Roberto Burle Marx

An unprecedented look at the wide-ranging artistic work of one of the 20th century's most significant landscape architects The modernist parks and gardens of Brazilian landscape architect and garden designer Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994) earned him awards, widespread acclaim, and international fame. Over a 60-year career, he designed more than 2,000 gardens worldwide, the most famous of which are those he created in collaboration with the architect Oscar Niemeyer for Brasília. Although he is best known for his landscape work, Burle Marx was a prolific artist in a variety of media, and his larger body of work--which includes paintings, drawings, tile mosaics, sculpture, textile design, jewelry, theater costumes, and more--is critical to understanding his importance as a modernist. An avid horticulturalist, he was among the first to denounce deforestation in the Amazon region; he also discovered over thirty species of Brazilian flora, which bear his name. This beautifully illustrated and groundbreaking publication covers the full range of Burle Marx's artistic output, as well as his remarkable home, an abandoned estate that he transformed into his office, workshop, gallery, and living space. The enduring influence of Burle Marx's work is also explored through interviews with seven contemporary artists: Juan Araujo, Paloma Bosquê, Dominique González-Foerster, Luisa Lambri, Arto Lindsay, Nick Mauss, and Beatriz Milhazes. These artists exemplify the extent to which his work continues to be a source of inspiration.

Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994) remains one of the leading landscape architects ever. The significance of his landscape design lies in his use of abstract shapes that rarely employ symmetry, and his use of tropical, mainly Brazilian, flora. His distinctive and widely acclaimed work has been featured and referenced in numerous sources, yet few of Burle Marx's own words have been published. This book of previously unpublished lectures fills this void. The lectures, delivered on international speaking tours, address topics such as: "The Garden as an Art in Living," "Gardens and Ecology," and "The Problem of Garden Lighting." Their timely publication helps shed light on Burle Marx's distinctive style and ethos of landscape as a way of life.

Roberto Burle Marx was one of the most influential landscape and garden designers of the 20th century. This book presents 26 projects in plans, photographs and Burle Marx's own paintings. The introduction considers his life, ideas and work.

Roberto Burle Marx (Sao Paulo, 1909-Rio de Janeiro, 1994) is known as a landscape architect, but also as a painter, botanist, gardener, chef and jewellery designer. He considered the garden to be one of the fine arts, as the adaptation of the biome to civilisation's natural requirements." This book introduces the realm of the full sensory experience. Burle Marx's work with plants becomes highly pictorial-everything is drawn, coloured and constructed. In this symbiosis between aesthetics and botany, Burle Marx is the master of both species and spaces. His work is the embodiment of the "nature-city," a concept developed from the garden cities of the late 19th century, which has become compromised in the 21st century due to the compact city model. This new publication focuses on Burle Marx's scientific interest in the landscape and his relationship with the environment. Concepts that continue to be of major significance in contemporary landscape architecture, such as ecology, garden as an art form and landscape design in the urban structure, are some of the subjects the book deals with. The visual information of the book is complemented by the texts by Fares El-Dahdah, Francis Rambert, Jacques Leenhardt, Jose Tabacow, Lelia Coelho Frota, Andre Correa do Lago, Dorothee Imbert, Valerie Fraser and Gilles Clement.

Set against the backdrop of deteriorating living conditions for hundreds of millions of people in developing and debtor countries, this volume concentrates on the structural adjustment policies designed to facilitate debt repayment and to stabilize indebted economies and the effects these policies have on the human rights of affected peoples. Conducted by contributors from various disciplines, this analysis provides distinctive insights into the relationship between international economic decisions and human welfare. The volume begins with general chapters on the issue of world debt; the various perceptions of debtors and creditors and the general consequences of the crisis. The specifics of the right to development are presented along with an explanation of and a rationale for this particular project on debt and human rights. The social, political, and economic consequences of the debt crisis and of the adjustment policies designed to alleviate it are presented by academic analysts as well as economists involved in dealing with poverty and equity issues at the international financial agencies. The book concludes with contributions from NGO representatives. These chapters discuss policy change and popular participation. The complex issues of debt and international economics are examined from a variety of perspectives. World Debt and the Human Condition's unifying element is a shared concern for the advancement of human dignity and the protection of the basic human rights of all those affected by the current international debt crisis and by current international economic policies and development strategies.

Presenting the first English translation of Burle Marx's "depositions," this volume highlights the environmental advocacy of a preeminent Brazilian landscape architect who advised and challenged the country's military dictatorship.