Ellen Biddle Shipman: Difference between revisions
LaszloWalrus (talk | contribs) |
Justine867 (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
||
| Line 2: | Line 2: | ||
{{Wikify|date=January 2007}} |
{{Wikify|date=January 2007}} |
||
[[Image:Moonlight Garden, Edison and Ford Winter Estates, Fort Myers, Florida.JPG|thumb|right|300px|Shipman designed The Moonlight Garden at the [[Edison and Ford Winter Estates]] in [[Fort Myers, Florida]] for [[Thomas Edison|Thomas Edison's]]s wife Mina.]] |
[[Image:Moonlight Garden, Edison and Ford Winter Estates, Fort Myers, Florida.JPG|thumb|right|300px|Shipman designed The Moonlight Garden at the [[Edison and Ford Winter Estates]] in [[Fort Myers, Florida]] for [[Thomas Edison|Thomas Edison's]]s wife Mina.]] |
||
'''Ellen Biddle Shipman''' (1869-1950) was an [[United States|American]] [[landscape architect]] known for her formal gardens and lush planting style. |
|||
Ellen Biddle Shipman is not an average landscape architect of the late 1890’s to early 1900’s. She compiled aesthetics and heavy vegetation verses formality and framed views as her colleagues were accomplishing. However, Ellen received influence from several different sources before she was considered a renowned designer in the United States. Ellen Biddle Shipman’s influence came from several life choices she and her family made, as well as people she met throughout her adult years. |
|||
Born in [[Philadelphia]], she spent her childhood in [[Texas]] and the [[Arizona territory]]. Her father, Colonel James Biddle, was a career Army officer, stationed on the western frontier. When the safety of his family was threatened, Colonel Biddle had Ellen, along with her mother and brothers, move to the McGowan farm in Elizabeth, New Jersey. In these early years Ellen would begin to associate safety with the natural beauty on the farm. |
|||
While Ellen was a child her family was constantly moving about the Arizona, Colorado, and Nevada territories due to her father’s heavy involvement in the military. This migration around the western territories gave Ellen an opportunity to evaluate and appreciate the beauty of the natural desert landscape this area had to offer. However, in 1869 Ellen Biddle Shipman, her two brothers, and her mother were forced to be separated from her father due to uprisings amongst the local Native American tribes in the area. Ellen and her family sought refuge at her mother’s parent’s house in New Jersey. At Ellen’s grandparents she and her two brothers had the opportunity to absorb not only a green scenery, but also a manicured landscape surrounding a house verses the rough wilderness that Ellen and her family had previously camped in. The garden at the New Jersey home where Ellen Biddle Shipman, her two brothers, and her mother would reside at for some time was landscaped in a way that nature was domesticated near the house, but each plant’s beauty was defined. Ellen studied the beauty of these plants, and learned their habits. She read books on gardening and gained great horticultural knowledge while at her grandparent’s home. This influence from her grandparent’s home in New Jersey would provide the background for Ellen Biddle Shipman’s future design work in landscape architecture. |
|||
==Education== |
|||
However, Ellen received other influence from important figures before she stepped out of her grandparent’s New Jersey home and into her future clients grasp. Ellen’s talent came from her mother’s motivation and wishes to go to finishing school and become a more refined young woman. This motivation Ellen’s mother gave her would make Ellen Biddle Shipman in to a fine young woman that would later be highly respected for her design work by clients and colleagues alike in the landscape architecture field. |
|||
Ellen attended boarding school in [[Baltimore]], where her interests in the arts emerged in her daydreams and doodles in her notebook. By her twenties she had already began drawing garden designs. |
|||
After going to finishing school Ellen, at age 18 decided to move into her own house with several roommates in Washington D.C... This change was highly disapproved of at the time by both society and Ellen’s mother in 1887. However, the decision to move out on her own was highly beneficial to Ellen because it acquired her a network of connections to the landscape architecture world. One of her roommates, Marian Nichols, acquired Ellen Biddle Shipman two connections to other prominent people in the landscape industry of the time. Arthur Shurcliff; who was the husband of Margaret Nichols, Marian’s sister, would later collaborate with Ellen in her developing career as a designer. Not only did Ellen benefit from Margaret Nichol’s husband, but also Marian’s other sister, Rose Standish Nichols, who would become a renowned landscape architect and writer. While living with her roommates Ellen enrolled at Radcliffe in 1892. Here she attended for a short time, and did not receive a full education, but did acquire a soul mate whom she would later marry. The man she met during her short attendance at Radcliffe is Louis Evan Shipman; Louis Evan Shipman was the cousin of one of her roommates, Mary Rogers. Louis and Ellen were married in October, and had a daughter the next year. Ellen and Louis would create a network of friends which would lead Ellen Biddle Shipman into acquaintance with Charles Platt. |
|||
When she halfheartedly entered the [[Harvard College|Harvard]] annex, predecessor to [[Radcliffe College]], Ellen became distracted by a playwright attending Harvard named Louis Shipman. They left school after one year, married, and moved to [[Cornish, New Hampshire|Cornish]], [[New Hampshire]], attracted by an artists’ colony which included [[Maxfield Parrish]] and [[Augustus Saint-Gaudens]], among others. |
|||
Charles Platt and Ellen Biddle Shipman later came into collaboration in the landscape architecture field when Charles complimented Ellen on her work at “Brooks Place,” which was Ellen’s dream home and property that she designed. He then asked her if she would complete the designing for the properties he was completing. Ellen Biddle Shipman, however, would not feel comfortable designing until she acquired the rendering and drafting skills of the designers of the time. Therefore, Platt offered Ellen the training she needed and soon after in 1913 she began designing for Charles Platt. Ellen created beautiful designs based on the influence she received from camping in the Arizona, Colorado, and Nevada territories, and from her grandparent’s home in New Jersey. The work she landscape architecture she designed for Charles Platt collaborated these elements to create beautiful gardens that soon became high in demand. |
|||
The colony is said to have been landscaped by artists who were not by any means landscape architects. However, through their artistically trained eyes and amazing awareness for the aesthetically calming, were they able to create a lush surrounding by keeping to the simple geometrical shapes of the colonial garden. This was this style that Ellen took strongly to and with it created her own style; a style which did not go unnoticed. |
|||
==Collaboration== |
|||
[[Charles A. Platt]] was an artist and architect known for his book about Italian gardens and recognized her talents. He did not know much about horticulture, but was highly respected and thought of as “the man who could design both house and garden for a country estate”, for he had recently made a trip to Italy and wrote a book about the gardens there. |
|||
When Ellen and Louis divorced in 1910, Ellen, with the help of Platt, was well on her way to establishing herself as a talented garden designer nationwide. She and Platt played off of their mutual need for the other. Platt needed Ellen for her knowledge in horticulture and Ellen needed Platt for his knowledge in drafting and design. Ellen was also heavily influenced by Gertrude Jekyll and her brilliant use of borders as well as her memories from her grandparents’ farm. By the 1920 she was completely independent, though she continued to collaborate with him on his residential projects. |
|||
Among the earliest collaborations with Platt was in 1913 with the [[Cooperstown, New York]] estate of '''Fynmere''' owned by the Cooper family on the edge of the Village. Descendants of [[William Cooper (judge)]] and his son, the famed novelist [[James Fenimore Cooper]], this project provided significant visibility for Ellen. While the stone mansion has since been [[razed]] (1979) a few elements of the landscape work survive although not as grand as the original layout. The Cooper family was impressed enough to award her with the landscape work for the adjoining estate of '''Heathcote''' which is extant today in private hands. Her other gardens include Bayou Bend Gardens, Longue Vue Gardens, Stan Hywet Gardens, and [[Duke University]]'s [[Sarah P. Duke Gardens]], often named one of her finest works. |
|||
Ellen created her own [[residential garden]]s all over the United States, collaborating with many architects. Her planting plans softened the bones of the geometric architecture with planting designs that were muscular enough to speak for themselves. She once said, "Remember that the design of your place is its skeleton upon which you will later plant to make your picture. Keep that skeleton as simple as possible." |
|||
==Public recognition and solo work== |
==Public recognition and solo work== |
||
Revision as of 06:19, 30 October 2007
 | This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. |
 | Template:Wikify is deprecated. Please use a more specific cleanup template as listed in the documentation. |
Ellen Biddle Shipman is not an average landscape architect of the late 1890’s to early 1900’s. She compiled aesthetics and heavy vegetation verses formality and framed views as her colleagues were accomplishing. However, Ellen received influence from several different sources before she was considered a renowned designer in the United States. Ellen Biddle Shipman’s influence came from several life choices she and her family made, as well as people she met throughout her adult years.
While Ellen was a child her family was constantly moving about the Arizona, Colorado, and Nevada territories due to her father’s heavy involvement in the military. This migration around the western territories gave Ellen an opportunity to evaluate and appreciate the beauty of the natural desert landscape this area had to offer. However, in 1869 Ellen Biddle Shipman, her two brothers, and her mother were forced to be separated from her father due to uprisings amongst the local Native American tribes in the area. Ellen and her family sought refuge at her mother’s parent’s house in New Jersey. At Ellen’s grandparents she and her two brothers had the opportunity to absorb not only a green scenery, but also a manicured landscape surrounding a house verses the rough wilderness that Ellen and her family had previously camped in. The garden at the New Jersey home where Ellen Biddle Shipman, her two brothers, and her mother would reside at for some time was landscaped in a way that nature was domesticated near the house, but each plant’s beauty was defined. Ellen studied the beauty of these plants, and learned their habits. She read books on gardening and gained great horticultural knowledge while at her grandparent’s home. This influence from her grandparent’s home in New Jersey would provide the background for Ellen Biddle Shipman’s future design work in landscape architecture.
However, Ellen received other influence from important figures before she stepped out of her grandparent’s New Jersey home and into her future clients grasp. Ellen’s talent came from her mother’s motivation and wishes to go to finishing school and become a more refined young woman. This motivation Ellen’s mother gave her would make Ellen Biddle Shipman in to a fine young woman that would later be highly respected for her design work by clients and colleagues alike in the landscape architecture field.
After going to finishing school Ellen, at age 18 decided to move into her own house with several roommates in Washington D.C... This change was highly disapproved of at the time by both society and Ellen’s mother in 1887. However, the decision to move out on her own was highly beneficial to Ellen because it acquired her a network of connections to the landscape architecture world. One of her roommates, Marian Nichols, acquired Ellen Biddle Shipman two connections to other prominent people in the landscape industry of the time. Arthur Shurcliff; who was the husband of Margaret Nichols, Marian’s sister, would later collaborate with Ellen in her developing career as a designer. Not only did Ellen benefit from Margaret Nichol’s husband, but also Marian’s other sister, Rose Standish Nichols, who would become a renowned landscape architect and writer. While living with her roommates Ellen enrolled at Radcliffe in 1892. Here she attended for a short time, and did not receive a full education, but did acquire a soul mate whom she would later marry. The man she met during her short attendance at Radcliffe is Louis Evan Shipman; Louis Evan Shipman was the cousin of one of her roommates, Mary Rogers. Louis and Ellen were married in October, and had a daughter the next year. Ellen and Louis would create a network of friends which would lead Ellen Biddle Shipman into acquaintance with Charles Platt.
Charles Platt and Ellen Biddle Shipman later came into collaboration in the landscape architecture field when Charles complimented Ellen on her work at “Brooks Place,” which was Ellen’s dream home and property that she designed. He then asked her if she would complete the designing for the properties he was completing. Ellen Biddle Shipman, however, would not feel comfortable designing until she acquired the rendering and drafting skills of the designers of the time. Therefore, Platt offered Ellen the training she needed and soon after in 1913 she began designing for Charles Platt. Ellen created beautiful designs based on the influence she received from camping in the Arizona, Colorado, and Nevada territories, and from her grandparent’s home in New Jersey. The work she landscape architecture she designed for Charles Platt collaborated these elements to create beautiful gardens that soon became high in demand.
Public recognition and solo work
Her gardens often appeared in magazines like House Beautiful. In 1933, House and Garden Magazine named her the "Dean of Women Landscape Architects". She lectured widely, and completed over 400 projects. Her archives are at Cornell University. Because much of her work includes labor-intensive plantings and borders, many have not survived.
However, it was because of these borders that she was able to connect with her female clientèle. Her intent was to first and foremost provide privacy and secondly, a place for interaction with the surroundings. Women found the gardens to provide familiarity and comfort when life was otherwise too chaotic.
It is said that throughout the 40 years she practiced landscape architecture, Ellen would only hire graduates from Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture, Gardening, and Horticulture for Women. Although it is not thoroughly understood why this was her hiring practice, it is widely believed that because of the time, women were not being given apprenticeships in male offices.
References
Judith, Tankard. "The Gardens of Ellen Biddle Shipman." bkGwinn. 2006. 29 Oct. 2006 [1]
Raver, Anne. "Private Places for Flowers and Dreams." New York Times. 7 Feb. 1997. The New York Times. 29 Oct. 2006 [2]
Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens. Ellen Biddle Shipman. 2006. Stan Hywet Hall and Garden. 29 Oct. 2006 [3]
The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens. "The Italian Garden." Art and Gardens-Italian Garden. 2006. The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens. 29 Oct. 2006 [4]