A new flourish on the skirts of the Philadelphia Museum of Art translates an abstract concept into a garden where each row of flowers tells a story.
It’s a place where botany and landscaping bring together the imagination of the late artist Sol Lewitt with a desire to expand the museum outside its doors.
Thirty years ago, American artist Sol LeWitt was installing one of his large works at the museum when he was invited to think about a spot within the vast expanse of the Fairmount Park system. It was a place where his minimalist concepts would be open to the uninitiated, the general public. He came up with a sketch, a diagram of sorts, said landscape designer and botanist Susan Weiler.
“And the drawing is 24 by 18 with very little description of what it was but a summary of the intent,” Weiler said.
Philadelphia Museum of Art Director Timothy Rub explained that didn’t make it easy carry out LeWitt’s vision.
“In this case, he said, ‘Do lines in four directions in four colors, white, yellow, blue and red,’ and he adds, in order to figure out how to do the garden, consult a competent horticulturist,” Rub said. “I think he had no idea of how complicated this would be.”
And so it was very complicated. A whole team of architects, landscapers, gardeners, art historians and computer programmers was assembled to bring the project Lewitt named “Lines In Four Directions in Flowers” to life.
Weiler, a partner with the planning and landscaping firm Olin, said she used some of LeWitt’s texts to find guidance and inspiration.
“The concept and idea are different,” she said. “The former implies a general direction, while the latter is a component. Ideas implement the concept. There are many elements involved in a work of art … the most important are the most obvious.”
Now, as the garden officially opens to the public, it seems so naturally integrated with the landscape that it’s hard to imagine it wasn’t always there.
Public art at its best
It’s all a function of place, landscape, geology and beauty, said Norman Keyes, a geography and history enthusiast who is also the museum’s director of communications.
“That garden, this garden, the garden back there. You’ve been in those gardens and pathways, among the rocks,” Keyes said. “That’s just astonishing. “This whole hill here is the beginning of the Piedmonts to the west. Right here is where it all begins.”
This is public art at its best, says Penny Balkin Bach, director of the newly renamed Association of Public Art, which used to be the Fairmount Park Art Association.
She commissioned the work from LeWitt in 1981. After 30 years of planning, getting permits and fostering strong collaborations, she is all smiles.
“Typically, he creates an idea, a drawing, and he leaves instructions for its execution, which I think, when you think about it, it’s an ultimate completion of the circle,” Balkin Bach said.
LeWitt envisioned a garden that would change meaning and message with every season. He imagined the lines in winter where snow would rule the designs, or spring and summer where exuberant beauty would dominate.
“Lines in Four Directions in Flowers” will remain open to pedestrians and joggers and revelers for the next two years. After that, who knows what nature will decide to do.
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