The article proposes a discussion on the process that engendered, in the West, the invention of a compositional formula that represented “the Chinese Garden”, from the nineteenth century onward. Without focusing on the widely known influence of chinoiserie in the construction of a Western idea of the exotic, it will discuss nineteenth-century Western travellers’ accounts of the gardens of China. Supporting the simplified visual image proposed by the willow pattern, verbal accounts contributed to the creation of a stereotyped idea of Chinese gardens based on the repetition of a few iconic elements. The article also discusses how, this popular Western image of an ideal “Chinese garden” has inspired, in more recent years, the design of Chinese-style gardens built outside China.

The Invention of the Chinese Garden: From Western Perception to the Construction of a Global Identity / Rinaldi, BIANCA MARIA. - In: DIE GARTENKUNST. - ISSN 0935-0519. - STAMPA. - 28:2(2016), pp. 257-270.

The Invention of the Chinese Garden: From Western Perception to the Construction of a Global Identity

RINALDI, BIANCA MARIA
2016

Abstract

The article proposes a discussion on the process that engendered, in the West, the invention of a compositional formula that represented “the Chinese Garden”, from the nineteenth century onward. Without focusing on the widely known influence of chinoiserie in the construction of a Western idea of the exotic, it will discuss nineteenth-century Western travellers’ accounts of the gardens of China. Supporting the simplified visual image proposed by the willow pattern, verbal accounts contributed to the creation of a stereotyped idea of Chinese gardens based on the repetition of a few iconic elements. The article also discusses how, this popular Western image of an ideal “Chinese garden” has inspired, in more recent years, the design of Chinese-style gardens built outside China.
2016
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11583/2672649
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