Xin Wu. Patricia Johanson and the Re-Invention of Public Environmental Art, 1958-2010. Hardback by Ashgate, 2013; Paperback by Routledge, 2017.
This book addresses the issue of translation between visual arts and landscape design in the 50 more years career of Patricia Johanson, an important artist in the second half of the twentieth century. Examining the artist’s search for an 'art of the real' as a member of the post-World War II New York art world, and how such pursuit has led her from painting and sculpture to public garden and environmental art, it argues for the significance of the process of art creation, challenging the centrality of art objects. An insightful study to confront a crucial question in the history of art through the work of a contemporary artist, it converses with historians, critics and artists alike. Following Johanson's artistic development, from its formation in the 1960s American art scene to the very present day, across the fields of art, architecture, garden, civil engineering and environmental aesthetics, it investigates the process of creation in a transdisciplinary perspective, and reveals a view of art as a domain of exploration of key issues for the contemporary world. The artist's concept of nature is highlighted, and particular impacts of Chinese aesthetics and thought unveiled. Based on an extensive analysis of unpublished private archives, it offers us the first comprehensive scholarly interpretation of Patricia Johanson's oeuvre, including drawings, paintings, sculptures, installations, garden proposals, and built and unbuilt projects.Review:The Chinese landscape historian Professor Xin Wu has researched Johanson’s work for a decade, making a careful, fully documented appraisal of it... [Her] book is a welcome and timely addition to the literature of landscape design. Xin Wu’s premise was to set out the whole portfolio of Johanson’s work and career without applying any critique... But it is left to others to make their judgment. This also was always Jellicoe’s way. ---- Michael Spens, Studio International