With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Dan Kiley
Architecture/Design
1912 – 2004
One of the most prominent American modernist landscape architects. Kiley designed the Burr Mall in Hartford (significantly altered in the 1980s).
- Biography/Description of Work
Kiley apprenticed with Warren H. Manning for four years before entering the landscape architecture program at Harvard University in 1936. While at Harvard, Kiley and classmates Garrett Eckbo and James Rose together explored modernist design. Kiley led in the design innovations. In 1947, he and Eero Saarinen won the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Competition, known as the St. Louis Arch. In 1955, again with Saarinen, he designed the Miller garden in Columbus, Indiana. Kiley’s work displays both the monumental clarity of French Baroque gardens and the spatial sensibilities of early post-war American architecture. His use of hedges and walls was influenced by the work of Modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and his grids of trees owe much to the columnar grid of contemporary architecture.
- Sources view
- Cultural Landscape Foundation. [ http://tclf.org/pioneer/dan-kiley ] , [ https://tclf.org/annual-spotlight/landslide-2013-dan-kiley ]
- Associated Resource(s)