‘Brazilian Modern” The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx,’ NYBG Installation (June 8-September 29) (Carole Di Tosti)

The New York Botanical Garden is perhaps the most exotic and forward-thinking, theatrical living museum of plants and one of the most magnificent green spaces in all of New York City rivaled only by Central Park. In presenting their largest botanical exhibition ever from June 8 -September 29, 2019,  the New York Botanical Garden has achieved a seamless meld with a globally renowned, award-winning Brazilian  modernist artist, Roberto Burle Marx (1909-1994).

‘Brazilian Modern” The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx,’ NYBG Installation (June 8-September 29) (Carole Di Tosti)

For this wonderful exhibit, members get to go free on Friday, Member’s Day. See links below to the symposium on Friday.

The influential Brazilian modernist, landscape architect, plant explorer and cultural giant, is deserving of a celebration of his prodigious design work which features examples of the lush gardens he created throughout Brazil and the world. His unique and innovative modernist perspective gave birth to thousands of landscapes and private gardens, including the famous curving mosaic walkways at Copacabana Beach in Rio.The exhibition exemplifies every aspect of his artistry with a curated gallery of his eye-poppying paintings, drawings and textiles.

‘Brazilian Modern” The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx,’ Untitled, 1970 by Roberto Burle Marx, Acrylic on canvas, NYBG Installation, LuEsther Mertz Art Gallery (June 8-September 29) (Carole Di Tosti)

The amazing Burle Marx was a maverick in highlighting the importance of environmental preservation and particularly exotic plant species some found only in Amazonia a good part of which is in Brazil. In the NYBG horticultural tribute to Marx, the exhibition team pulled in experts like Raymond Jungles (FASLA) his protégé who personally knew Marx and worked with him, and those like Edward J. Sullivan, Ph.D., the Helen Gould Shepard Professor of Art History and Deputy Director, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University,  who has studied Marx extensively and who continues to write about him.

Edward J. Sullivan, Ph.D., the Helen Gould Shepard Professor of Art History and Deputy Director, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, ‘Brazilian Modern” The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx,’ NYBG Installation (June 8-September 29) (Carole Di Tosti)

‘Brazilian Modern” The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx,’ NYBG Installation (June 8-September 29) Raymond Jungles (white hat) foreground/ bottom of the photo with his design behind him (Carole Di Tosti)

Jungles used his expertise and personal experience working with Marx to design the exotic tropical feel and immense grandeur of the installations revealed in three stages of the exhibition. The first is the Modernist Garden with striking, patterned paths that lead through extensive curvilinear planting beds to an open plaza with a reflecting pool backdropped by a wall. This wall design is inspired by a Burle Marx installation in the Banco Safra headquarters in São Paulo. The entire vibrant black, white and grey walkway and colorful, sweeping plantings are framed by spectacular palm trees that tower to their natural heights, many contributed by Jungles’ own personal collection.

Explorer’s Garden ‘Brazilian Modern” The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx,’ NYBG Installation (June 8-September 29) (Carole Di Tosti)

The Explorer’s Garden in the conservatory showcase (not the Palms of the World Gallery whose dome is being refurbished) features the tropical rain forest plants among Burle Marx’s favorites as a bone fide “plant nerde.” These include those he adored, particular exotics which he constantly used in his installations to inform Brazilians about the natural world’s smackdown of diversity in their home country. With this he was constantly building up Brazilian’s sense of home pride.

Water Garden, ‘Brazilian Modern” The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx,’ NYBG Installation (June 8-September 29) (Carole Di Tosti)

Water Garden, Staghorn Ferns-a Burle Marx favorite, ‘Brazilian Modern” The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx,’ NYBG Installation (June 8-September 29) (Carole Di Tosti)

Bromeliads-a Burle Marx favorite, Water Garden, ‘Brazilian Modern” The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx,’ NYBG Installation (June 8-September 29) (Carole Di Tosti)

The Water Garden evinces Burle Marx’s use of plants from a wide variety of tropical regions in his Brazilian designs and throughout the world. The reflecting pool is the natural habitat of temperate water lilies which are blooming in the variety of pastel colors. And it will include the more exotic water lilies that only basque in warm waters of Florida and the equatorial regions; these are of darker purple hues, etc.

‘Brazilian Modern” The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx,’ NYBG Installation (June 8-September 29) (Carole Di Tosti)

Making tiles to display, a la Roberto Burle Marx, ‘Brazilian Modern” The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx,’ NYBG Installation (June 8-September 29) (Carole Di Tosti)

Burle Marx’s Art and Garden Lifestyle Philosophy are extensively covered through film, and exhibits of his paintings, drawings, textiles and more all inspired by Brazilian culture. You will find this extensive exhibit in the Art Gallery and on the fourth floor of the LuEsther T. Mertz Library. This section of the exhibit reflects his work from the final 30 years of his career from 1964 to his death in 1994) and shows not only his evolution as a person but also as a titan who beautifully integrated all the finest of the cultural and wholistic elements of an individual rooted in every aspect of his country’s well being. In this section you will see the apotheosis of Burle Marx, the print maker, ecologist, naturalist, artist and musician as well as innovator whose modernist landscape architecture whose designs of parks and gardens lifted Brazil’s reputation and culture as an important contributor on the international scene.

‘Brazilian Modern” The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx,’ NYBG Installation (June 8-September 29) (Carole Di Tosti)

Engaging public programming showcases the sights and sounds of Brazil and its lively contributions to music and dance evoking Rio de Janeiro, the “Cidade Maravilhosa” (“Wonderful City”) that Roberto Burle Marx called home and inspired his life and work. Expect to experience the dances, music, foods of Brazil at the NYBG for the length of the exhibition which runs from June 8 through September 29, 2019.

Untitled (1968) by Roberto Burle Marx, Acrylic and industrial dye on fabric,’Brazilian Modern” The Living Art of Roberto Burle Marx,’ NYBG Installation (June 8-September 29) (Carole Di Tosti)

Details about the exhibition’s diverse and engaging schedule of public programming for all ages is available here:

https://www.nybg.org/content/uploads/2019/06/NYBG_Brazilian_Modern_02_Programming.pdf

Information about the Brazilian Modern Interactive Mobile Guide, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, is available here:

https://www.nybg.org/content/uploads/2019/06/NYBG_Brazilian_Modern_03_InteractiveMobileGuide.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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New York Botanical Garden, 2900 Southern Blvd, Bronx, NY 10458 United States

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