Founder of her namesake garden ornament firm, Barbara Israel grew up on a spacious New Jersey farm among gardens and antiques of her grandmothers. After college, working as a social worker and on Wall Street, she married and volunteered at an auction house. One day in the mid ’80s, while scouting an estate garden collection, she spontaneously acquired it, trucked the three-and-a-half dozen neoclassical ornaments to her home, and sold them at an impromptu tag sale, an episode that launched her career. “I remember going to order cards for myself and thinking: ‘Am I in business doing this?!’” Barbara Israel Garden Antiques has become a leading international source and her book Antique Garden Ornament: Two Centuries of American Taste is the definitive guide to the field.
Israel and her husband, Tom (parents of three adults, grandparents to five), plus their Cavalier puppy Magnolia, divide time between their NYC apartment and their Katonah farmhouse—its garden embellished with a neoclassical statue of Flora derived from that original estate collection, and Barbara’s favorite piece, a giant stone Japanese tortoise converted into a fountain.
How do you define garden ornaments?
They are pieces of cast iron, bronze, terra-cotta, marble, lead, carved and composition stone, made in editions of multiples. If it’s just a single piece, signed by an artist, it’s a work of art.
Why are vintage pieces preferable to modern?
It’s the weathering and the patina. You can take a new piece and faux weather it, but an older piece has an appeal that makes a new garden look old, there’s history in it. People realize their lives are transitory, and there’s a nice feeling about something that is older than they’ll ever be.
How do they enhance the landscape?
They add a focal point that draws your eye. If there’s an allée and you put a statue at the end, the allée looks longer or more interesting.
What purpose is served by a bench?
A bench is a point to sit down, and it offers a place to look and enjoy the view. The most in-touch you are is when you have a fountain making noise, so that you’re actually listening to nature, communing with the garden.
Which category of ornament style is most popular?
Armillary spheres—open globes. They show the paths of celestial bodies, and you can see through them. Astronomers used them. They sit on top of a pedestal and can be sundials. If you have an old brick Georgian house or very modern house, they can match any style. They’ve been popular since I began and still are now.
What are rules for placing garden ornaments?
The subject, proportions and dimensions must be right, and the style of the house should relate to the object. The best advice I got from an architect is “the informal pieces go far from the house and the formal closer to the house.” A pair of seated lions with paws in front would go on either side of a front door, a cast-iron deer would be lifelike at the edge of the woods, a crane near a pond or swimming pool.
What missteps do you see in acquiring garden ornamentation?
Buying at auction or sight unseen. Pieces have been outdoors and some have suffered. The important thing is knowing the condition. And you don’t want to have too many pieces—Victorians were famous for overloading gardens.
What upkeep is required?
Every material has a different way of being maintained. You don’t want water, and freezing conditions can affect all kinds of things. Marble doesn’t do well in humidity, terra-cotta isn’t always weather hardy, cast iron is hardest because it’s a ferrous metal that rusts. We suggest bringing them indoors or covering them, but not with plastic garbage bags that retain moisture. We offer covers, a dull color, waterproof and breathable to inhibit mold.
What contemporary manufacturers are producing future collectibles?
Cavendish Stone, Haddonstone, and Heritage Handmade Garden Collections have items that will probably last.
What public garden sets a good example of displaying ornamental pieces?
Any garden in England: Rousham Park in Oxfordshire is one of my favorites—there aren’t many statues, but the ones they have are so beautifully placed. In the U.S., the Untermyer Garden in Yonkers is undergoing a 14-year restoration. It has canals, a long allée with huge columns topped with griffins, and an Indo-Persian garden that is simply stunning.
