Week 6-Landscape and the Sublime

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

''Untitled #2" (2002) Richard Misrach

 'Untitled" # 394-03' (2003) Richard Misrach

 

1. What and when was the Enlightenment?

The enlightenment was a philosophic movement of the 18th century ,in the European culture, marked by a rejection of traditional social, religious, and political ideas and an emphasis on rationalism. The Enlightenment include the idea that the universe is systematic though vast and complex; the belief that men and women are capable of understanding the universe; and the philosophy of Deism. The People of Enlightenment believed the mightiness of human knowledge and defied the tradition and the pre-established thoughts of the past. this is the period in which the humans became overconfident in the human Reason an rationality.The enlightenment was centered in France. The period is described as having a major influence on current ways of thinking in the West and therefore Western beliefs have in turn affected other non- Western cultures.

2. Define the concept of the Sublime.

The concept of the sublime, as articulated by Burke, contains a lurking paradox.  It is that we are drawn to things which cause us pain, terror. This paradox can be dissolved by saying that we find pleasure in the encounter with imagined or fictional pain, or that the aesthetically painful is prophylactic of real pain, or that the `pain' of the sublime is metaphorical that there is a pleasure in the sublime which we characterize as painful. The paradox is rather more obstinate than these summary resolutions suggest. The concept associated with nature such as, huge mountains, wild landscapes, or terrific storms..etc...

3. How did the concept of the Sublime come out of the Enlightenment thought?

The sublime is more about the nature and an experience of fear and divinity. The enlightenment is more about the emphasis of society instead of nature. I think that the sublime is coming through in a lot of ideas of the enlightenment and it started to open up people’s minds to think to the next level. The sublime gave the artists a greater view of new ideas and thoughts of the beauty of nature with man.

4. Discuss the subject matter, and aesthetic (look) of Misrach's work to identify the Sublime in his work. Add some more images of his work.

To me, the works of Misrach is a very obvious sublime landscape. All sublime landscapes have the same unique common feature and that is the background/view/nature holds nearly 98% of the whole art piece and only 2% are human. 

Swimmers, Pyramid Lake Indiana Reservation, Nevada, 1987-93

White Man Contemplating Pyramids, Egypt, 1989-1991

In these additional images we can see that the view of the lake and the view of the pyramids are the main images of his photography and the people inside only holds a very little part to even unrecognizable. That is what a sublime art suppose to look like.

6. How does Misrach's photography make you feel? Does it appeal to your imagination?

Misrach's photography diffidently gave me a different feeling compared to normal photography. It sent me a clear idea of mother nature is greater than human race. Greater as in so wide, so big that we can not ever measure or imagine. It also let me feel a sense of danger. We live on nature, we use , eat , create using what nature gives us and if one day it is destroyed, us humans would have nothing. Misrach's work let me realise how  important nature is to us and nature controls our lives.

7. Add a Sublime image of your choice to your blog, which can be Art or just a Sublime photograph.  

John Martin
The Great Day of His Wrath 1851–3 

 

 What was the Enlightenment

 http://www.enotes.com/history-fact-finder/eras-their-highlights/what-was-enlightenment

 THE PHILOSOPHIES OF ENLIGHTENMENT
 http://www.csudh.edu/phenom_studies/western/lect_8.html

Academic literacites resource book

The Sublime
http://www.selectedworks.co.uk/sublime.html

MoCP

http://www.mocp.org/collections/permanent/misrach_richard.php

Art and the Sublime

http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/sublimeincrisis/default.shtm