Human beings have been transforming Mediterranean landscapes into art for at least thirty thousand years. This multifaceted region. This book offers a vision of the Mediterranean, past and future, linking cultural diversity and natural balance as discovered in its gardens, landscape design, literature, art and architecture.
After a career as a renowned fashion designer in Paris and New York, Nicole de Vesian (1916-1996) moved to Provence in the 1980s and, at the age of 70, began creating a series of superbly proportioned and innovative gardens. Classically French in form (even if devoid of symmetry), pared down without being austere and in profound harmony with the surrounding countryside, these green and grey tapestries quickly came to inspire gardeners and garden designers the world over. Indeed, few French gardens are as widely imitated as those of Vesian; as Louisa Jones writes, "she had a feeling for space just as a musician has a good ear." This monograph is the first devoted to Vesian's work, and offers testimonies, reflections and full-color views of her most celebrated creations, including her own celebrated garden, La Louve, in the hilltop village of Bonnieux
In France today, the heritage of classic parterres and landscaped parks, of botanical enquiry and family kitchen gardens, provides an inspiration for fresh delights and creativity. This title reveals the extent of the Renaissance in French country gardens.