Russell Page
Montague Russell Page (1 November 1906 – 4 January 1985) was a British gardener, garden designer and landscape architect. He worked in Britain, western Europe and the United States of America.
Biography
Montague Russell Page was born in Lincolnshire, the second son of three children of Harold Ethelbert Page, a solicitor in Lincoln. He was educated at Charterhouse School in Surrey (1918–24), and afterwards studied in London at the Slade School of Fine Art in London University (1924–26), under Professor Henry Tonks. From 1927 to 1932 he studied art in Paris, and took some small gardening jobs in France. He began his professional career with projects in Rutland (1928), and chateaux in France at Melun (1930) and Boussy Saint-Antoine (1932). On his return to Britain, Page was employed by the landscape architect Richard Sudell, and he began remodelling the gardens at Longleat - a work which would continue for many years. Between 1934 and 1938, he contributed articles to the periodical Landscape and Gardening. From 1935 to 1939 he worked in partnership with Geoffrey Jellicoe. Page and Jellicoe designed the landscape and building for the 'Caveman Restaurant' at Cheddar Gorge on the Longleat estate in Somerset, and worked at the Royal Lodge, Windsor; Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire; Holme House, Regent's Park, London; Broadway in the Cotswolds; and Charterhouse school. During this period, Page also worked at Leeds Castle, Kent (1936 and later); chateau Le Vert Bois in France (1937); Chateau de la Hulpe, Belgium (1937) and chateau de Mivoisin, France (1937 - 1950s).
During World War II, Page served in Britain's Political Warfare Department in France, the United States of America, Egypt and Sri Lanka.
After the war, Page went on to design gardens in Europe and the USA. His clients included:
- Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor and the Duchess of Windsor
- Count Sanminiatelli San Liberato
- King Léopold III of Belgium
- Sir William Walton
- Babe Paley and William S. Paley
- Oscar de la Renta
- Marcel Boussac
- Olive, Lady Baillie
- PepsiCo
- Baron and Baroness Thierry Van Zuylen van Nievelt
- Frick Museum.
His works include the National Capitol Columns in Washington's United States National Arboretum[1] and the Tenuta di San Liberato, Bracciano near Rome.
In 1947, Page married Lida Gurdjieff, a daughter of the spiritual teacher G. I. Gurdjieff; they had one son, David, but divorced in 1954. In 1954, Page married Mme Vera Milanova Daumal, widow of the poet Rene Daumal and former wife of the poet Hendrick Kramer. She died in 1962.
Page's autobiography, The Education Of A Gardener, was published in 1962.
Page died on the 4th of January 1985 in London.
Spiritual interests
In an interview by Christopher Woodward in The Telegraph, Page's niece, Vanessa showed Woodward some of the "treasured fragments" of her uncle's life, including a pamphlet on medicinal herbs by the writer and thinker, Idries Shah who, she explained, was a teacher in the Sufi mystical tradition, and who became "Page's spiritual mentor in Sixties London."[2]
Further reading
About Russell Page
- R. Page, The Education Of A Gardener by Russell Page (1962 and reprints)
- G. van Zuylen and M. Schinz, The Gardens of Russell Page (1991; reprinted 2008)
Other
- Amherst, Alicia (2006) [1910]. A History of Gardening in England (3rd ed.). Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing.
- Blomfield, Sir F. Reginald; Thomas, Inigo, Illustrator (1972) [1901]. The Formal Garden in England, 3rd ed. New York: McMillan and Co.
- Clifford, Derek (1967). A History of Garden Design (2nd ed.). New York: Praeger.
- Gothein, Marie-Luise Schröeter (1863-1931); Wright, Walter P. (1864-1940); Archer-Hind, Laura; Alden Hopkins Collection (1928) [1910]. History of Garden Art. 2. London & Toronto, New York: J. M. Dent; 1928 Dutton. ISBN 978-3-424-00935-4. 945 pages Publisher: Hacker Art Books; Facsimile edition (June 1972) ISBN 0878170081; ISBN 978-0878170081.
- Gothein, Marie. Geschichte der Gartenkunst. München: Diederichs, 1988 ISBN 978-3-424-00935-4.
- Hadfield, Miles (1960). Gardening in Britain. Newton, Mass: C. T. Branford.
- Hussey, Christopher (1967). English Gardens and Landscapes, 1700–1750. Country Life.
- Hyams, Edward S.; Smith, Edwin, photos (1964). The English Garden. New York: H.N. Abrams.
References
- ↑ "A Capitol Idea". Official website. The United States National Arboretum. 1 April 2010. Archived from the original on 3 July 2009. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
- ↑ Woodward, Christopher (21 Mar 2015). "Russell Page: the most famous garden designer no one's ever heard of". The Telegraph (online). Telegraph Media Group. Archived from the original on 21 Sep 2018. Retrieved 21 Sep 2018.
