专八人文知识需知美国名人--弗雷德里克.劳.奥姆斯特德

专八人文知识需知的美国名人--弗雷德里克.劳.奥姆斯特德

　　英语专八人文知识涵盖的知识面较广，考生们需要平时多积累小常识，这样在专八考试中才能游刃有余，新东方在线整理了专八人文知识需知的美国名人系列知识点供考生们参考。

　　景观设计大师弗雷德里克.劳.奥姆斯特德

　　1822年，弗雷德里克·劳·奥姆斯特德(Frederick LawOlmsted)出生于康涅狄格州哈特福德一个富裕的家庭， 弗雷德里克·劳·奥姆斯特德被普遍认为是美国景观设计学的奠基人，是美国最重要的公园设计者。2006年，奥姆斯特德被美国的权威期刊《大西洋月刊》评为影响美国的100位人物之一(名列第49位)。

　　The genius behind New York’s Central Park, he inspiredthe greening of America’s cities.

　　纽约中央公园的天才设计者，他激起了美国城市绿化的风潮。

　　Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822 – August 28, 1903) was an American journalist, landscapedesigner and father of American landscape architecture. Olmsted was famous for designing manywell-known urban parks, including Central Park and Prospect Park in New York City.

　　Other Frederick Law Olmsted projects include the country's oldest coordinated system of publicparks and parkways in Buffalo, New York; the country's oldest state park, the Niagara Reservationin Niagara Falls, New York; one of the first planned communities in the United States, Riverside,Illinois; Mount Royal Park in Montreal in Canada; the Emerald Necklace in Boston, Massachusetts;Deering Oaks Park in Portland, Maine; the Belle Isle Park, in the Detroit River for Detroit, Michigan;the Presque Isle Park in Marquette, Michigan; the Grand Necklace of Parks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin;the Cherokee Park and entire parks and parkway system in Louisville, Kentucky; the GeorgeWashington Vanderbilt II Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina; the master plans for theUniversity of California, Berkeley and Stanford University near Palo Alto, California; and theMontebello Park in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. In Chicago his projects include: MarquettePark; Jackson Park; Washington Park; the Midway Plaisance for the 1893 World's ColumbianExposition; the south portion of Chicago's "'emerald necklace'" boulevard ring; and the Universityof Chicago campus. In Washington, D.C. he worked on the landscape surrounding the UnitedStates Capitol building.

　　Early life and education

　　Olmsted was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on April 26, 1822. His father, John Olmsted, was aprosperous merchant who took a lively interest in nature, people, and places; Frederick Law andhis younger brother, John Hull, also showed this interest. His mother, Charlotte Law (Hull) Olmsted,died when he was scarcely four years old. His father remarried in 1827 to Mary Ann Bull, whoshared her husband's strong love of nature and had perhaps a more cultivated taste.

　　When the young Olmsted was almost ready to enter Yale College, as a graduate of PhillipsAcademy in 1838, sumac poisoning weakened his eyes so he gave up college plans. After workingas a seaman, merchant, and journalist, Olmsted settled on a farm in January 1848 on the southshore of Staten Island which his father helped him acquire. This farm, originally named the AkerlyHomestead, was renamed Tosomock Farm by Olmsted. It was later renamed "The Woods ofArden" by owner Erastus Wiman. (The house in which Olmsted lived still stands at 4515 HylanBlvd, near Woods of Arden Road.)

　　Marriage and family

　　On June 13, 1859, Olmsted married Mary Cleveland (Perkins) Olmsted, the widow of his brotherJohn (who had died in 1857). He adopted her three sons (his nephews), among them JohnCharles Olmsted. Frederick and Mary had two children together who survived infancy: a daughterand a son Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.

　　Career

　　Olmsted had a significant career in journalism. In 1850, he traveled to England to visit publicgardens, where he was greatly impressed by Joseph Paxton's Birkenhead Park. He subsequentlywrote and published Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England in 1852. This supported hisgetting additional work.

　　Interested in the slave economy, he was commissioned by the New York Daily Times (now TheNew York Times) to embark on an extensive research journey through the American South andTexas from 1852 to 1857. From the Texas trip, Olmsted wrote his narrative account published asA Journey Through Texas (1857). It was recognized as the work of an astute observer of the landand lifestyles of Texas. Olmsted believed that slavery was not only morally odious, but expensiveand economically inefficient.

　　His dispatches to the Times were collected into multiple volumes which remain vivid first-personsocial documents of the pre-war South. The last of these, Journeys and Explorations in the CottonKingdom (1861), was published during the first six months of the American Civil War. It helpedinform and galvanize antislavery sentiment in the Northeast. These three volumes were latercondensed and edited as a single volume.

　　In 1865, Olmsted cofounded the magazine The Nation.

　　New York City's Central Park

　　Andrew Jackson Downing, the charismatic landscape architect from Newburgh, New York, firstproposed the development of New York's Central Park in his role as publisher of The Horticulturistmagazine. A friend and mentor to Olmsted, Downing introduced him to the English-born architectCalvert Vaux. Downing had brought Vaux from England as his architect collaborator. AfterDowning died in July 1852, in a widely publicized steamboat explosion on the Hudson River,Olmsted and Vaux entered the Central Park design competition together, against Egbert LudovicusViele among others.

　　They were announced as winners in 1858. On his return from the South, Olmsted beganexecuting their plan almost immediately. Olmsted and Vaux continued their informal partnership todesign Prospect Park in Brooklyn from 1865 to 1873.That was followed by other projects. Vauxremained in the shadow of Olmsted's grand public personality and social connections.

　　The design of Central Park embodies Olmsted's social consciousness and commitment to egalitarianideals. Influenced by Downing and his own observations regarding social class in England, Chinaand the American South, Olmsted believed that the common green space must always be equallyaccessible to all citizens. This principle is now fundamental to the idea of a "public park", but wasnot assumed as necessary then. Olmsted's tenure as park commissioner in New York was a longstruggle to preserve that idea.

　　Death and legacy

　　In 1895, senility forced Olmsted to retire. In 1898 he moved to Belmont, Massachusetts and tookup residence as a patient at McLean Hospital, whose grounds he had designed several yearsbefore. He remained there until his death in 1903. He was buried in the Old North Cemetery,Hartford, Connecticut.

　　After Olmsted's retirement and death, his sons John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted,Jr. continued the work of their firm, doing business as the Olmsted Brothers. The firm lasted until1980.

　　A quotation from Olmsted's friend and colleague architect Daniel Burnham could serve as anepitaph. Referring to Olmsted in March, 1893, Burnham said, "An artist, he paints with lakes andwooded slopes; with lawns and banks and forest covered hills; with mountain sides and oceanviews."

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