"In The Last Swan, a reflection on the houses and gardens she has made, Marella Agnelli recalls of Page: “His main preoccupation was not that of making a beautiful garden but of harmony.” Within moments of her first meeting him on a summer night at Villar Perosa, Page said to her: “One must learn to serve something higher than us all, because, if not, one may easily fall prey to the basest, most material aspects of one’s life.”
It was, she understood, a reference to the fortune she had married into but it was also Page’s statement of his belief in the timelessness of the best designs. This was not ego: he believed that by observation one could express the truth of a place, reconcile a house with a landscape, and harmonise the forces of soil, wind and water.
It’s terrifying how quickly some people vanish after their death, scattering into a handful of anecdotes or crumbling into contested interpretations. Three decades on, memories of Page are not only uniformly fond but have an astonishing coherence: he was a man true to himself. And Education is timeless, I think, because of Page’s indifference to the fashions of the time, and the confidence in what he has learnt for himself.
Reading the book once again I’m reminded of one contemporary garden designer in particular, Christopher Bradley-Hole. An architect by training, he is as resolute in his restructuring of a place, his pen digging firmly into the earth. Like Page, he chooses to work without an office. And he is famously elusive. I email him for his thoughts on Page, not expecting a reply. It’s instantaneous, and simple: on first reading Education, he writes, “I felt that I had suddenly found a soulmate.”
Education of a Gardener: the life and work of Russell Page (March 25-June 21), theGarden Museum, Lambeth Palace Rd, London SE1 (020 7401 8865)."
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Pic, above, T Magazine, NYTimes. "A master of structuring nature with an architect’s eye, Page, whose clients included Marella Agnelli, Oscar de
la Renta and Lady Bird Johnson, created mesmerizing green spaces with clipped shrubs, gleaming ponds and sweeping vistas. " NYTimes.
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More decades will have to pass, many, before historians will honor LBJ's presidency valuable for bringing Lady Bird Johnson to the helm of America's landscape. Lady Bird hired Page.
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Lady Bird Johnson (1912-2007)
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From, nwhm.
Environmentalist, businesswoman, political activist and former First Lady Claudia Alta Taylor Johnson, or “Lady Bird Johnson,” as she was known, was born in 1912 in Karnack, Texas.
Raised in a wealthy family in Karnack, Lady Bird attended the University of Texas in Austin, where she earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in history and journalism. She planned to work as a newspaper reporter when she graduated, but her plans changed after she met her future husband, Lyndon B. Johnson, who was working as a congressional secretary for a Texas congressman. After a short, ten-week courtship, they married in 1934.
In 1937, the congressman from Lyndon Johnson’s home district died of a heart attack, and Johnson considered running for the vacant spot, but lacked the money. Lady Bird ensured that he was able to run for the office by giving him $10,000 of her inheritance from her deceased mother for his campaign. He won the election.
During World War II, Johnson served overseas in the Navy while Lady Bird ran his congressional office, including running his re-election campaign, which he won despite being absent. She said, “I learned while Lyndon was away in the Navy that I could make my own living without him. That increased my self-worth and gave me the courage to try to start a business of my own.” She decided that politics could not be relied on for their family income, so she used her inheritance to buy a failing Austin radio station in 1942.
She spent hours reading books to learn how to track advertising revenue, sold advertisements herself, hired staff, and even cleaned floors. Under her guidance, the radio station was successful, becoming a base for a multi-million dollar communications company that included television stations and a cable television system. Her biographer Jan Jarboe Russell wrote of the couple’s public ambitions that “he had the influence, but she had the cash.”
During the late 1940s, Lady Bird continued to support Lyndon in his political career in the House while she ran her communications company and gave birth to two daughters after multiple miscarriages. In 1948 she campaigned for Lyndon when he ran for the U.S. Senate. He won, and after two years became the Senate Majority Whip. In 1955, Lyndon suffered a heart attack and during the following four months was primarily home and bed-bound. In addition to caring for her husband, Lady Bird took over the day-to-day operations of his Senate office in his absence.
In 1960, after losing the presidential nomination to John F. Kennedy, Lyndon ran with Kennedy as his vice-president. Lady Bird campaigned over 35,000 miles across the country for them. Her strong southern heritage helped win many southern voters who were otherwise wary of voting for a Massachusetts candidate. After Kennedy/Johnson won, Lady Bird spent the next three years traveling to 33 foreign countries and across the United States as an ambassador of good will for the White House.
After the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn into office as the 36th President of the United States and Lady Bird became First Lady. Soon after taking office, Lyndon signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawing racial discrimination. The Act was very unpopular among many southern whites. With Johnson facing an election campaign, Lady Bird suggested that she and the wives of southern members of Congress go on a whistle-stop tour of the southern states to gain the trust of white voters. Many people urged her not to undertake the trip for fear of her safety, but she insisted, and she visited eight states in four days, traveling 1,628 miles. She faced large, angry crowds who called her names like “Black Bird.” However, her courteous manner and southern accent helped calm the crowds. One hundred and fifty members of the national press traveled with her and portrayed Lady Bird as “a fearless moral representative of her husband.” During the election campaign, Lady Bird gave 47 formal speeches in the South. At election time, six of the eight Southern states voted for her husband, which was partly attributed to her efforts.
Johnson won the election by a landslide and started his next four years in office with Lady Bird as his key advisor. "What we knew, at all times, was that she was the most trusted, most loyal, most dependable person that President Johnson could turn to on any issue, but her presence was never one of intruding," said Tom Johnson, a top former aide to the President and future head of CNN.
As First Lady, Lady Bird undertook various nationwide beautification projects of public lands. For example, she commissioned the planting of millions of azalea bushes, dogwoods, cherry trees, tulips, and daffodils throughout Washington, D.C. Her desire to reduce the number of billboards and junkyards along the nation’s roads led her to launch a major legislative campaign, which resulted in the Highway Beautification Act of 1965, popularly known as “the Lady Bird Act.” She chaired various environmental committees, such as the LBJ Memorial Grove on the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. and the Town Lake Beautification Project in Austin, Texas.
She also used her influence to call attention to the need to preserve important historic parks such as the California Redwoods and the Hudson River in New York by visiting them with the media in tow. With her support, 200 laws related to the environment passed during Johnson’s presidency. Before he left office, Lyndon presented her with a plaque that read: "To Lady Bird, who has inspired me and millions of Americans to try to preserve our land and beautify our nation. With love from Lyndon."
As First Lady, Lady Bird also actively worked with her husband on his war-on-poverty reforms, particularly the Head Start initiative that provided free pre-school to children from low income families. For several years she served as the chairperson of the National Head Start Program.
As the failings of the Vietnam War wore on Lyndon, she worked hard to keep him calm and hoped he would not seek re-election. She worried he would have another heart attack and not survive. During their last several months in the White House, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy both were assassinated, and Lady Bird was instrumental in helping bring stability to an uneasy country.
In 1969, the Johnsons retired to their ranch near Austin, Texas. However, Lady Bird remained active in public life. Starting in 1969, she served for many years on the council of the National Park Service’s Advisory Board on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings and Monuments. In 1970, she published a book about her experiences in the White House called White House Diary. In 1971, the governor of Texas appointed her to the University of Texas System Board of Regents, which was a large focus of her time over the next several years. She also worked with her husband to build his presidential library, which opened in the University of Texas in Austin in 1972.
In 1973, Lyndon Johnson died. “The Lord knew what he was doing when he took daddy first, because I don't think daddy could have gotten along without mother,” said their eldest daughter Lynda Johnson Robb. “I really don't think he could have lived without mother. He depended on her so much.”
After her husband’s death, Lady Bird traveled the world and continued work to beautify the nation and Texas in particular. In 1983 she founded the National Wildlife Research Center in Austin, Texas, which works to re-establish native plants in natural and planned landscapes. It was renamed the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in 1998. She has served as the chairperson of the Center’s Board of Directors since its founding. She also founded the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and served on various boards, such as the Board of the National Geographic Society. She also spent time with her family and occasionally mingled with tourists at the LBJ Ranch in Texas.
She received scores of awards over her lifetime. Two of her most prestigious were bestowed by Presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, the Medal of Freedom in 1977 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1988.
Her lasting legacy is a more beautiful nation and a role model of a strong businesswoman and political and environmental activist in her own right, who also played an essential role of political advisor and supporter to her famous husband.
More, about Oscar de la Renta, below, by Carolyne Roehm. Copy the best, I've known for decades, so did Oscar, and he was smart enough to hire Russell Page.
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REMEMBERING OSCAR- THAT MAGICAL TIME IN THE 70’S
The man I knew and adored was Oscar at work: playful, fun, and full of life’s magic.
This past week the press has written so much about Oscar de la Renta: the designer, the brand, the celebrity, the philanthropist, the friend of First Ladies and movie stars, the charming and debonaire figure around town. Having known him for 40 years I have been witness to all of that. But there is a small group of us who had the amazing good fortune to work with him in the early years when he was becoming the man we have read about during this past sad week. I was not in his studio at the beginning — Albert Capraro and John Nickelson were there before me. I arrived there in 1974, a star-struck kid from Missouri.
My story with Oscar began when I was a senior in the art school of Washington University in St. Louis. I saw a photo of the glorious Lauren Hutton in an Oscar de la Renta pink ruffled dress. He became my design hero, and I dreamed of working for him.
With the wonders of the Internet I was able to find the photo that began my hero worship of Oscar and started me on my life’s journey.
The late 60’s and early 70’s were chaotic times and Washington University was a hotbed of liberal radicalism. The campus roiled with the presence of SDS (Students for a Democratic Society), the Black Panthers, demonstrations against ROTC, the burning of draft cards, and Grateful Dead concerts. The dormitories reeked of pot, LSD was the drug of choice, and — last but not least, for a fashion student — everyone had replaced the clothes they packed for college with jeans, work shirts, and Birkenstock sandals. The times they were a-changin’ . . . and in that setting the small group of fashion students (24 in total) were like aliens from another planet. There was not much visual inspiration for an aspiring fashion designer who insisted upon wearing my mini skirts, maxi coats, and bangle bracelets galore. We found hope in magazines like Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar where the extraordinary editor Diana Vreeland showed photos of exotic hippies, modern-day gypsies, and the fabulous clothes of Oscar, Giorgio St. Angelo, Bill Blass, Donald Brooks,Geoffrey Beene, Stephen Burrows, Scott Barry, and Halston, plus the sportswear designers Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Ann Klein — just to name the Americans. Awaiting me in New York was a fashion scene very different from the dreary sea of denim and bad footwear!!
One of my senior design projects at Washington U. Who do you think I was inspired by? At 106 pounds I had no chest at all, certainly not the beautiful curves of Lauren Hutton, so I turned the design around and called this “the flat chested girl’s dress.”
I will not regale you with the crazy story of how, after a year in New York, I got an interview with Oscar. I’ll begin with my first day of work for the house. I was so eager not to be late that I showed up at 8:30 in the morning. I waited in the hall for a half an hour before someone showed up let me into the studio. I walked in, nervous as a cat, and when I saw the sketches of the Fall collection in progress, I panicked. Everything looked so beautiful, and I knew I could not sketch like that. All I could think was that I would be fired by the end of my first day! John Nickelson and, finally, Oscar arrived. I think poor John did not appreciate my presence and Oscar did not seem to know what to do with me. So I sat there not saying a word during fittings until Oscar asked me at lunchtime if I ate anything. I went out to buy a sandwich, half expecting that I would find myself locked out on my return. But I was not, and I slowly began to find my way around the world of Oscar de la Renta, where I worked for the next 10 years.
For me, the best part of the fashion business was “the family” that designers created with their assistants, muses, fitting models, seamstresses, and tailors who bring the designs to fruition. To be part of Oscar’s fashion family was to take a journey into fun, hard work, and to see the world through Oscar’s eyes. During collection time we ate lunch together every day in the studio, and Oscar joined us when he was not out having lunch with Mr. Fairchild or one of the magazine editors. Because Oscar and I were foodies, I often went over to 9th Avenue to pick up Parmesan and mozzarella cheese and bags of bread, tomatoes and basil, or something equally tasty. During these lunches Oscar regaled us with tales of his life in Spain and France. How exotic these adventures sounded to a girl who had not yet been outside of the United States!
We laughed at Oscar as he flirted with the ladies in the sample room or jested with his favorite target, Boaz Mazor (how he adored to tease him!) who worked in the showroom.
Oscar loved to tease Bessie the seamstress who would sing love songs to him. Sometimes they sang a duet, other times he would cover his ears and ask for someone to “put a cover over the canary!” I swear she was in love with him and thought he was in love with her! She seemed ancient to me then, and probably was, but she still flirted shamelessly.
Oscar’s other longtime favorite for teasing was Boaz. Here Boaz and I are clowning around at Halloween
Of course there were down moments when we were having trouble with a collection or if there was a less than stellar review. But rarely a day went by without a few laughs. For several years we were a small group in the studio: John, Oscar’s his right-hand man; Jack Alexander, who handled PR and worked with the licensees; Diana Pratt, Oscar’s secretary (who had earlier been Diana Vreeland’s personal assistant); whoever the house model was at the time; Oscar; and me. Oscar was like the head of the family — and as head he would get frustrated with or downright angry at each of us at one point or another. Once, going through a very difficult time, he got so mad at me he said, “Carolyne, if I had a guitar string I would happily tie it around your neck and strangle you to death!” I was probably thoughtlessly grousing about a boyfriend or something equally stupid, while Oscar’s wife Francoise was very ill at the time. Needless to say I never forgot that well-deserved rebuke.
The gang, with Oscar in the middle: from left, John Nickelson, who stayed with Oscar nearly fifty years until his retirement; Diana Pratt; the adorable house model Robin Osler; me; and Jack Alexander.
Above: lunch with the ladies of the sample room.
We were so close to these skilled women they were like elderly aunts to us. As the collection neared completion we would have a lunch or dinner altogether. Oscar is on the right, seated between Toni and Bessie, of course! John is in the foreground with me next to him, looking like I was trying to get a bit of something out of my teeth. I swear Jack would always love to take a photo of me looking like a goon!
Oscar with John and Francisco who joined the studio a few years later.
I cannot remember why I was getting this treatment! It may have been a good-bye photo when I left for my first marriage, or it may have been my birthday. The new face is that of Brian Bubb, who later joined the studio.
Oscar doing the final fitting of my wedding dress.
When I announced that I was getting married and moving to Germany, both Oscar and Francoise said I was crazy. But he still designed my gown and veil and, in his typical way, told me how I should wear my hair and what flowers I should carry. He also told me that every young woman who worked for him ended up divorced. Well, he was right: eleven months later I was back in the studio. But a bit more about that later…
Another part of my “life” education was both exciting and intimidating. When the de la Rentas needed an extra female at their glittering dinners I got to don a dress from the collection and be that girl. While I will not drop names, there was always a dazzling array of guests who gave me insights into a world that I had only read about. I wonder if I ever opened my mouth… I suppose I must have or I would not have been invited back. Francoise and Oscar entertained in a beautiful European way, with a dining experience that was so rich and sophisticated.
Those evenings were an education for all of the senses. The moment the elevator door deposited guests on the de la Renta’s floor, they entered another world. The air was scented with a beautiful fragrance, like Plantes de Marine from Guerlain, there were large cachepots of orchids in the foyer, and classical music played in the background. You must remember that this is long before anyone else used room scents or flowers in this way. Similarly, their decor brought together elements that were not often seen in America, and it was it was a visual feast. I loved the early decor of the apartment, which was rattan, bamboo, exotic inlaid mother-of-pearl furniture from Syria or India, light and colorful Dhurrie rugs, and palms in large planters. In the mid-seventies they had Vincent Fourcade redo the apartment in the Napoleon III style, and it was like nothing I had ever seen. Rich and red with leopard and tiger accents, exotic carpets, wonderful mixes of fabrics old and new, and 19th century antiques. It was like stepping back into another time, yet their home was still modern — one never felt it was a “period” decor. Perhaps that was because of the guests and conversation, but mostly I feel it was the ability that Oscar and Francoise had to love what was beautiful in the past and yet imbue their rooms with energy, modernity, and hospitality.
Above: a glimpse of the red living room and the dining room
The memories of my years with Oscar could go on forever but I cannot leave you without telling you of the marvelous travels with him. Sadly, because of my house fire I lost many photos and, of course, no iPhones existed to capture all those glorious moments. Traveling with him was to be totally immersed in other cultures. He was like Auntie Mame, but better. We ate the food, saw the sights in an extraordinary way, and partook of the culture through music, art, and architecture. With his rising fame he was was fêted where ever we went: Mexico, India, Israel, Jordan, Japan, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Morocco, and Hong Kong. How exciting and what fun it all was!
When he launched Oscar de la Renta in Japan we went to Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto, and that trip was extraordinary. Of course we worked hard, as we were presenting the collection for the first time. The Japanese offered us every type of experience to showcase the richness and beauty of their culture, including singing and dancing with geishas, and watching sumo wrestlers, which Oscar adored!
Moss gardens in Kyoto. Notice our feet: we had just had lunch in an extraordinarily beautiful old restaurant, eating off ancient lacquer dishes.
Visiting the royal moss gardens was unforgettable. I decided I did not truly understand the color green until I saw them .
Francoise and Rob, a male model along to show Oscar’s menswear, with Oscar and me behind them.
“OMG, I think I would rather not know what I am eating!”
I love Billy Blair’s face! I recall that she had just discovered what she was eating . . . Oscar and Francoise were more intrepid in the adventurous eating department! Billy and I were roommates on this trip. Oscar brought about six of us from the States to join with the Japanese models. I did double duty as both assistant and model.
All the Americans got flowers at the end of the big show in Toyko. From the left: Carla, one of Oscar’s favorite models, Francoise, Oscar, and me.
Oscar, Francisco, John, and me dining on Lake Como on one of our many wonderful trips to shop for fabrics for the collections. For years we ate our way through Milan and Como, with pasta and wine for every lunch and dinner. No sandwiches for a working lunch for us!
The two pictures above: in Santo Domingo at his beautiful home listening to and singing with a group he loved. Don’t ask me why I had a palm frond around my head– just having fun as Oscar sang, I guess.
Above, in India: Oscar and Jerry Shaw hamming it up with camel that fell in love with Oscar (of course!). We also dined with the Maharaja of Jaipur in his palace. High-brow and low, grand or fun and simple, we did it all.
In Paris at Chez Andre just after John, Oscar, and I finished lunch. We ate there practically every day while he was working on the Balmain collection.
The French crew at Balmain in the 1990s, with Oscar, Boaz, John, Francisco Costa, and me.
The above is taken much later than the 1970s I have been talking about, but that is for a reason. Throughout the very difficult periods of my life, after two divorces and other traumas, Oscar was always there to help me get back on my feet. He took me back to work every time my life started falling apart. After one of the first traumas he said to me “Carolyne, men can come and go, friends can come and go, but no one can take away your talent or your professionalism.” A couple of times I was in a very bad emotional state; Oscar would always hold out a hand, or give me a kick in the backside, and get me back to work because he knew it would save me — and it did. So I owe Oscar a lot more than an extraordinary mentorship, our wonderful fun, and an education in life. I know I am here today writing this because of Oscar and Annette (his beloved second wife), who literally pulled me back from the abyss.
There are so many things to write about this extraordinary man, I could go on endlessly. I want to close this by saying …..
We are each a product of many people, circumstances, and events. Yes, I arrived in NYC with a love of dogs and horses, flowers and fashion, singing and dancing. But it took being with Oscar to mold and develop those interests. As time went on I was offered job opportunities by some other top designers and I am sure I would have learned new things from them. But I know in my soul that without Oscar in my life I probably would never have learned how to laugh at my self and not be so serious, dance the merengue, ride a camel through the desert, go to a bull fight, stay up all hours listening to flamenco in some old tavern, meet a Maharaja, have cocktails with just Oscar and Diana Vreeland in her famous red room, play Caja de Toques while drinking tequila shots, dance like a gypsy in a plaza surround by mariachis, and sing at the top of my lungs not caring what anyone else thought. Yes, he taught a lot about glamour, design, and style but more than anything he taught me about the beauty of a fully and vividly lived life. He was magical and I shall miss him forever.
Carolyne Jane Roehm
Carolyne Jane Roehm
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Jenny, my mother-in-law, gave, The Education of a Gardener, by Russell Page, to me for Christmas in the 1980's. Knew then, it was the best garden book I had ever read, and would remain so were I to live past a century.
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A Page garden, above. In trinity, merely 3 genus, what I've called, vanishing threshold, for decades. Simplicity beyond the depth of most. 'Simplicity is success', for sure.
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More credits, more links, soon. Must get to my day job, this post is for 'me', knowing I will come back to it many times in the future for enjoyment, more garden erudition, and to add tidbits. A personal treasure chest. In the DAR, the line is from my Page side, back to England, and with a King James land grant, where my grandmother was raised in, White Pond, Robeson County, North Carolina, USA.
More about Russell Page, from, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, below.
1906 - 1985
Russell Page
Born in Lincolnshire in the English countryside, Page’s love of nature was cultivated from a young age. In his teenage years, he derived an interest in garden design; a passion which he was able to actively pursue helping his family create a cottage garden at their property in Wragby. At seventeen, he undertook a professional apprenticeship in the art of garden composition. After studying painting for three years at the Slade School, University of London, Page left for Paris to continue his art studies. There he cultivated his artistic sensibility, while simultaneously pursuing his interests in garden studies and landscape design. Returning to England in 1932, Page undertook his first large-scale project, an improvement of the parklands at Longleat House designed by eighteenth-century landscape gardener Capability Brown. This significant project opened doors for Page, preparing him for a number of other commissions. His early projects included Ditchley Park; Le Vert Bois and the château de Mivoisin in France for French decorator Stéphane Boudin; and Leeds Castle in Kent, a commission he continued to work on throughout his life.
Influenced by English, French, and Islamic design, Page is known for the numerous gardens he created both on large estates and in small courtyards throughout Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America. Throughout his career, he experimented in other directions, creating displays for the Festival Gardens at Battersea Park in London in the 1960s, and engaging in urban planning projects in Australia and Venezuela. In 1962, he authored an autobiography, The Education of a Gardener, chronicling his work to that point. His later public commissions in the United States include a garden for the Frick Collection in 1977 and his last great work, the PepsiCo Sculpture Garden in Purchase, NY.
