br />
Gartenbau-Gesellschaft. It explores whether the<br />
discourse influenced the development of the profession<br />
and the understanding of design. The paper is based<br />
on an intensive literature research investigating nine<br />
volumes of the journal from 1912 to 1920. It analyzes<br />
the articles about garden architecture regarding the<br />
topics, the understandings and approaches, and the<br />
presented projects. The research shows that most<br />
articles in the journal supported modern garden<br />
architecture as the more contemporary style whereas<br />
it was still popular to design private gardens in a<br />
naturalistic way. The Österreichische Gartenbau-<br />
Gesellschaft aimed at promoting modern garden<br />
architecture by organizing competitions and exhibitions.<br />
Authors regarded the pure horticultural know-how of<br />
traditional garden architects as insufficient and claimed<br />
that modern garden architects should necessarily<br />
possess architectural and horticultural skills.<br />
Key words<br />
Profession history, landscape garden, modern garden,<br />
Austria, 1912-1920<br />
Introduction<br />
At the beginning of the 20th century, a number of garden<br />
architects still used the rigid patterns of landscape garden<br />
design. Others, picking up new trends in art, design,<br />
and industry, developed the modern architectural or formal<br />
garden (Auböck 1995, Hajós 1995). The lively style<br />
discussion was still ongoing in the 1910s but interrupted<br />
by the First World War and the economic crisis. The paper<br />
follows the debate about garden design in the journal<br />
Österreichische Gartenzeitung between 1912 and 1920.<br />
The research period starts with the foundation of the<br />
first professional organization, the VÖGA, Vereinigung<br />
Österreichischer Gartenarchitekten, in 1912, covers the<br />
First World War and the postwar period, and ends before<br />
the economic revival in the 1920s.<br />
The basic argument of the paper is that the discourse in<br />
the journal influenced the development of the profession<br />
and the understanding of garden design. Based on an<br />
intensive literature research, the paper analyzes the articles<br />
regarding the topics, the design approaches, and the<br />
presented projects in order to prove this hypothesis. The<br />
paper also takes a look at the Österreichische Gartenbau-Gesellschaft,<br />
which published the Gartenzeitung.<br />
The society might have played an important role for Austrian<br />
garden architecture, similar to that of the Deutsche<br />
Gesellschaft <strong>für</strong> Gartenkunst und Landschaftspflege for<br />
Germany (see Gröning & Wolschke-Bulmahn 1987). The<br />
paper presents first results of a comprehensive research<br />
project about landscape architecture in Austria between<br />
1912 and 1950, which started in June 2008 [1].<br />
The Österreichische Gartenbau-Gesellschaft and the<br />
Gartenzeitung<br />
In 1837, the Österreichische Gartenbau-Gesellschaft<br />
(Austrian Horticultural Society) was founded with the<br />
objective of promoting horticulture scientifically and<br />
practically. To fulfill this aim, the society organized exhibitions,<br />
lectures and courses and published a journal, the<br />
Gartenzeitung (Österreichische Gartenbau-Gesellschaft<br />
2002: 6). The society also ran a horticultural school<br />
where, in the 1910s, Franz Lebisch, an architect and<br />
representative of modern garden design, gave lectures<br />
on landscape gardening. Within the Österreichische<br />
Gartenbau-Gesellschaft, a committee was established to<br />
promote good garden art. Garden architects were members<br />
of the society‘s administrative board and, looking at<br />
the 1910s, proponents of the traditional and the modern<br />
garden style were presented.<br />
The Gartenzeitung was the only professional journal<br />
about horticulture, gardening, and garden architecture in<br />
Austria and addressed scientists, horticulturists, gardeners,<br />
and garden architects. Except for the First World<br />
War and the post-war period, the journal was issued<br />
monthly. Topics related to garden architecture appeared<br />
in articles, discussions, reviews, and announcements.<br />
Moreover, the journal served as newsletter for several<br />
associations, among them the Vereinigung Österreichischer<br />
Gartenarchitekten and the Verein ehemaliger<br />
Eisgruber, an association of former students of the most<br />
important horticultural school in Austria-Hungary around<br />
1900. Presenting the journal as newsletter for a professional<br />
association of garden architects, the Österreichische<br />
Gartenbau-Gesellschaft made a significant contribution<br />
towards establishing the profession.