Describing the Glenstone Museum
From 鈥溾 in the Sept. 30 Arts & Style section and the Sept. 30 Washington Post Magazine cover article 鈥,鈥 we learn a great deal about Glenstone Museum, its patrons and the artists whose work they collect, the architect of the new addition, the designers of the benches and even the identity of the tree movers. However, the identity of the artist behind what is arguably the largest work of art 鈥 the 230-acre campus 鈥 is nowhere to be found. This failure to recognize the landscape architect 鈥 in this case PWP Landscape Architecture, which has been involved with the museum since 2003 鈥 is all too common. Often, it鈥檚 because architecture-centric media 鈥 which focus on and fetishize 鈥渢he building鈥 鈥 do the reporting. But in the case of the Arts & Style article, one of the two authors is The Post鈥檚 gardening writer Adrian Higgins. (To his credit, Philip Kennicott鈥檚 Sept. 22 front-page Critic鈥檚 Notebook, 鈥淎t Glenstone, fresh space as artful as its collection,鈥 recognized PWP.) It would seem that Glenstone鈥檚 landscape architecture is as integral to the museum visitor鈥檚 experience as the buildings that house the artwork. The Arts & Style article said the landscape鈥檚 鈥渘atural design belies the extensive earthwork and planting of the site to soften the presence of new buildings that total almost a quarter-million square feet of space.鈥 That tough job of making nature look natural comes from carefully shaping and sculpting the land and a deft understanding of visual and spatial relationships 鈥 that鈥檚 part of the art of landscape architecture.
Fortunately, this was corrected with Mr. Higgins鈥檚 Oct. 3 Critic鈥檚 Notebook, 鈥溾 [Style], a lengthy feature on the landscape architecture and its landscape architect.
Charles A. Birnbaum, Washington