Geese by a Tropical Pond, Ornamental Garden, 1950s

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Geese by a Tropical Pond, Ornamental Garden, 1950s — Archive & Atlas

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Geese by a Tropical Pond, Ornamental Garden, 1950s — Archive & Atlas

Unattributed 1950–1959

AA-2026-B64D0F

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A small group of domestic geese mills about on a lawn at the edge of an ornamental pond, doing what geese have always done, which is nothing in particular but with great conviction. The pond reflects a stand of palms and what appears to be a weeping willow, the combination suggesting a carefully designed subtropical garden of the kind that flourished in Florida or coastal Gulf states during the postwar tourism boom, when botanical gardens and estate grounds competed to offer northerners their first convincing proof that the tropics were accessible by automobile. Someone with a camera pointed it at the birds rather than the family, which in the 1950s was itself a small statement — the snapshot as a record of place rather than people, the landscape worth keeping. The geese, indifferent to their role as living garden ornament, were almost certainly owned by the property rather than wild, since semi-tame waterfowl on manicured grounds were a fixture of the genteel American garden attraction, right alongside the reflecting pool and the donor plaque. They will still be standing there, in some form, long after the visitor has driven home and forgotten the name of the place.

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