Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) is widely recognized as the founder of American landscape architecture and the nation's foremost parkmaker. His first, his most loved, and in many ways he's best known work was his design of Central Park in New York city (1858-1876) with his partner Calvert Vaux (1824-1895). But he would go on to have a significant influence in the way cities and communities are built with the idea of nature and parks around us. He is one of the first to put forth the principles of the City Beautiful Movement in America. He was also one of the first to introduce the idea of suburban development to the American landscape.  

"My campaign here announces itself ominously," Sargent wrote in May of 1895 when he arrived at the Biltmore to paint the venerable landscape artist and the architect Richard Morris Hunt,  "— both wives prove to me that I must imagine thus that their husbands look at all like what they look like at present — totally different really . . ."  

Olmsted was in very poor health -- though his use of the cane actually came from a riding accident he suffered as a younger man when he was working on Central park from which he never fully recovered.  Olmsted  had been at Biltmore since February of '95. He had plans for leaving earlier but Vanderbilt had asked him to stay on so Sargent could paint him. The firm which he had built up, now had his sons working for him and his reputation was known internationally. There was very real concern about the health of the company being so tied to Olmsted Sr. The family (we now know) was in a bit of a panic and the trouble that Sargent was getting from Olmsted's wife was in weighing all these considerations. It was far more than just vanity. Their children were working for the firm and Olmsted's reputation at being able to carry on under failing health was at risk (he was beginning to lose his mind to dementia - and would sadly, later  have to be institutionalized where he eventually died) They themselves didn't understand what was happening and she didn't want a portrait of his weaker moments displayed publicly to all of Olmsted's clients and possible future clients. The livelihood of their entire family was at risk. 

Sargent wouldn't have known this. No one but the closest to the family would have. Unlike Hunt's portrait, this one is a bit more successful. Still, Sargent struggles with an imagined scene -- which is something so totally foreign to his method of painting. You can see he draws inspiration from what he did with Madame Edouard Pailleron in '79 -- the use of leafs surrounding a standing figure. The forest in Olmsted's case, is imagined. The grounds at Biltmore were nothing but saplings. Still, Sargent pulls it off relatively well putting the man of trees and flower leaning on his cane (which was very much his signature) among dogwood, laurel, and rhododendron. 

Fatigued, Olmsted left with his wife before the portrait was finished and his son stepped into his coat to finish modeling for Sargent.  You can almost feel the frustration of Sargent in dealing with the situation. In both cases, Hunt and Olmsted, both men appear more "flat" than most of his other work, and clearly shows Sargent's  inability to paint beyond what he sees. 

Studying people like John S. Sargent is inspiring to be sure, but there is a certain disconnect between the reality of life that I understand and the kind of life that Sargent and people like him seem to live. Though laudable, I never could fully relate to people that knew at an early age exactly what they wanted to do in life, and with blinders on to any other distractions, could pursue their objectives with a singular of purpose and determination.  If people like Sargent are to be our only model of excellence, then there is a great number of us that are already doomed. Olmsted wasn't like that. He was one of us. In a time in history when men were often deep into what ever line of work before they were even twenty (Women? well, we won't even talk about their expectations or lack thereof), Olmsted floundered in life searching and unsure until he was well into his thirties. He suffered serious and deep periods of depression, and moments of self doubt. He was saddled with debt from one failed attempt after another (though he paid every penny even though he wasn't legally bound). 

The thing I like most about Olmsted is that he was profoundly human. And it's that which is so  impressive about him. You see, even after failing in life repeatedly in other endeavors he reached the pinnacle of his profession. Remarkably, landscape architecture for Olmsted was a fallback. It was something he did as a job here and there and as a hobby. It was something he never really considered viable until much later. 

What Olmsted did share in common with Sargent was the relentless energy of hard work. Both spent long hours of seeing a project through to completion. Both men were opinionated,  well read and intellectual. Both knew exactly what they wanted to accomplish -- though the struggle in getting there might have been intense.  And probably one of the most important things (besides the hard work) they both had the knack at networking with influential people that could open doors for them in the future. 

Like any highly successful artist, he had a vision of of what needed to be done and an iron will to see it come to fruition. He was a genius when it came to organization and was able to sort an incredible amounts of details into a clear and concise plan. (In the case of Central Park, there were as many as 3,600 workers to oversee at its height and something like over 300,000 specific trees and bushes to be planted, a lake to be built and grading -- remember there were no bulldozers and they did it by hand or with horse drawn machinery.) He had difficulty dealing with people that didn't see his vision, and on more than one occasion would simply walk away from a project when he came to loggerheads with his employers. 

He started his professional life with a brief stint as a surveyor, but found he didn't suit him. He spent a year as a seaman on a merchant ship to China but was disillusioned by the cruelty and harshness of the life.  From the love of horticulture he developed from one of his tutors (he never had any formal schooling - not too unusual for that period of time) and with the financial help of his father (who was upper middle class), he bought a farm on Staten Island with the intent of getting  into professional farming. He studied everything, writing papers for journals but the venture was unrewarding. He traveled to England and took walking tour to study the farming and became captivated by the public parks he saw. On his return, his farm was mostly unsuccessful, even after starting a tree nursery. He found himself detached from an intellectual community that he wanted to be apart of and distracted by his other interests.  He had sat in on lectures at Yale University, though he didn't have the time to formally enroll. He was intensely interested in the slavery issue that was ripping the country apart prior to the war. He was an abolitionist (a pragmatic moderate at first which hardened later) and  traveled to the south as a correspondent for the northern papers (New York Times and others) writing about the plantations and the economy that were based on the backs of slaves. He bundled his papers and writings into a weighty tome (something like this essay is turning into) and called it "A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States with Remarks on Their Economy" which would be the first of three books on the south -- all critically praised but economically flopped.  

From his writings he became noticed in the literary world and was asked to join a new magazine as the  managing editor for Putnam's which was a monthly -- similar to Harpers. He threw himself into it totally and loved his work but inner disagreement of the partners and growing financial problems of the magazine, along with fledgling subscriptions led to total financial ruin. Friends of Olmsted that had invested in the venture were saddled with debt which he felt duty bound (though not lawfully) to repay. 

Again adrift, he was approached by a political friend from his connections and writings on the abolitionist issues and farming, he got an "inside track" to be the superintendent in charge of a workforce building a new public park in New York city. The park was to be named Central Park -- the year was 1857. He was 35 years old.  

Needing the money badly, he jumped at the chance. When the city opened a competition for design of the park, the new superintendent (Olmsted) was approached by an architect Calvert Vaux to partner in a design for the competition (Vaux, by the way would design the first Metropolitan Museum of Art building 1874-1880). Working together on a joint proposal they won. Together, Vaux and Olmsted worked and oversaw the construction of the new park, but continual political battles in maintaining the integrity of their plan and fights over patronage and other issues came to ahead by 1861 (the start of the war). Having seen much of it to completion Olmsted was ready to quit. 

Staying on as an advisory position for Central park, he got appointed general secretary to the United States Sanitary Commission (which was somewhat similar to what the Red Cross is today). The pay wasn't great but it was important to the war effort and he felt a personal need to contribute. Like always, he threw himself totally into his efforts and brought praise from many quarters on his logistical skills and management. As the war dragged on he saw a need to fully revamp the managerial structure of the commission, but his plans were throttled by political interests and he felt hamstrung and resigned. 

With no income, still in debt, he was approached by the largest gold mining company in California. The firm under new ownership in New York was losing money with some of the richest reserves of gold. They clearly needed a man of Olmsted's managerial skills to go and straighten out the mess. Though it would take him away from the war effort and his involvement in public life, he needed the money, and at a handsome salary, he took it. 

In California he fell in love with the country. Got himself appointed to the Yosemitie Commission by the governor and quickly became a key figure designing the plan and management of the new park essentially leaving it as untouched as possible. He was approached about designing an ambitious and visionary new city boulevard system for bustling San Francisco -- a city bursting at the seams from the gold rush. He designed the plan but it failed in the election because of its ultimate cost and lack of shared vision. All of this was on the side of running one of the largest mining companies.  

Through hard work, he turned a company around from losing money into profitable venture. He was able to pay off his personal debts; but on the cusp of really achieving something he was haunted yet again by forces out of his control. Only when the sheriff appeared at his office to impound the company's assets did he learn the owners back in New York were embezzling the profits and had defaulted on a note. With thousands of workers jobs at risk, he begged for time,  scrambled desperately, pleading in cables to New York for help. Upon his own integrity and good will with local creditors and without any assistance from New York, he renegotiated the debt to be paid directly out of company earnings -- bypassed New York. Olmsted found himself running the whole show with no guidance from his employers. Utterly cutoff, the company with disastrous debts, the owners self absorbed in bickering and entanglements of one lawsuit after another, and with no real chance of ever being further paid himself, he fell into one of his crippling depressions.  

Things looked pretty bleak. 

His friend Calvert Vaux begged with him to return to New York to form an independent landscape partnership. Olmsted couldn't see it making any money and told him he would hang on in California for another six months hoping for the best.  

The best never came. Staying longer than most people would without pay, at the end of six months he turned it  over to the creditors and walked away.  

Another failed adventure. He was 43 years old. 

"The enjoyment of scenery employs the mind without fatigue and yet exercises it, tranquilizes it and yet enlivens it; and thus, through the influence of the mind over the body, gives the effect of refreshing rest and reinvigoration of the whole system."  
-- Fredrick Law Olmsted 
(quoted in A Clearing In the Distance, p. 258)  

The Vanderbelt landscaping commission for Olmsted started in 1891 and would continue beyond Olmsted's death and until 1909. It was a huge undertaking and at the same time he was working on a number of other projects  

With the help of his sons who would succeed him: John Charles and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (the latter would become just as influential as his father -- even leading to some confusion for me as the younger Olmsted would eventually drop the "Jr." from his name) the Olmsted Firm between 1857 and 1950 would leave a thumbprint on America that is as profound today as when they envisioned it on the draft boards of their offices. From the master list of drawing projects the firm participated, in some way, in 5,500 projects.  

Their remarkable farsighted vision touching, molding, nurturing some of the most profoundly beautiful public and private spaces in America. It seems that no matter where an Americans lives, the perception of  their environment has been touched, in some way, by Frederick Law Olmsted. 

A Very short list of selected Olmsted Projects: 

Frederick Law Olmsted with his partner Calvert Vaux 
 

1858-1876	Central Park, New York
1860-1874	Hartford Retreat for the Insane, Hartford Conn
1865	College of California, Berkley, Calif
1866	Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, Washington DC
1865-1895	Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY
1867	Seaside Park, Bridgeport, Conn.
1867-1873	Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
1867-1886	Fort Green Park, Brooklyn, NY
1868	Parade Ground, Kings County, Brooklyn, NY
1868	Tompkins Park, Brooklyn, NY
1868-1874	Eastern and Ocean Parkways, Brooklyn, NY
1868-1887	Riverside residential community, Ill
1886-1889	Riverside Park, New York city
1868-1915	Delaware Park, The Parade, and the Front, Buffalo, NY
1869-1871	Walnut Hill Park, New Britain, Conn.
1870-1872	Tarry Heights residential community, NY
1870-1895	South Park, Chicago, Ill
1869-1871	Walnut Hill Park, New Britain Conn.
1870-1872	Tarrytown Heights residential community, N.Y.
1870-1895	South Park, Chicago, Ill.
1870-1914	South Park, Falls River, Mass.
1870-1920	Donwing Park, Newburgh, N.Y.
1871	New York State Asylum for the Insane, Buffalo, N.Y.
1876-1889	Morningside Park, New York, N.Y.
1879-1895	State Reservation at Niagara Falls, N.Y.

Frederick Law Olmsted alone 
 

1864-1865	Mountaub View Cemetery, Oakland Calif.
1865-1867	San Francisco Public Grounds, Calif.
1870-1888	Staten Island Improvement Commission, Staten Island, N.Y
1872-1875	McLean Asylum grounds, Waverley, Mass.
1872-1886	Parkside subdivision, Buffalo, N.Y.
1872-1894	Trinity College, Hartford, Conn.
1873-1893	Mount Royal Park, Montreal, Canada
1873	Tacoma Land Company, Tacoma, Wash.
1874-1881	Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
1875-1878	Twenty-Third & Twenty-Fourth Wards, New York, N.Y.
1875-1894	U.S. Capitol Grounds, Washington, D.C.
1878-1920	Back Bay Fens, Boston, Mass
1879-1897	Arnold Arboretum, Boston, Mass
1889-1893	Muddy River Improvement, Boston, Mass
1881-1884	Bridgeport Parks, Bridgeport, Conn.
1881-1895	Belle Isle, Detroit, Mich
1881-1921	Franklin Park, Boston, Mass.
1883-1901	Lawrencevillle School, Lawrenceville, N.J.

Fredrick Law Olmsted with John Charles Olmsted (stepson) and Henry Sargent Codman (+1893) partner 
 

1884-1892	Brookline Hill subdivision, Brookline, Mass.
1866-1914	Standford University, Palo Alto, Calif.
1866-1890	Planter's Hill and World's End subdivision, Hingham, Mass
1887-1896	Wilmington Parks, Wilmington, Del.
1888-1893	World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, Ill.
1890-1895	Essex County Parks, Essex County, N.J.
1890-1906	National Zoooligical Park, Washington, D.C.
1890-1912	Genesee Valley Park, Rochester, N.Y.
1891-1895	Louisville Parks, Louisville, Ken.
1891-1909	Biltmore Estate, Asheville, N.C.
1891-1909	Smith College, Northampton, Mass.
1892-1894	Bloomingdale Asylum, White Plains, N.Y.
1892-1905	Druid Hills residential community, Atlanta, Ga.
1893-1895	Wood Island Park, Boston, Mass.

The firm without Olmsted Sr.: Charles Eliot (+1897), John Charles Olmsted (1920+), and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr.  
 

1895-1899	Washington University, St. Louis, Mo
1895-1912	Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, Canada
1895-1927	Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mar, Penn.
1896-1922	Mount Hoyoke College, South Hadley, Mass.
1896-1932	Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
1897-1914	Roland Park, Baltimore, Md.
1897-1924	Audubon Park, New Orleans, La.
1900-1906	Brown University, Providence, R.I.
1901-1910	University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill.
1901-1930	Seattle Parks, Seattle, Wash.
1902-1912	Williams Collage, Williamstown, Mass.
1902-1920	University of Washinton, Seattle Wash.
1903	Lewis and Clark Exposition, Portland, Oreg.
1903-1919	John Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.
1904-1905	Portland Parks, Portland, Me.
1906-1908	Sopkane Parks, Poakane, Wash.
1907-1921	New Haven Improvement Commission, New Haven, Conn.
1908-1925	Boulder Improvement Association, Boulder, Co.
1909	Alaska-Yokon-Pacific Exposition, Seattle, Wash.
1909-1912	Batery Park, Charleston, S.C.
1909-1931	Forest Hills Gardens residential community, Queens, N.Y.
1909-1931	Pittsburgh Civic Commission, Pittsburgh, Penn.
1910-1911	Dayton Parks, Dayton, Oh.
1911	San Diego Exposition, San Diego, Calif.
1912-1913	Newport City Improvement, Newport, R.I
1914-1931	Rancho Palos Verdes residential community, Palos Verdes, Calif.
1925-1926	Philadelphia Sequicentennial Exposition, Philadelphia, Penn.
1925-1931	Harvard Business School, Cambridge, Mass.
1925-1932	Harverford College, Haverford, Penn.
1925-1926	Duke University, Durham, N.C.
1927-1935	Fort Tryon Park, New York, N.Y.
1929-1932	Notre Dame University, South Bend, Ind.
1932-1933	Morris Arboretum, Philadelphia, Penn.

Notes:

Provenance:    
Formerly in the collection of Vanderbilt, George, until 1914.
Cecil, Cornelia Amherst, until 1978.

Bibliography:    
Ormond, Richard and Elaine Kilmurray, "John Singer Sargent: complete paintings; volume 2, Portraits of the 1890s," New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002, no. 320.
McKibbin, David, "Sargent's Boston," Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 1956.
Antiques (Apr. 1980): pg. 865.

Illustration:    
Ormond, Richard and Elaine Kilmurray, "John Singer Sargent: complete paintings; volume 2, Portraits of the 1890s," New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002, pg. 103.
Antiques (Apr. 1980): pg. 865.
    
SIRIS IAP 80045109 

• See the year in review  1894-1895
• See more about the Biltmore Gardens
• read about Whistler and Vanderbilt
• Sargent commision at Biltmore
• Whister at the National Gallery
• Sargent trip to Vanderbelts
• A Clearing In the Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the Nineteenth Century  By Witold Rybczynski, P.480; Scribner; 1999

ISBN: 684824639