It's the birthday of the man who said, "Philosophy is like trying to open a safe with a combination lock: each little adjustment of the dials seems to achieve nothing, only when everything is in place does the door open": Ludwig Wittgenstein (books by this author), born in Vienna in 1889. He was described by his colleague Bertrand Russell as "the most perfect example I have known of genius as traditionally conceived: passionate, profound, intense, and dominating."
Wittgenstein was particularly interested in language. He wrote: "The limits of my language are the limits of my mind. All I know is what I have words for." And, "Uttering a word is like striking a note on the keyboard of the imagination."
Wittgenstein was particularly interested in language. He wrote: "The limits of my language are the limits of my mind. All I know is what I have words for." And, "Uttering a word is like striking a note on the keyboard of the imagination."
And it's the birthday of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1822. Even though he studied such diverse subjects as chemistry, engineering, and agriculture, he wasn't big on formal education, preferring instead to wander through nature. He believed that exposure to forests, meadows, and other green spaces was therapeutic, and was something that even city dwellers needed. This belief was solidified as he traveled the world in his twenties. He and some friends took a six-month walking tour of Britain and Europe, where he saw many parks and formal gardens, and also took an interest in the class system that he observed there. The trip helped form the philosophy that informed his life's work: that people of all walks of life should have access to a common green space. It was a radical idea for the mid-19th century. Olmsted believed that parks would give city dwellers a sense of tranquility. He said, "It is one great purpose of the Park to supply to the hundreds of thousands of tired workers, who have no opportunity to spend their summers in the country, a specimen of God's handiwork that shall be to them, inexpensively, what a month or two in the White Mountains or the Adirondacks is, at great cost, to those in easier circumstances."
In 1853, the city of New York set aside a 700-acre plot of land for the purpose of developing a public green space similar to London's Hyde Park or Paris's Bois de Boulogne. The land was mainly in use as a home for squatters until 1857, when a design contest to expand and improve the park was announced. Olmsted partnered with British designer Calvert Vaux, and together they came up with a proposal they called the "Greensward Plan." Their plan won the contest, and construction began on the park in 1858.
Olmsted and his firm were involved in the design of several other parks and green spaces across the country, including Brooklyn's Prospect Park; the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina; and the campuses of Stanford, Berkeley, and the University of Chicago. He designed the Emerald Necklace, a park system for the City of Boston. He also worked on the landscape that surrounds the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
Though Olmsted is most famous for landscape architecture, that's only one of his accomplishments. He worked as a journalist and wrote several books on various subjects, including two on slavery and Southern society. He was a managing editor of Putnam's Magazineand was also a partner in the publishing firm of Dix and Edwards. He drained the saltwater and sewage from Boston's Back Bay and created the Fenway. He managed a gold-mining estate in California. He was the administrative head of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, which was the forerunner to the American Red Cross and helped meet the needs of Union soldiers during the Civil War. He was a leader in the conservation movement, helping to preserve the Yosemite Valley and Niagara Falls.
His friend and colleague Daniel Burnham once said of Olmsted: "An artist, he paints with lakes and wooded slopes; with lawns and banks and forest covered hills; with mountain sides and ocean views."
In 1895, Olmsted suffered a mental breakdown. He lived out the final years of his life in the McLean Hospital in Waverly, Massachusetts.
In 1853, the city of New York set aside a 700-acre plot of land for the purpose of developing a public green space similar to London's Hyde Park or Paris's Bois de Boulogne. The land was mainly in use as a home for squatters until 1857, when a design contest to expand and improve the park was announced. Olmsted partnered with British designer Calvert Vaux, and together they came up with a proposal they called the "Greensward Plan." Their plan won the contest, and construction began on the park in 1858.
Olmsted and his firm were involved in the design of several other parks and green spaces across the country, including Brooklyn's Prospect Park; the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina; and the campuses of Stanford, Berkeley, and the University of Chicago. He designed the Emerald Necklace, a park system for the City of Boston. He also worked on the landscape that surrounds the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
Though Olmsted is most famous for landscape architecture, that's only one of his accomplishments. He worked as a journalist and wrote several books on various subjects, including two on slavery and Southern society. He was a managing editor of Putnam's Magazineand was also a partner in the publishing firm of Dix and Edwards. He drained the saltwater and sewage from Boston's Back Bay and created the Fenway. He managed a gold-mining estate in California. He was the administrative head of the U.S. Sanitary Commission, which was the forerunner to the American Red Cross and helped meet the needs of Union soldiers during the Civil War. He was a leader in the conservation movement, helping to preserve the Yosemite Valley and Niagara Falls.
His friend and colleague Daniel Burnham once said of Olmsted: "An artist, he paints with lakes and wooded slopes; with lawns and banks and forest covered hills; with mountain sides and ocean views."
In 1895, Olmsted suffered a mental breakdown. He lived out the final years of his life in the McLean Hospital in Waverly, Massachusetts.
No comments:
Post a Comment