Amelia Grafas

Week 6-Landscape and the Sublime

'Wanderer in the mists' (1818) Caspar David Friedrich

1. Define the Enlightenment, including its context (time and place).

The Enlightenment was a cultureal movement which took place in the 18th century in Europe and America.

2. Define the concept of the Sublime.

Edmund Burke describes the sublime to be "The ultimate experience of divinity , a mixture of awe, fear, and enlightenment produced by the contemplation of a powerful, terrifying nature"

- a philosophical enquiry into the origin of our ideas of the sublime and beautiful, london, 1757 , in collected works, T.W. copeland, ed, london: 1865-1867 . page 110 ALVC 2012 booklet.

3. Explain how the concept of the Sublime came out of Enlightenment thought.

The Enlightenment was a period in time when people would make their own decisions instead of listening to the government or following a religion. Sublime art came out of this because people started becoming more expressive with their art and started to paint landscape instead of religious paintings. Although landscape paintings were at the bottom of art importance, it became more acceptable.

4. Discuss the subject matter, and aesthetic (look) of Misrach's work to identify the Sublime in his work. Include some quotes from art critics and other writers who have written about his work.

The photographs shown below are about nature and the human being. Misrach's photographs have purposfully placed the human figure in the image to show how muvh bigger the landscape and the earth is compared to the human size.
“I was drawn to the fragility and grace of the human figure in the landscape,” Misrach wrote of the series. “My thinking about this work was influenced by the events of 9/11, particularly by the images of individuals and couples falling from the World Trade Towers, as well as by the 1950s Cold War novel and film, On the Beach. Paradise has become an uneasy dwelling place; the sublime sea frames our vulnerability, the precarious nature of life itself.” -This entry was posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 12:00 pm ET by Conor Risch and is filed under Documentary, Fine Art, Landscape, Science/Nature.

5. Add 2 new images of his work to your blog.

6. Describe how does Misrach's photography makes you feel. How does it appeal to your imagination?
I have always thought to myself as being very tiny compared to the world. Seeing these photographs makes me want to explore the world and see what else the world has to offer. It appeals to my imagination because now I feel as though anything can squash me.
7. Identify some other artists or designers that work with ideas around the Sublime, from the Enlightenment era as well as contemporary artists. Mark Rothko, J.M.V. Turner