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the tallest, the oldest, the farthest, the recently computerized and every other kind. Water pictured is turbulent,
still, cascading, and laminar. Horses, boys, nymphs, dogs, birds, elephants, and gods spout water. Water takes the
form of dandelions, arches, backdrops, fireworks, sound and ice. Fountains, Splash and Spectacle: Water and Design
from the Renaissance to the Present is a publication that accompanied an exhibition at the Cooper-Hewitt in New York
City which presents photographs, drawings and historical documentation of the most beloved fountains in the world,
others unknown and modest, and some that are simply grandiose. The reader is taken on a journey which is not
chronological but based on intention: the rise and fall of water, refreshment, metaphor, propaganda, spectacle,
commemoration, entertainment and urban oases.
One of the strengths this book is its presentation of drawings, ranging
from a conceptual sketch by Bernini for the Triton Fountain to drawings of jets from an illustrated
nineteenth-century catalog. Symmes explains that the Triton Fountain is great design because it has such a liberating
sense of movement that the statues seem to interact with the water: Bernini’s Triton Fountain transforms what had
been a quotidian type of fountain in a Roman square into the eloquent glorification of a sea god and of papal rule.
While tritons are often ornamental features of fountains, Bernini’s Triton Fountain infuses a convincing vigor
into the mythological creature who was summoned by Neptune to blow the conch shell mightily so that even the most
distant turbulent waves would hear the command to restore calm. Perched on a scallop shell held aloft by the tails
of four dolphins, the kneeling Triton blows a forceful jet upward, a hydraulic visualization of colossal sound.”
Though it claims to represent water and design from the Renaissance to
the present, this book’s strength is squarely in the Renaissance. It gives the reader a grand tour of the golden
age of fountains but when it comes to contemporary ones there is enthusiasm but less appreciation for design. Wizardry
and size, for example, are sometimes ranked above art and design. The editors acknowledge this with a recently restored
fountain from the 1962 World’s Fair whose image is on the front of the dust jacket. Described as “an
oversized water toy”, it now “presents an exciting sixty minute water program every hour. The sequence of
constantly changing water jet choreography is at times synchronized with music and light, but the climactic feature is
a sudden burst of water exploding like a rocket 150 feet into the air.”
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A final example might illustrate this failure to engage contemporary design.
The first chapter by Symmes surveys the rise and fall of water. There are some very fine historical drawings and a
discussion of early hydraulics. The two final illustrations of fountains are, however, the Dandelion Fountain and Tanner
Fountain. While they seem to follow chronologically, one from the sixties and the other from the eighties, there is little
to explain the fact that more than decades separate these two fountains; their design intentions are worlds apart. The
response to a gigantic dandelion sitting in a large square basin surrounded by New York City sidewalks cannot be equated
with the Tanner Fountain. This book is a beautifully illustrated history of fountains but when it brings the reader to
the Present it is less clear about what makes great design.
Gina Crandell is editor of Land Forum.
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