“Our England is a garden that is full of stately views,
Of borders, beds and shrubberies
and lawns and avenues,
With statues on the terraces
and peacocks strutting by;
But the Glory of the Garden
lies in more than meets the eye.
For where the old thick laurels grow,
along the thin red wall,
You’ll find the tool- and potting-sheds
which are the heart of all,
The cold-frames and the hot-houses,
the dungpits and the tanks,
The rollers, carts and drain-pipes,
with the barrows and the planks.
And there you’ll see the gardeners,
the men and ’Prentice boys
Told off to do as they are bid
and do it without noise;
For, except when seeds are planted
and we shout to scare the birds,
The Glory of the Garden it abideth not in words.
And some can pot begonias
and some can bud a rose,
And some are hardly fit to trust
with anything that grows;
But they can roll and trim the lawns
and sift the sand and loam,
For the Glory of the Garden occupieth all who come.
Our England is a garden,
and such gardens are not made
By singing:—'Oh, how beautiful!'
and sitting in the shade,
While better men than we go out
and start their working lives
At grubbing weeds from gravel-paths
with broken dinner-knives.
There’s not a pair of legs so thin,
there’s not a head so thick,
There’s not a hand so weak and white,
nor yet a heart so sick,
But it can find some needful job
that’s crying to be done,
For the Glory of the Garden glorifieth everyone.
Then seek your job with thankfulness
and work till further orders,
If it’s only netting strawberries
or killing slugs on borders;
And when your back stops aching
and your hands begin to harden,
You will find yourself a partner
in the Glory of the Garden.
Oh, Adam was a gardener,
and God who made him sees
That half a proper gardener’s work
is done upon his knees,
So when your work is finished,
you can wash your hands and pray
For the Glory of the Garden that it may not pass away!
And the Glory of the Garden it shall never pass away!"
— Rudyard Kipling, 'The Glory of the Garden'
Kipling Gardens, Brighton, UK
Provenance
Katharina Rich Perlow Gallery, New York Acquired from the above by the present owner
Scott Kahn (b. 1946) is an American painter. He received his BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA from Rutgers University. He is now best known for the explosion of his own market on the international stage late in his career and over the last five years. His subject matter reflects the people and places of America, primarily influenced by the bucolic landscapes and daily life of the northeast, USA.
Kahn has been a recipient of awards from the Pollock Krasner Foundation and a residency at the Edward Albee Foundation in Montauk. His work is included in major corporations and two museums in China, including the Long Museum, and the ICA Miami in Florida. His work is in the collection of the University of Pennsylvania, his alma mater.
signed and dated 'Scott Kahn 91' lower right; further signed, titled, inscribed and dated '"THE KIPLING GARDENS" KAHN 1991 @1991 by Scott Kahn all rights reserved' on the overlap oil on canvas 75.9 x 81 cm. (29 7/8 x 31 7/8 in.) Painted in 1991.