Wilhelmina Jacoba Moussault-Ruys

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Wilhelmina Jacoba Moussault-Ruys (born April 12, 1904 in Dedemsvaart , † January 9, 1999 in Deventer ), known as Mien Ruys , was a Dutch landscape architect.

Life

Wilhelmina Ruys, called Mien Ruys, grew up as the fifth of eight children of Bonne Ruys (1865-1950) and Engelina Gijsberta Fledderus (1872-1935) in the Moor colony Dedemsvaart , Overijssel on. Her siblings were Mieke, Ina and Theo. Her parents had been the owners of the Moerheim nursery since 1888, which made a name for itself by breeding new varieties (Bonne Ruys bred the sun bride Moerheim Beauty , among others ) and also produced plants for the British market. In 1916 her father founded a garden architecture office. Ruys attended a girls boarding school, the Luitgarde School in Bussum , from 1920 to 1922 . As early as 1923, Mien Ruys redesigned her parents' garden (now Tuin Mien Ruys), which she continued throughout her life. Her father was a friend of Karl Foerster , whose work had a strong influence on Ruys. It is unknown whether she visited Foerster in Berlin herself. Ruys studied in Berlin at the Institute for Garden Design at the Technical University and in 1928 did an apprenticeship as a gardener in Tunbridge Wells . She has been designing gardens since the 1920s. However, Ruys was always interested in architecture. 1931–1932 she attended seminars for architecture with Marinus Jan Granpré Molière at the TH Delft (today: TU Delft) . For a while she was under the influence of the Delft School . Since the late twenties Ruys belonged to the movement for modern architecture and was influenced by the Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne and since 1943 was a member of functionalist architectural groups such as “de eight” in Amsterdam and “de Opbouw” in Rotterdam around Oud and Cornelis van Esters . In 1930 she took over the management of the Moerheim planning office, which moved to Amsterdam in 1937. Ruys became a member of the Antifascist Comité van Waakzaamheid , and in 1940 she became secretary. In 1942 she resigned from the Bond van Nederlandse Tuinarchitecten in protest against their collaboration with the German occupiers . Since she was not a member of the Chamber of Culture , she became unemployed, but worked on the concept for De Hoge Veluwe National Park .

Ruys was married to the editor Theodorus Aloisius Maria Moussault since 1950 . From 1951 to 1952 she taught garden and landscape architecture in Wageningen and from 1953 to 1955 “Urban Green Plants” at the TH in Delft. In 1979 she founded her own garden architecture company in Amsterdam (Büro Mien Ruys, Garten- und Landschaftsarchitekten GmbH), which still exists today (2011). She also published the magazine “OnzeEigenTuin”. Her saying is well known: "The only things I can do are gardens and tea".

effect

Today's garden designers like Piet Oudolf are strongly influenced by the style of Mien Ruys, as are Anthony Paul , James van Sweden and Arend Jan van der Horst . After Oudolf, she was the only Dutch horticulturist who talked about plants rather than design.

Gardens

Until the end of the war, Ruys mainly designed private gardens. Ruys had contact with the English garden designer Gertrude Jekyll in Munstead Wood , and her influence can be seen in the design of colored borders. Ruys laid out an experimental garden in Dedemsvaart, in which she tested and varied the Jekyll color theory (old experimental garden from 1927). As early as 1933, however, she designed the green areas of the Geuzenhof in Amsterdam West , a group of social housing. After the war, Ruys worked a lot for housing associations and designed, among other things, the green areas of new building blocks. Here she often used oblique lines. From the 1960s onwards, she began to work more with rectangular designs that were emphasized by strictly cut hedges.

Ruys was one of the most important representatives of classical modernism in garden design and made exposed aggregate concrete slabs and railway sleepers popular as design elements, which earned her the nickname "Bielzenmien". Plastic was also used. Concrete was used for planters, among other things, but also for garden furniture.

Her style is characterized by clean lines and the rich use of perennials. She used grass early on, as advocated by Karl Foerster. Hedge, yew and box tree cut into strict shapes created clear frames for a very diverse planting, especially with grasses and perennials. In the 1990s she turned to a more naturalistic garden design, which however always used modern materials. She was always looking for new design ideas and new plant combinations. It was very important to her to use plants that were appropriate for the location instead of trying to change the growing conditions. She was a pioneer in the use of many horticultural plants, including lady's mantle , giant miscanthus , Japan dwarf Reed , Russell Brand herb and winding Wurz .

The Tuinen Mien Ruys in Dedemsvaart , now named after her, has been a listed building since 2004 and is open to the public. It is 25,000 m 2 and includes 30 individual gardens, including an experimental garden for sun and shade plants (1960), overgrown garden (1924), swamp garden (1990), herb garden (1957), water garden (1954), forest garden (1987), roof garden ( 2017) and Stadtgarten (1960). It is run by a foundation (Stichting Tuinen Mien Ruys).

Other gardens :

According to the TUiN database, Ruys designed a total of 1,075 gardens.

Works

  • Editor of the magazine "OnzeEigenTuin", 1954.
  • Borders: hoe men ze maakt en onderhoudt, 1939.
  • Vijvers in de tuin, 1941.
  • Rotsplanten in de tuin, 1948.
  • Het vaste planten boek, Moussault 1950.
  • The perennials, 1951.
  • with JJ Vriend: Bouwen en Wonen, 1953.
  • Vara Vackra Perenner, 1954.
  • Rozen voor iedereen, 1956.
  • Het gebruik en de verzorging van vaste planten, 1959.
  • with Jan Bijhouwer: Leven met groen in landschap, stad en tuin, 1960.
  • Rotsplanten in de tuin (Weten en kunnen), 1963.
  • Zo beplanten we onze tuin, 1965.
  • Toepassing en verzorging van vaste planten, 1972.
  • Het Nieuwe Vaste Planten Boek, 1973.
  • Spelen met planten, 1977.
  • Spelen met planten, 1980.
  • Van vensterbank tot landschap, 1981.
  • Mijn tuinen, 1987.
  • Zo verzorgen wij onze tuin, 1987.

literature

  • Leo den Dulk, Anne Mieke Backer: Mien Ruys. Tuinarchitect 1904-1999. De complete biography. Zoeken naar de heldere lijn. Uitgeverij de HEF publishers, Rotterdam 2017, ISBN 978-90-6906-051-4 .
  • Anet Scholma, Conny den Hollander: Rehearsals in the Mien Ruys garden. 2015.
  • Noel Kingsbury: Guard Designers at Home. The private spaces of the world's leading designers. Pavillon Books, London 2011, pp. 156-163.
  • Anet Scholma: Proeven met planten en zoeken naar vorm - een wandeling door de Tuinen Mien Ruys. 2008.
  • Anet Scholma: Mien Ruys experimental garden in Dedemsvaart. In: Erik A. de Jong, Brigitt Sigel (ed.): The garden - a place of change. Perspectives for the preservation of monuments. VDF Hochschulverlag, 2006, ISBN 9783728130334 , pp. 117–125.
  • Reinco Geertsema: Mien Ruys, describing the documentatie van haar beroepspraktijk. Niet-gepubliceerde scriptie, Landbouwhogeschool Wageningen 1982. (Not viewed).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerritjan Deunk, Arend Jan van der Horst, a biographical summary / Een biografische schets. In: Arend Jan van der Horst, Movements in Green. Conceptual Landscape Gardening / Conceptuele tuinarchitectuur. Terra Lanoo 2008, 6
  2. ↑ http://www.graf-gartenbau.ch/Gartenreise/G%E4rten%20in%20Holland%20und%20Norddeutschland%202%20page.htm
  3. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated December 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cantua.nl
  4. ↑ a b c http://www.mienruys.nl/tuinenhtml/index.htm
  5. ↑ http://www.historici.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/DVN/lemmata/data/d
  6. ^ Andrew Wilson, Influential Gardeners, The Designers who Shaped the 20th Century Garden Style, 2002
  7. ^ Arend Jan van der Horst, Movements in Green. Conceptual Landscape Gardening / Conceptuele tuinarchitectuur. Terra Lanoo 2008
  8. ^ Piet Oudolf, Designing with Plants, 1999
  9. ↑ http://www.rietveldenruys.nl/page.php?id=27
  10. ^ Database of Dutch Gardens
personal data
SURNAME Moussault-Ruys, Wilhelmina Jacoba
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ruys, Mien
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch landscaper
DATE OF BIRTH April 12, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Dedemsvaart
DATE OF DEATH January 9, 1999
Place of death Deventer