- Rendez-vous de l'Institut
- Conference
Russell Page, un grand paysagiste européen du XXe siècle by Dominique MASSON – Château de Bénouville
Russell Page, a major 20th century European landscaper
Russell Page was born in 1906 and died in 1985, in England. But what a breathtaking career he enjoyed, across the globe and throughout the 20th century: landscaped gardens, formal gardens, Mediterranean gardens, Moresque gardens… he is a history of garden art in his own right! After spending his childhood in the English countryside, he created a number of gardens in different European countries, first of all in France (Paris region, Normandy, Côte d’Azur), then in Italy, Belgium and Spain. Before embarking on any creation, he immersed himself in the ‘genius of the site’, then he expressed his own, unique style, made of elegance and clean lines, in a composition that was always generous with flowers. In 1962, he published The Education of a Gardener, a sort of professional autobiography. He was called upon the world over, in the United States in particular.
This conference aims at bringing his work, which has influenced many contemporary landscapers, to the attention of the general public.
Dominique Masson
Dominique Masson graduated with a literary master’s degree and a master’s degree in ‘Historic gardens, heritage and landscape’ at the University Panthéon-Sorbonne / National School of Architecture – Versailles, under Monique Mosser’s direction. Her dissertation (2004) focused on Russell Page. She works at the Centre-Val de Loire Regional Cultural Affairs Directorate, where she has accomplished a number of missions. As a garden consultant, she implements government policy on gardens, in particular the ‘Jardin remarquable’ (Remarkable Garden) quality label which defines the finest gardens in France, the influence of which can stretch beyond national frontiers and the ‘Rendez-vous aux jardins’ (Garden encounters) which are now organised on a European scale. She is a member of the jury at the International Garden Festival held in Chaumont sur Loire. She is also in charge of the regional implementation of two Unesco conventions:
– World Heritage (1972),
– Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003).