CELEBRATING THE LEGACY OF FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED
Montauk Library – Community Room (lower level)
871 Montauk Highway. Montauk, NY 11954
SUNDAY, MAY 15, 2022 2:30pm to 3:30pm
GUEST SPEAKER: ANNE MOORE
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Registration not required Covid protocols: TBD
In honor of the Bicentennial of the birth of landscape architect and conservation activist, Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903), art historian Anne Moore will discuss his life and enduring legacy. Olmsted was responsible for the design of nearly 5000 parks, gardens, urban spaces, and residential properties including the residences in The Montauk Association Historic District known as The Seven Sisters. Former museum director, curator and educator, Anne Moore is a certified fine and decorative art appraiser. A resident of Quiogue, she is the Historian of the Westhampton Garden Club.
Prior to her appraisal career, Anne Moore held educational, curatorial, and administrative positions at major American museums, including The Kimbell Art Museum, The Dallas Art Museum, The Peabody Essex Museum and The Allen Art Museum, Oberlin College, where she was concurrently a faculty member in the art department of Oberlin College. She was a popular lecturer on a variety of topics throughout her museum career and continues to lecture to local institutions. Ms. Moore received B.A. and M.A degrees in art history from Columbia University and Hunter College. While doing graduate study in Italian Renaissance art, she lived for 4 years in Rome and Florence, Italy. She has a broad knowledge of the fine and decorative art of all periods and cultures and has been a keen observer of art and material culture for more than a half century. In recent years her interests have focused primarily on American painting and decorative art.
CELEBRATING THE LEGACY OF FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED
This year is the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903), the visionary, conceptual and pragmatic force behind the movement to establish public gardens, landscapes, and parks in our country. Through his designs and in print, Olmsted promoted radical concepts at that time, such as his belief that nature – and parks belong to all people and are crucial to public health and well-being, especially in crowded urban areas. He was also an early advocate for the stewardship and conservation of open space, presciently highlighting 21st century concerns. Focusing on Olmsted in 2022 is a means to underscore the importance of the parks we often take for granted and to echo Olmsted’s pleas for the protection of our open land and waterways into the future.
Olmsted literally invented a new profession: Landscape Architecture. His extensive writings on the new discipline, which advocated master plans with “vistas”, idyllic experiences, and the curative effects of nature were as influential as his design projects. By the time he died in 1903, he was responsible (sometimes with collaborators) for designing New York’s Central, Riverside, Fort Tryon and Morningside Parks; and Prospect and Fort Greene Parks, and Eastern and Ocean Parkways in Brooklyn. In addition, he planned the U.S. Capitol Grounds, dozens of college and university campuses, municipal and community projects. He was a driving force for the creation of Yosemite, the nation’s first National Park.
Note: The Garden Club of America has joined other organizations in creating OLMSTED200 to draw attention, not only to Olmsted and his achievements, but to his legacy concerning parks, landscape design, conservation and the environment.
