Synopses & Reviews
For many New Yorkers, Central Park is Manhattans crown jewel and what makes the city livable year round. For tourists, this urban oasis is a must-see destination on any sightseeing visit. For acclaimed photographer Robert A. McCabe, Central Park is defined by its Ramblea densely forested thirty-eight acres replete with stunning lake vistas, enormous granite boulders, a canopy of trees, winding paths and streams, and ornate and rustic bridges. McCabes photographs in
The Ramble in Central Park: A Wilderness West of Fifth have captured this wooded labyrinth in its off-the-beaten-path glory in its most photogenic seasons.
The Ramble in Central Park is primarily organized by four regions, supplemented by one large map by Christopher Kaeser of the entire area and four close-ups of each section. The text is a series of essays by writers including The New Yorkers E. B. White and C. Stevens. Topics cover the history of the parks creation by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, and the failed attempt of Robert Moses to essentially eliminate the Ramble in the 1950s, as well as the Rambles 250 species of woodland birds and the areas remarkable geology and plant life. A compelling introduction by Central Park Conservancy President and Administrator Douglas Blonsky describes the recent renovation and continued protection of the Ramble.
This photography book should appeal to nature lovers, bird watchers, and New York residents and visitors alike. It is the perfect tourist souvenir before or after a visit to Central Park and The Ramble.
Review
McCabe presents his dazzling full-color, four-season photographs of the Ramble, which Douglas Blonsky, president of the Central Park Conservancy, calls indisputably still the soul of Central Park.” Other contributors weigh in on the Rambles flora, fauna and geology in a book that itself is a welcome harbinger of spring.”
The New York Times, February 27, 2011
The Ramble has been a particular focus of the photographers art, and Robert McCabes images are a valuable contribution to this venerable tradition
McCabes book is a testimony to the countless individual visions that each of the thirty-five million visitors brings to their time in the park.”From the Introduction by Douglas Blonsky, President of the Central Park Conservancy
The Ramble is the loveliest spot for afternoon walks and pleasant musings to be found within ten miles of New York.”The New York Times, July 24, 1860
Review
ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Awards 2011 Gold Medal WinnerMcCabe presents his dazzling full-color, four-season photographs of the Ramble, which Douglas Blonsky, president of the Central Park Conservancy, calls indisputably still the soul of Central Park.” Other contributors weigh in on the Rambles flora, fauna and geology in a book that itself is a welcome harbinger of spring.”The New York Times, February 27, 2011
Robert A. McCabes book of photographs presents a pristine, uncomplicated view of this recently rehabilitated area, recording the changing seasons and the native and exotic plants and birds interspersed with human park visitors
McCabes photographs show that even in the heart of the city, the desire to get lost in the wild, however briefly, remains strong.”
-ARTnews
McCabe captures the stunning lake vistas, towering boulders, winding paths and streams, and rustic bridges of this 38-acre forested section of the park.”
-Audubon.org
The pictures capture the parks beauty in all seasons, occasionally juxtaposing spring and winter frames of the same spot. Beyond straight nature shots, McCabe truly captures the serenity that Central Park offers to both natives and tourists needing repose from the concrete and blacktop, and many photos feature a lone individual walking, reading, or just sitting and soaking it in
This alluring combination of factoids mated to glorious photographs will win the hearts of countless New Yorkers for whom Central Park is a blessed oasis. Tourists, nature photography buffs, and nature lovers also will be smitten.”
-Library Journal
Amply and beautifully illustrated”
-New York Daily News
Splendidly soulful photographs of my favorite part of Central Park.”
-Dominique Browning, New York Times
The Ramble is the loveliest spot for afternoon walks and pleasant musings to be found within ten miles of New York.”The New York Times, July 24, 1860
Synopsis
The Ramble in Central Park is primarily organized by four regions, supplemented by one large map by Christopher Kaeser of the entire area and four close-ups of each section. The text is a series of essays by writers including The New Yorker's E. B. White and C. Stevens. Topics cover the history of the park's creation by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, and the failed attempt of Robert Moses to essentially eliminate the Ramble in the 1950s, as well as the Ramble's 250 species of woodland birds and the area's remarkable geology and plant life. A compelling introduction by Central Park Conservancy President and Administrator Douglas Blonsky describes the recent renovation and continued protection of the Ramble.
This photography book should appeal to nature lovers, bird watchers, and New York residents and visitors alike. It is the perfect tourist souvenir before or after a visit to Central Park and The Ramble.
About the Author
Robert McCabe was born in Chicago in 1934 and grew up in the New York City area. His first photographs of Europe were the result of a trip in 1954 to France, Italy, and Greece while he was an undergraduate at Princeton University. He returned to Greece in 1955 and 1957 via freighter from the U.S. and traveled extensively in the Aegean, shooting with a Rolleiflex and Plus-X film. In 1957 he took a series of color photographs in the Greek Islands at the request of the National Geographic Society.
His black and white photos were first exhibited in 1954 and 1955 at Firestone Library at Princeton, and in a traveling exhibition which ensued. During this period he also appeared on television with Ambassador George Melas giving a photographic tour of Greece. In 1979 a selection of photographs was exhibited at the Olympic Gallery (now Olympic Tower) in New York under the auspices of Spyros Skouras, as a sequel to the publication of his book "Metamorphosis."
Since then the images have been displayed at the Art Association in Jackson Hole, Wyoming; the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute in New York; and in Greece at exhibitions in Athens, Salonica, Patras, Santorini, Monodendri, and Anatolia College. In 2009, in the framework of Mois de la Photo, he exhibited a selection of his photographs of Greece at Galerie Sit Down near the Picasso Museum in Paris.
His bestselling book, "Greece: Images of an Enchanted Land 1954-1965" was published by Quantuck Lane Press in the U.S. and by Patakis Editions in Greece. It is in its fourth printing. His photos of Greece have also appeared in numerous books by other authors.
A trip to Havana, Cuba in 1998 resulted in an album of color photographs, "Weekend in Havana: An American Photographer in the Forbidden City", published in 2007 by Patakis and Abbeville Press. Those images have also been the basis for exhibitions in Athens and Salonica.
A selection of photographs taken during the 1950s in Paris, Italy, Greece, the U.S. and Antarctica entitled, "On the Road with a Rollei in the '50s", was published in the summer of 2007 by Patakis. It coincided with the exhibition held in Monodendri, Greece from August 2007 through July 2008 at the Rizarios Photography Exhibition Center. Another album of his images of Greece wan published to coincide with his November 2008 exhibition in Paris. It is entitled "Grèce: les années d'innocence" and was published by Editions Filigranes.
Currently McCabe divides his time between New York, Paris and Athens, where his wife was born. His book of photographs of Antarctica in 1959 is being published this year under the title "DeepFreeze: A Photographer's Antarctic Odyssey in the Year 1959". He is currently working on a book about one of his favorite archaeological sites.
Table of Contents
Photographers Note by Robert A. McCabe
Introduction by Douglas Blonsky
Wood Thrushes in the Ramble by Marie Winn
Robert Moses and the Battle of the Ramble by E. B. White and C. Stevens
PLATES
EAST
The Picturesquely Romantic Ramble by Elizabeth Barlow Rogers
SOUTH
The Birds of the Ramble by Carl Vornberger
GILL CREEK VALLEY
The Plants of the Ramble by Regina Alvarez
WEST
The Rocks of the Ramble by Sidney Horenstein
Index