Mien Ruys | |
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| Born | Wilhelmina Jacoba Ruys (1904-02-14)14 February 1904 |
| Died | 9 January 1999(1999-01-09) (aged 94) Dedemsvaart, Netherlands |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Righteous Among the Nations |
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Wilhelmina Jacoba Moussault-Ruys (14 February 1904 – 9 January 1999),[1] was a Dutch landscape and gardenarchitect.[2] Her gardening legacy is maintained in the Dutch town ofDedemsvaart, which is home to theTuinen Mien Ruys.[3] With people such asPiet Oudolf, she is considered a leader in the "New Perennial Movement."[4][5]
Mien Ruys briefly studied garden architecture in Berlin in the 1920s, and spent time in England as well (Tunbridge Wells);[6] her father was a friend ofGertrude Jekyll, from whom Ruys is supposed to have learned some things about colour.[7] DuringWorld War II she studied engineering inDelft, but then returned home to work and experiment at her father's company.[6] Ruys's father, Bonne Ruys, founded the Moerheim Nursery in 1888 specializing inperennials in thebogs nearDedemsvaart, nearZwolle, in the east of theNetherlands. Ruys's business quickly grew and in the first half of the twentieth century had become the most notable nursery in Europe for perennials. She was the younger sister ofAnna Charlotte Ruys.
Beginning in 1924, Mien began experimenting, making small gardens of perennials on her father's land, and soon became as interested in the materials for building gardens as the plants in them. These experiments were the foundation for the Tuinen Mien Ruys and helped her become one of the most notable landscape and garden architects of the Netherlands.[1] Ruys also studied architecture withMarinus Jan Granpré Molière, a noted Dutch architect and landscape planner, and worked with architects such asGerrit Rietveld,[8] a collaboration which is still celebrated inBergeijk, where Rietveld designed a factory,Weverij de Ploeg, surrounded by a Ruys-designed park.[9]
DuringWorld War II, Ruys was active in theDutch Resistance.[10] In 1983, she was namedRighteous Among the Nations byYad Vashem.[11]
Another notable project of Mien Ruys was her involvement as landscape architect in the design ofNagele.[12] Nagele, a village in the dutch province ofFlevoland, was built on the newly constructedNoordoostpolder between 1948 and 1954. Built entirely in a modernist style, the village was designed by De 8 and Opbouw, two architecture associations that profiled themselves as advocates of the so-called Nieuwe Bouwen.[13] Ruys, in collaboration with Wim Boer, designed the green spaces of Nagele, including the surroundingwindbreak, central village meadow and cemetery. Having to respond to the flat roofed houses, use of simple squared shapes and straight lines in the urban design, Ruys introduced planting in clean lines creating sightlines through the village.[14] In the central green Ruys specified that the path pattern through this space should arise spontaneously through use and only be hardened afterwards. This idea of ‘desire paths’ or ‘elephant paths’ was radical as it opposes the totality of the top-down modernist master plan.[12]
Ruys became a household name in the Netherlands by publishing a number of books, the best-known of which isHet vaste plantenboek ("Book of perennials"). With her husband, Theo Moussault[1] (a former owner of theAmsterdam weeklyDe Groene Amsterdammer[8]), she started a quarterly magazine in 1954,Onze eigen tuin ("Our own garden"), which is still considered one of the most creative Dutch publications in this field.[1] The magazine is read in middle- and upper-class circles, and includes "Gardening lessons for suckers."[15] Ruys died in 1999.[16]
Ruys is highly respected;Trouw called her one of the top-10 most influential garden architects of the world. She is responsible for the widespread use in the Netherlands of oldrailroad ties andgravel tiles, and her style is characterized as "clear, direct, and barren."[8] Influenced by Japanese design and using rectangular spaces, water, bamboo, and wood, Ruys is credited with creating open and transparent spaces even in small gardens.[6]
Her use of railroad ties led to the concept of thebielzentuin (from "biels," the Dutch word for railroad tie): she is nicknamed "Bielzen Mien."[6] The first bielzentuin she made dates from 1956, in the garden of a residential house inOverveen built by Dutch architectGerard Holt; the house is on the list ofmunicipal monuments.[17]
Influential also was Ruys's use and propagation of plants grown frombulbs.[18] Her advice on how and where to plant the bulbs is cited even in theUnited States.[19]
Mien Ruys has influenced many contemporary landscape architects, among othersPiet Oudolf andJacqueline van der Kloet. Landscape architectJulia Crawford wrote the first extensive overview of Ruys's work in English:Mien Ruys: The Mother of Modernist Gardens.
The Tuinen Mien Ruys opened in 1976, and contain 30 model gardens.[1] It is run by the Foundation Tuinen Mien Ruys, which began cooperating with theRijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed in 2001. As a result, three of the individual gardens received the status ofRijksmonument ("national monument").[1] In 2002, the Tuinen Mien Ruys made the news because of financial difficulties, to which it responded by expanding its activities.[8] The foundation also broke with the Moerheim Nursery to which it was still connected and built its own entrance; with the help of volunteers and donors it became financially solvent again in 2008.[20]
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