Depositions

Catherine Seavitt Nordenson is a professor and director of the Master of Landscape Architecture program at the City College of New York. is an associate professor at the City College of New York. She coauthored On the Water: Palisade Bay and coedited Waterproofing New York.

Depositions offers an understanding of Burle Marx beyond his gardens and parks; it is a solid introduction to both his work and Brazil's quest to establish its cultural identity. (Architectural Record) Catherine [Seavitt] Nordenson’s book, Depositions: Roberto Burle Marx and Public Landscapes under Dictatorship, is a crucial contribution as it reveals Burle Marx’s systematic role as a government councilor defending cultural and environmental preservation. . . . The architectural field in itself has scarcely been historicized and analyzed in its nuances and complexities in the period of the military dictatorship in Brazil. Nordenson’s work is highly relevant in its approach to acknowledging the role of architects in the policy-making debate, going beyond their landscape design. Such an approach moves towards recognizing historical subjects for more than the cultural products they create. (caa.reviews) Depositions is a well-researched, well-written, and laudatory study that substantially adds to, and significantly amends, our view of Burle Marx as a landscape architect and cultural figure. (Landscape Journal) [Depositions] presents [Burle Marx’s] pieces, or depositions, in English for the first time. It also stands alone as the first collection and republication of these texts since they appeared in three journals issued by Ministry of Education and Culture: Cultura, Boletim, and Revista Brasileira de Cultura. But Nordenson’s book goes far beyond that, as it tries to elucidate other instances and circles where Burle Marx was also active in questioning a process of modernization/development that has always cost Brazil profound environmental destruction. . . . It might not be exaggerated, then, to see in Burle Marx’s remarks essential reading for anyone who is interested not only in landscape design, but also in the science and politics of living on Earth. (Architecture Beyond Europe Journal) [Depositions] opens new perspectives on Burle Marx's work, revealing facets of his celebrated projects and legacy that too often go unspoken…This seminal book will enable greater understanding not only of Burle Max's position as a designer operating under dictatorial conditions but also of the convoluted circumstances underlying Brazil's modern architectural history. (Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians) [Depositions] sheds new light on Burle Marx's intellectual position and serves as a valuable map of the local sociopolitical context, in its complexities and contradictions since colonial times. (ABE Journal)

• Introduction: Roberto Burle Marx and the Ecological ModernChapter 1. Constructing Culture in Brazil: Politics and the Public LandscapeChapter 2. Forest Narratives Brazilian Landscapes, April 27, 1967Suggestions for the Preservation of National Parks, August 1967Forest Politics and the Destruction of Forests, March 25, 1969Forest Conservation, February 12, 1971Chapter 3. Landscapes of the Baroque Interior Parks, Gardens, and Public Plazas, May 23, 1968Cultural Contribution, November 28, 1968Defense of Nature Reserves, June 27, 1969Defense of the Landscape, August 25, 1969Chapter 4. Large Parks, Statues, and Disfigurement Statues in Gardens, August 29, 1968Sacrificed Landscape, January 28, 1969Preservation of Landscape Conditions, September 17, 1970Landscape Complex, July 7, 1973Green Spaces, July 11, 1973Chapter 5. The Scientific Park Current Conditions at the Botanical Garden, February 7, 1968The Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro, September 27, 1968The Botanical Garden and Woodland Nursery, August 26, 1969The Botanical Garden of Belo Horizonte, May 6, 1970Chapter 6. Military Gardens Garden and Ecology, July–September 1969Epilogue: The CounselorAcknowledgmentsNotesIndex