Roberto Burle Marx is well known for his innovative, abstract, tropical modernist landscape designs, and for his advocacy in protecting Brazil's natural landscapes and exotic flora. His first commission, completed in 1932 with the architects Gregori Warchavchik and Lúcio Costa, marked the beginning of his many collaborations with Costa and, later, Oscar Niemeyer. Burle Marx's designs are widely admired and have influenced many subsequent landscape designers around the world. His work has been celebrated in numerous exhibitions, including recent shows at the Museum of Brazilian Sculpture in São Paulo and the Jewish Museum in New York. Catherine Seavitt Nordenson's Depositions: Roberto Burle Marx and Public Landscapes under Dictatorship interrogates Burle Marx's legacy, exploring the nuances of his role as a designer, conservationist, and public figure working under Brazil's dictatorial military government, which lasted from 1964 until 1985.

Nordenson analyzes eighteen position papers, or depositions, that Burle Marx presented and published from 1967 to 1974 while serving on the advisory board of the Ministry of Education and Culture and as a member of the Federal Council of Culture. Addressing issues of land conservation and the ecological devastation of Brazilian landscapes, Burle Marx generally opposed the government's strategy …