Brooklyn Botanic Garden Now and Then

Saturday, November 14–Sunday, January 31
Artist Reception with Antonio M. Rosario: Sunday, November 15 | 2–4 p.m.

More than 100 years ago, Brooklyn Botanic Garden's founders envisioned the transformation of a barren city ash dump into a premier botanic garden in the heart of Brooklyn. Since it opened its gates to the public, the Garden has been an urban oasis for all who have entered: Visitors come to be surrounded by beauty, explore the world of plants, and simply experience a few moments of tranquility amid the city's bustle.

Louis Buhle (1890–1972)

Louis Buhle was Brooklyn Botanic Garden's official photographer from 1915 until 1968. During his remarkable 53-year tenure, he documented every aspect of Brooklyn Botanic Garden, producing more than 11,000 negatives and creating an aesthetically and historically consistent body of work. He recorded changes in the physical plant and events at the Garden, including dedications, groundbreakings, fairs, and educational programs. Like the work of his contemporaries Lewis Wickes Hine and Berenice Abbott, Buhle's photographs were animated by a singular aesthetic vision. Without sacrificing the documentary edge of his work, he sought to illuminate the beauty of his subjects in every image.

Antonio M. Rosario (1964–)

Antonio M. Rosario has been photographing Brooklyn Botanic Garden for more than 20 years. From the riotous color of the Cherry Esplanade in spring to the serene stillness of the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden in winter, his photographs effectively capture texture, detail, and mood, providing viewers with an intense experience of the Garden. Inspired and guided by Louis Buhle's historic photographs, Rosario uses his talent to highlight both how the Garden has changed over the past century and how it remains the same, juxtaposing the mature garden with its sapling self. His work continues the story that Buhle began, depicting the Garden's lovely buildings and ever-changing landscape of trees, shrubs, and flowers, flourishing where empty lots and fields once stood.