Press Releases

Landslide 2013 - The Landscape Architecture Legacy of Dan Kiley – New Traveling Photographic Exhibition Honors one of the Most Important Modernist Landscape Architects – Follows 100th Anniversary of Kiley’s Birth

 


Media Contact: Nord Wennerstrom | T: 202.255.7076 | E: nord@tclf.org


Exhibition Opens November 14 at the Boston Architectural College, continues to the National Building Museum in Washington, DC in February 2014 and then other venues

Washington, DC (November 5, 2013) – The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) today announced that the traveling photographic exhibition, The Landscape Architecture Legacy of Dan Kiley, created in conjunction with TCLF’s Landslide program of threatened and at-risk landscapes will open at the Boston Architectural College on November 14, 2013 (on view through December 31, 2103).  The exhibition will continue on to the National Building Museum in Washington, DC (February – May 2014), and additional venues thereafter.  This year, the Foundation’s annual thematic Landslide compendium is dedicated to the life and work of Dan Kiley (1912-2004), one of the nation’s most important Post War landscape architects. Kiley worked with equally significant architects, such as Eero Saarinen, Louis Kahn and I.M. Pei, to create internationally acknowledged Modernist icons. His design legacy is substantial, influential and, like the broad swath of our Modernist designed landscape legacy, ephemeral. The Landslide designation and exhibition are meant to honor Kiley and his legacy, and call attention to the need for informed and effective stewardship of his work - and by extension Modernist landscape design.

The exhibition features 45 newly created photographs by noted artists including Marion Brenner, Todd Eberle, Millicent Harvey, and Alan Ward, that document the current state of 27 of Kiley’s more than 1,000 designs including: the Miller House and Garden, Columbus, IN; the Art Institute of Chicago South Garden, Chicago, IL; and one of his final residential projects, Patterns, a garden for Gov. & Mrs. Pierre S. “Pete” du Pont IV in Delaware. A companion 72-page gallery guide – funded through a Kickstarter campaign and available for purchase online – includes exhibition images, brief site descriptions and site plans, and excerpts from recently gathered personal recollections from colleagues (an additional site currently under restoration, the National Gallery of Art’s East Building, is included in the catalogue, but not the exhibition). Alan Ward, who photographed three sites in the exhibition said: “I am challenged to render the subtle beauty of these landscapes in photographs and, at the same time, inspired as a landscape architect.” TCLF’s Web site will have a more in-depth treatment of Kiley’s life and legacy.

The complete list of sites and photographers:

  • Agnes R. Katz Plaza, Pittsburgh, PA, photography by Richard A. Stoner

  • Art Institute of Chicago, South Garden, Chicago, IL, photography by Tom Harris

  • Banneker Park (originally Tenth Street Overlook), Washington, DC, photography by Frank Hallam Day

  • Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN, photography by Jeffrey A. Wolin

  • Cudahy Gardens, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI, photography by Tom Bamberger

  • Cummins Inc. Irwin Office Building (originally Irwin Union Bank and Trust Company), Columbus, IN, photography by Matthew Carbone

  • Currier Farm, Danby, VT, photography by Peter Vanderwarker

  • Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, photography by Alan Ward

  • Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, photography by Gwen Walstrand

  • East Farm (Kiley Home and Office), Charlotte, VT, photography by Aaron Kiley

  • Ford Foundation, New York, NY, photography by David Leventi

  • Fountain Place (originally Allied Plaza), Dallas, TX, photography by Alan Ward

  • Hamilton Garden, Columbus, IN, photography by Millicent Harvey

  • Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, St Louis, MO, photography by David Johnson

  • John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, MA, photography by Alan Ward

  • Kenjockety (Shapiro Phelan Residence), Westport, NY, photography by Todd Eberle

  • Kiley Garden (originally NationsBank Plaza), Tampa, FL, photography by Maria Bevilacqua and Frederick Pirone

  • Kimmel Residence, Salisbury, CT, photography by Neil Landino Jr.

  • Kusko Residence, Williamstown, MA, photography by Paul Warchol

  • L'Esplanade du Général de Gaulle, La Défense, Paris, FR, photography by David Bacher

  • Miller House and Garden, Columbus, IN, photography by Millicent Harvey

  • Milton Lee Olive Park (originally Central District Filtration Plant), Chicago, IL, photography by Aaron Kiley

  • National Gallery of Art, East Building, Washington, DC, photography by Lynn Silverman (catalogue only)

  • North Christian Church, Columbus, IN, photography by Matthew Carbone

  • Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA, photography by Marion Brenner

  • Patterns (du Pont Residence), Wilmington, DE, photography by Roger Foley

  • Rockefeller University, New York, NY, photography by Benjamin Dimmitt

  • United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO, photography by Brian K. Thomson

This exhibition is meant to prompt questions and discussions about responsible stewardship, which is central to TCLF’s mission.  While some Kiley designs are dying quiet deaths, others are extremely well maintained or require modest attention to once again achieve their brilliance.  What the exhibition cannot illustrate are Kiley designs that have been lost or severely altered, such as Lincoln Center in New York, NY and Dulles Airport, outside Washington, DC, which architect Jacquelin Robertson says was, “in some ways the most lyrical piece of large-scale landscaping that I know of in this country.”

“When the 100th anniversary of Kiley’s birth came and went last year – and nothing happened – The Cultural Landscape Foundation decided to mount a tribute to this great Modernist landscape architect,” said TCLF Founder and President, Charles A. Birnbaum. “We have received tremendous support from the artists, who donated their time and work, and many members of the design community who underwrote the exhibition and helped TCLF’s Kiley gallery guide Kickstarter campaign exceed its goal by more than 20%.”

“This exhibition and gallery guide are an introduction to Kiley’s life and work, not an exhaustive survey – that would take far longer than the eleven months in which this project was organized,” said Birnbaum. “By design, the catalogue entries, which presents Kiley’s projects chronologically, provide a brief history and documentation of each site (and corresponding site plan), along with excerpts from recollections recently gathered from Kiley’s colleagues including Gary Hilderbrand, Elizabeth K. Meyer, Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, Kevin Roche, Michael van Valkenburgh, Charles Waldheim, Peter Walker and Harry Wolf – lengthier entries including the complete text of the recollections are available on TCLF’s Web site.”

Generous support has been provided by more than one hundred organizations and individuals including: Presenting Sponsors, The Davey Tree Expert Company and Victor Stanley, Inc.; Exhibition Partners, the Boston Society of Landscape Architects and the Boston Architectural College; Media Partner, Landscape Architecture Magazine; and Educational Partner, the American Society of Landscape Architects; and The Hubbard Educational Foundation.

About The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF)

TCLF provides people with the ability to see, understand, and value landscape architecture and its practitioners, in the way many people have learned to do with buildings and their designers. Through its Web site, lectures, outreach, and publishing, TCLF broadens the support and understanding for cultural landscapes nationwide to help safeguard our priceless landscape heritage for future generations.