ARCHITECTURAL EXTRAVAGANZAS
FOLLIES OF NORTH AMERICA
Photographs by NIC BARLOW
Text by ERIC HASKELL
Follies – extravagant or fanciful buildings serving artistic expression more than practicality – thrived in the designed landscapes created for the grand houses of Western Europe and with wealth rapidly extended to America.
The United States is rich in folly material; there has always been a yearning for a place of pleasure and for a refuge from the humdrum of daily life. The building of Follies is not restricted to the preserve
of the rich aristocrats. People from every walk of life have escaped into their own private world to produce wonderful fantastical statements – from Hearst Castle to Watts Tower and Nikki de StPhalle.
Although the genre is considered amusing, in this book the subject is considered as being a reflection of both the personalities that created these fanciful garden delights as the times that they lived in; from the construction of Henry Shaw’s Pavilions in Tower Grove Park, St Louis, Missouri to the present day, all have been stamped by a common thread – the creative expression of an individual.
NIC BARLOW's early work included a student project to record the real life of Eton College while studying Graphics at The Bath Academy of Art. This resulted in the first of his books, Eton Days (Lund Humphries), which was published in 1976. Nic's photographs have since appeared in The Sunday Times, the World of Interiors. Vogue Homes (France), Tatler, Harpers & Queen, the Telegraph Colour Magazine and Newsweek. His other books include: Celebration of Champagne (Mitchell Beazley), Border Ballads (Macmillan), Chatsworth: The Estate (Macmillan), Follies & Fantasies (Abrams) , Follies of Europe: Architectural Extravaganzas (The Garden Press, Citadelles et Mazenod) and Little-Known Museums In and Around London (Abrams).
ERIC HASKELL is a Professor of French Studies and Humanities at Scripps College, where he is also the Director of the Clark Humanities Museum. He received his PhD in French Literature from the University of California, Irvine. Haskell also studied Art History and Architecture in the graduate program at UCI and at the École du Louvre in Paris. Dr Haskell has curated over a dozen exhibits including: ‘Privileged Precincts: The Pavilions and Gardens of Marly’ and ‘The Désert de Retz: A Late Eighteenth-Century French Folly Garden’.
His book Le Nôtre Gardens accompanied the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA. In 2007, his book Les Jardins de Brécy: Le Paradis Retrouvé was published in Paris by Les Éditions du Huitième Jour both in French and English editions.
Previously published in English, French and German, Follies of Europe: Architectural Extravaganzas, which covered 11 Western European countries.
In production: Architectural Extravaganzas: Follies of Eastern Europe covering: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine.