Japanese gardens are among the calmest and most restorative spaces ever conceived by the human imagination. Their aesthetic seems effortless, but they are the product of great artifice. Often, they evoke broad landscapes distilled in a tiny space. Sometimes they refer to famous poems or to ideas. Others are spaces for quiet and profound contemplation. Timeless yet constantly evolving, apparently simple and yet carefully constructed, these gardens express the fruitful contradictions that lie within the Japanese soul.

In an exquisitely illustrated talk, art historian Nigel McGilchrist draws on examples from a span of many centuries, from the early gardens of the Heian golden age in Kyoto to their modern incarnations such as the magnificent Adachi Garden, created 40 years ago and now one of the finest in the country. McGilchrist traces the historical and cultural influences—from outside and inside Japan—that have molded the unique characteristics of their artistry with plants and rocks and water.  Particular attention is given to the strange evolution in the 13th century of the “dry garden” of Zen culture—a counterintuitive concept that arose as a horticultural solution in the periods of widespread strife and destruction during Japan’s often-turbulent history.

McGilchrist has been a consultant to the Italian government in the fine arts, dean of European studies for a consortium of American universities and colleges, and now lectures widely in Europe and the United States on art.

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