Landscape and the Sublime

On The Beach (2003) Richard Misrach

Untitled 2 (2002) Richard Misrach

Wanderer In The Mists (1818) Caspar David Friedrich

1. What and when was the Enlightenment?

The Enlightenment happened during the midst of the 18th century and is commonly reffered to as the age of reason, and it was called that because this was the time "when man began to use his reason to discover the world, casting off the superstition and fear of the medieval world." Aude Sapere (1999.) The Enlightenment was thought of as not ideas but actual values and beliefs, this was because the ideas within The Enlightenment were often quite contradicting with each other, and so bought about the phenomenon inwhich people began to lead lives based on The Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was not only big in europe, but also in America and Australia, and other places as such.

2. Define the concept of the Sublime.

The Sublime in some ways, is much like The Enlightenment. The Sublime was the notion that us as humans were able to transend above and beyond normal human emotion. To be able to fully appreciate and become apart of The Sublime, one had to have the the belief that there was more to ourselves then what we could see. This includes the belief in paranormal activity, life after death, our souls not exclusively belonging to our bodies, and so forth.

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

The Sublime was one of the many ideas that the The Enlightenment gave birth to. In this new age of Enlightenment people had become accoustmed to taking in new beliefs that prior to the beginning of The Enlightenment they would of not had the mind brod enough to do so. We can see The Sublime coming through in many aspects of The Enlightenment, such as people opening their minds to the fact that although God was not the be all and end all, science still could not explain everything. Thus ideas began to form that suggested that there was life beyond death and perhaps it wasn't heaven or hell. The Sublime became a great concept to work with through art as it depicted great, vast landscapes completely secular, showing only the beauty and serenity of man in nature.

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.

Misrach was greatly known for his minimalistic approach to painting. Depicted in his works we see a stretch of land that quite clearly goes on for miles without anything except one or two people, clearly doing nothing but relaxing. Misrach opens our eyes up to the great nothing which is the beauty of nature, this is what The Sublime teaches. The amazing thing which is that no matter what we build and where, nature will always take its course and act of its own accord, and nothing we do is ever for sure or forever. Misrach draws us in to the beauty of nature and of The Sublime.

Man With Rifle (2001) Richard Misrach

5. Identify some other artists or designers that work with ideas around the Sublime, from the Enlightenment era as well as contemporary artists.

Another artist that worked largely around the idea of The Sublime was Salvador Dalí. He used bizarre out of place objects and painted them with the idea of the Sublime in context. As I have put here you see the melted clocks in the foreground of a vast background. He is obviously not as such a contemporary artist but did become a forerunner for this kind of work.

Persistence of Memory (1931) Salvador Ali

Barnett Newman was quoted as saying his work focused around some ideas of the Sublime and the Enlightenment. His work basically solely consisted of large paintings of one or two colours and could either leave plenty or not much at all to the imagination.

Untitled (1970) Barnett Newman

A famous photographer by the name of would take photographs of beautiful scenery from helicopters and paragliders and through what he photographs we can see is influenced largely by the Sublime.

Untitled (2002) Benutzer Flyout

Also another photographer who was famous for this kind if Sublime photography was David Wilman

Snowdonia (2010) David Wilman

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

Misrach's photography does to me exactly what he probably intended it to. He makes me feel at peace and serene and most defiently gives me a much greater appreciation for the Sublime. Because of the emptiness of space and landscape seen in his work it leaves plenty for the imagination. We begin to wonder what exactly Misrach saw we he took that particular photograph and if it is that same as we feel.

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

Japan Tsunami (2011) Unknown