Mirrors of Paradise: The Gardens of Fernando Caruncho
Paris-based photographer Laurence Toussaint has masterfully captured the understated elegance of master designer Caruncho's Spanish gardens with images as perfectly composed as the gardens themselves. Ferns nestled along a woodland path soothe with verdant tranquility. Ochre courtyard walls explode with fiery brilliance. Birds'-eye views of expansive vistas reveal intricate designs. If Caruncho's name is relatively unknown outside his native Spain, all that is about to change with Cooper and Taylor's monograph, the first, which introduces Caruncho in an in-depth interview, and interprets his gardens, which range from imposing country estates to confined urban spaces. Caruncho's creations manifest a fascination with landscape design borne from his first love, philosophy. Influenced by the ancient Greeks, whose gardens were mystical places intended to attract the gods, Caruncho translates these grand ideals into gardens on an equally grand scale. Page by page, the viewer is drawn into Caruncho's world of serenity and harmony, grandeur and grace. And it seems as though the gods would, indeed, be pleased.Carol HaggasCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved