As the author of 21 books on landscape and garden topics, London-based critic and historian Tim Richardson is recognised internationally as a leading commentator on the global scene. Known for his sharp and witty observations, Tim says that his intention is always, ‘to step back, and take the wider view, and the longer view’. He has produced monographs on the work of Tom Stuart-Smith and Martha Schwartz, while his 2007 book Avant Gardeners named and defined the international movement known as landscape conceptualism. His 2006 book The Arcadian Friends proved to be a seminal text on the 18th-century English landscape garden, with its emphasis on the politics of the period. It lies at the heart of Tim’s course on the history of the English landscape which is currently taught via Oxford University (where Tim studied English Literature).
For many years a columnist on The Daily Telegraph, Tim has also been landscape editor at Wallpaper magazine and gardens editor at Country Life. He is currently art critic at The Idler magazine. Tim is an advisor to the National Trust on historic gardens and in the 2010s was professor of landscape art at Vienna University. He is a fellow of the Linnean Society and of the Society of Antiquaries in London. In 2012 he founded and until 2023 directed the unfunded and volunteer-run Chelsea Fringe Festival, which inspired more than 2,500 unique events in some 23 countries.
