Friday 28 November 2014

Surrealist Garden: Las Pozas





Las Pozas is a surrealist garden created by Sir Edward James, a British poet and major supporter of the Surrealist art movement. In 1949 James chose the tropical jungles near Xilitla, San Luis Potosí in Mexico for his garden of Eden.


Want to know more....

Edward James built one of the biggest and least known artistic monuments of the 20th century known as Las Pozas. Over a 20 year period, over 36 surrealistic structures were built in concrete at this magnificent site.

Edward abandoned the intellectual, social and artistic circles of London, Paris, New York and Hollywood for the jungles of Mexico. He lived in Xilitla with his close companion Plutarco Gastelum, a Yaqui Indian, and his family. Plutarco would later become Edward's construction foreman at Las Pozas. El Castillo was built by Plutarco and became the home of his family. Edward also lived there when he wasn't staying at Las Pozas.

Before coming to Mexico to build Las Pozas in the early 1950's, he had already led an extraordinary life. His family owned a 300 room mansion and 6,000 acre estate in England, which Edward later converted into West Dean College, now an internationally recognized center for restoration arts.
Born to immense wealth and privilege in 1907, Edward's life imitated the surrealist art he loved and collected. He turned his back on the rigid aristocratic circles of Edwardian England that he was born into, and befriended and supported dozens of artists who would become household names in later years. The people in his life included Dali, Picasso, and Stravinsky. He wrote poetry all his life, however it was in his building of Las Pozas that he realized himself as an artist.

Still intrigued?..... Visit the official website of Las Pozas here

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I can't believe this place is real, it looks like something out of a fairytale! How magical!

http://www.jasperandvine.com
xx

Peter said...

Edward James was a very interesting character. It was rumored that his father was King Edward VII. It was more scurrilously rumored that his grandfather was also King Edward VII. I guess both his mother and his grandmother strongly supported the monarchy.

Lally said...

I love love Edward James, what a visionary he was! I've always wanted to visit Las Pozas. I first heard of it through an acquaintance who had been a caretaker there in the 80s (what a dream job!) XX

Carla said...

Stunning!!!
Xox, Carla

http://mylifesthebeach.blogspot.com/

Rylin Mariel said...

I love Las Pozas!!! I just discovered it (online) a few months ago, via a Tim Walker photo shoot of Tilda Swinton there. I was enchanted, and started saving pics of the place from Online like crazy - have been in the process of uploading those to Pinterest over time since then...