 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Read the most recent review of Drawn to Landscape in Landscape Architecture Magazine. (click for pdf) |
|
"At last a tribute worthy of the man—J. B. Jackson, landscape scholar, historian, and moralist, whose virtue as author and human being is hard to capture, since, as author, he showed not only a fondness of, but an admiration for even parking lots and shopping malls and, as a human being, he, for all his friendliness and even affection toward "ordinary" people, could be brusque and even dismissive of all who showed pretentiousness or were mere followers of a fashionable trend. That Drawn to Landscape so brilliantly succeeds owes much to its perceptive authors, the video documentary (that is part of the limited hardcover edition), and, above all, to the dedication of its editors and publisher."
|
|
|
"The editors of Drawn to Landscape have marshaled a work as rich and robust as the 'vernacular landscape' that J. B. Jackson cherished and about which he spent a lifetime sharing with others—especially its meaning and value—so that we might see our common humanity when we learn how to look. The scope and majesty of this collection of Jacksonian 'data,' like Jackson's decades of essays, reveals just how much meaning one can make of everyday things. The book is a tour de force." "Just as J. B. Jackson opened our eyes to the riches of the ordinary landscape around us, this volume, through the stories and images from those who knew him well, opens our eyes to the man behind the compelling essays, photographs, watercolors, and drawings of his beloved landscape." |
| "J. B. Jackson took a good word—landscape—and made it better. In many ways, he returned landscape to its Dutch roots: more than a view, it is a place shaped through the interaction of nature and culture. And, as Drawn to Landscape illustrates, Jackson read and interpreted landscapes with a special set of eyes. A master essayist, Jackson also possessed a great acumen in drawing, painting, and photographing the landscapes of everyday life, which this book's many illustrations display. The raw beauty of Jackson's drawings and watercolors and the clarity of his photographs complement and enhance his prescient prose. Drawn to Landscape is a wonderful book that makes a really significant contribution, presenting firsthand insights into Jackson's multifaceted, revelatory work." —Frederick R. Steiner, Dean, School of Architecture at the University of Texas, Austin, and author and editor of more than a dozen books, including Human Ecology: Following Nature's Lead and The Living Landscape: An Ecological Approach to Landscape Planning |
 |
|
"In publishing Drawn to Landscape, George F. Thompson has produced an enduring summary of J. B. Jackson's extraordinary work and life. This book gives us insight into Jackson's singular world, chiefly with the help of his drawings, watercolors, and photographs. Drawn to Landscape shows us why "Mr. Jackson" refused to allow acolytes to follow closely in his footsteps, forcing us, instead, to rely on our own eyes, to develop our own precepts. 'What good would it do,' he asked, 'to turn my words into tropes? Add something, don't repeat what's already there!'" —John W. Sinton, Emeritus Professor of Environmental Studies at Stockton University and Adjunct Professor of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and co-author of Water, Earth, and Fire: Land Use and Environmental Planning in the New Jersey Pine Barrens |
"This wonderful book, Drawn to Landscape, is an intellectual biography of Mr. J. B. Jackson, one of America's most insightful observers of the ways people create living landscapes by drawing ideas and inspiration from their cultures and environments. Mr. Jackson founded and for many years edited the journal Landscape. This journal, together with Mr. Jackson's other essays, books, sketches, watercolors, and photographs, profoundly influenced popular writing and scholarly research on landscape topics across a broad range of disciplines. "Recorded and written by colleagues who knew him best, this book offers penetrating insights into how Mr. Jackson taught himself to see and think about landscape and how he came to understand people and their engagement in the process of a landscape's construction. Mr. Jackson celebrated the vernacular landscape, in part because he was sympathetic to those aspects of life that were egalitarian and unregulated and in part because common things were not stilted by studied design principles and marketing psychology but honestly reflected peoples' values and priorities. "As an ever-curious traveler, Mr. Jackson gathered information and insights through informal interviews with local people and synthesized his observations through notes, sketches, watercolors, and photography. This book reproduces many of his photographs and artwork giving the reader the rare privilege of seeing landscape through his skilled hand and insightful mind. Readers of this book and present and future students of landscape are indebted to the editors, contributors, and publisher for this masterful commentary on Mr. Jackson's experiences and the insights the book provides into the development of a master observer and chronicler of the American scene." |
|
 |
"Drawn to Landscape is a superb tribute to a man who has profoundly affected thinking in a range of disciplines. Brinck Jackson's stunning and powerful sketches and his broad scope of documentation with color slides are vividly portrayed as a telling embodiment of an unusually acute and innovative mind. These images and those he produced for Landscape magazine are given a revealing context by a group of distinguished scholars. The contents are engrossing for those of us fortunate enough to have known Jackson and for anyone with a serious interest in the shaping of the environment. Drawn to Landscape is essential reading." —Richard Longstreth, Professor of American Studies, George Washington University, and the author of numerous acclaimed books, including The American Department Store Transformed, Road Trip: Roadside America, from Custard's Last Stand to the Wigwam Restaurant, and Looking beyond the Icons: Midcentury Architecture, Landscape, and Urbanism |
