INDIANAPOLIS.- Beginning May 23 and continuing through October 11, the IMA will present A Genius for Place: American Landscapes of the Country Place Era, an exhibition featuring seven significant estate landscapes designed during the early 20th century. The exhibition uses 70 black-and-white photographs and seven color Iris prints by award-winning landscape photographer Carol Betsch to illustrate the artistic achievements of landscape architects during the American Country Place Era.

A Genius for Place, which will be on view in Lilly House, the former home of the late Indianapolis businessman J.K. Lilly Jr., provides additional historical and aesthetic context for the IMA’s Oldfields-Lilly House & Gardens.  Featuring the French-chateau-style mansion as well as 26 acres of gardens designed by Percival Gallagher of the famous landscape architecture firm Olmsted Brothers, Oldfields is a rare Midwestern example of an American Country Place estate and a National Historic Landmark.


A Genius for Place calls attention to the delicate balance of art and nature that became a central, defining aspect of landscape design during the American Country Place Era (roughly 1890-1940). This period is characterized by the often palatial country retreats that were built in settings of great natural beauty by wealthy Americans who sought to escape the noise and pollution of urban centers. Architects collaborated with the wealthy estate owners to successfully merge traditional landscape design techniques with a respect for the almost mythic "spirit of the place."

Landscape architects of the American Country Place Era elaborated on the naturalistic approaches of their predecessors, Andrew Jackson Downing and Frederick Law Olmsted, by emphasizing formal design. Estate owners’ collections, hobbies and travel experiences, particularly to Europe, served as inspirations for the designs of their American country homes and gardens, as did the Beaux-Arts vision of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and new publications such as Charles A. Platt’s Italian Gardens (1894).

Though most of the country place landscapes have disappeared, A Genius for Place features seven preserved landscapes including Gwinn, Cleveland, Ohio; Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.; Naumkeag, Stockbridge, Mass.; Edsel and Eleanor Ford House, Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich.; Val Verde, Santa Barbara, Cal.; Stan Hywet Hall, Akron, Ohio; and Winterthur, Winterthur, Del.

A Genius for Place was organized by the Library of American Landscape History, Amherst, Mass. and sponsored by UBS PaineWebber with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. The national tour is sponsored by The Viburnum Foundation, New York. The exhibition is curated by Robin Karson, landscape historian and director of the Library of American Landscape History, in collaboration with landscape photographer Carol Betsch.