The Rhetorical Force of Landscape Art
Why talk about a rhetoric of images? The most obvious answer is that we live in an image-saturated society and a relevant rhetoric must pay attention to images, that W. J. T. Mitchell is right when he suggests that the rhetorical turn is being displaced by the pictorial turn. Beyond the obvious, the answers are multiple and layered. I want to suggest some answers by looking at some old pictures: Carleton Watkins' landscape photographs of Yosemite and William Henry Jackson's landscape photographs and Thomas Moran's water colors and paintings of Yellowstone. At a basic level, if rhetoric is, at the very least, about persuasion in conventional politics, images merit a look and have
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Moran and Jackson accompanied the U.S. Geological Survey of the
Territories to Yellowstone in 1871. Their presence was not accidental.
Jackson had recently become a permanent member of the expedition. Moran was sent with the backing of the Northern Pacific Railroad and Scribner's to join the expedition. Ferdinand Hayden, the expedition's leader, was aware of the value of public relations and was also under orders from the
Secretary of the Interior to "secure as full material as possible for the illustration of your final report, such as sketches, photographs, etc.,"(quoted in Kinsey, 1992, p. 49). As photographer Jackson recalled,
"No photographs had as yet been published, and Dr. Hayden was determined that the first ones should be good. A series of fine pictures would not only supplement his final report but tell the story to thousands who might never read it" (1940, p. 196). Jackson's photographs and Moran's watercolors and illustrations were instrumental in the successful lobbying effort to get Congress to designate Yellowstone the country's first national park. More significantly, I contend that the landscape art of Watkins, Jackson, and Moran are not merely evidence in a conventional political argument.
They are not simply representing reality or making an argument about
The illustration in #7.16, Trestle Work, Promontory Point, Salt Lake Valley by Andrew J.Russell is an image of a railroad track connecting two paths with men working on the site. Russell believed that the west was a great location to conduct his work because of the openness and freedom that was out there. Also to observe the natural scenery that it has to offer, which many have traveled to obtain such freedom and visual aspects of nature. As for #7.17, El Eaches or Three Brothers by Carleton E. Watkins is a description of a landscape winter forest by a lake, his purpose for this image was to capture the viewer's attention with the richness and the detail of the forest. For an individual to absorb the composition of the mountains in the picture
1. Karl Jacoby book brings the remarkable accounting of the negative aspects of conservation movement to the sunlight. Jacoby uses the early years of Adirondack Park, Yellowstone National Park, and the Grand Canyon Forest Preserve to demonstrate his theme of the locals’ reactions to the creation of the park and the actions from the conservationists. And the fantasies the early conservationists’ promulgated of the locals of being satanic rapists of the environment are dispelled (193).
They contributed many photo essays to Arizona Highways, though Adams was less than thrilled with their color reproductions. Still, they are important for they championed a “uniqueness of the ‘American’ earth at a time when other artists and intellectuals were drawn to ideas of internationalism” (Dunaway, 2005, p. 131). The Sierra Club’s new storytelling technique the coffee table book and National Geographic’s photo-driven essays also grew in popularity. Other conservation organizations quickly grasped the value of photos as a way to appeal to Americans on a more personal and intimate level the importance of humanity’s relationship with land and nature (Corbett, 2006; Neuzil, 2008; Sierra Club,
“Sometimes the easiest way to solve a problem is to stop participating in the problem”
Carol Payne’s, “How Shall We Use These Gifts?” Imagining the Land in the National Film Board of Canada’s Still Photography Division,” is a 2007 Canadian article that discusses how the presentation of Canadian landscapes in the 1950’s and 1960’s by the National Film Board (NFB) and its Still Photography Division created a false reality of economic and resource rich value that many come to believe as true.
As Adams pursued his work in both art and conservation the various lines of his life were beginning to converge revealing both the unity and the disjunction of his ideas. 137 His impact was felt on both spheres of influence. Using modern techniques of mass communications, Adams brought a vision of idealized wilderness to a broad audience and linked the environmental movement with nationalism and a romantic view of nature. The sustained popularity of his photographs illuminates a continuing public fascination with the wilderness landscape as both a place of beauty and a symbol of national identity and ideals. (Pacific 42) Most leaders within the conservation movement continued to share his ideal assuming that economic growth and wilderness
America’s National Parks are deeply indebted to the American photographer Ansel Adams. Through his masterful photography, he turned Yosemite National Park into an American icon. Ansel spent the majority of his life fighting for the National Parks through intense political activism. He was a key figure in conservation in the United States, beginning in a time when environmental conservation was a rare concept.
In the year of 1938, during the Nuremburg Conference, a man stands up to deliver the closing speech. This speech is not particularly as well known or as significant as many of his other speeches, but the words of this thin and paunchy man are strong and resolute. He states, “When the question is still put to us why National Socialism fights with such fanaticism against the Jewish element in Germany, why it pressed and still presses for its removal then the answer can only be: Because National Socialism desires to establish a true community of the people…. Because we are National Socialists, we can never suffer an alien race which has nothing to do with us to claim the leadership of our working people
I attended the Art & Geology: Landscape Impressions exhibition in the Martha Gault Art Gallery located on campus. The art work was from students who go here at Slippery Rock University and was a collaboration between the Art & Geology department and the Geography & the Environment department. The students went to the Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Dr. Patrick Burkhart has been taking students the Badlands National Park for years and decided to bring along Dr. Katherine Mickle. 10 years later, both Art and Geography students, Dr. Burkhart, and Dr. Mickle go as one group to coordinately go over the landscape. All the artwork was very fascinating to look at and each was unique and taken from or inspired by the Badlands. A lot of the artwork
Inadequate communication between two individuals can result to impromptu complexity that can generate further problems buried within the relationship. Ernest Hemingway’s short story, “Hills Like White Elephants”, depicts an American man and women undergoing a vivid and sensible conversation whilst waiting for a train to Barcelona. The prominent theme throughout this anecdote is the problem of communication that can be illustrated via the elements of realism and metaphor. This is evident from beginning to end through Hemingway’s choice of language and structure that inhibits complication, conflict and miscommunication between the two unnamed characters. Communication is a fundamental issue that can be related to the diverse gender relations,
In “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway the two main themes are failure of communication between men and women and the woman’s acceptance of abortion. Hemingway a uses higher to middle-class couple in Spain (dislocation) to explore the theme of male-female miscommunication. Hemingway’s short simple well-constructed writing technique gets points across within the smallest amount of wording. The technique connects to miscommunication fairly well. Due to the writing being allusive, the theme of abortion is kept in the background.
In Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants”, Hemingway exposes the story of two young lovers struggling with an important decision. The story begins on a hot summer day and the couple is enjoying themselves, tasting different beers. They are conversing with one another, but are speaking all in metaphors about their current situation. Hemingway’s subliminal diction is essential to the comprehension of this piece. Hemingway successfully portrays the couple facing their complicated decision in “Hills Like White Elephants” by using symbolism, third person point of view, and
However, Adams faced criticism and struggled with each noble act he committed. In the simplest terms, Adams was a true conservationist. He wanted to preserve not only the physical land, but its wild, pristine spirit. He feared, as many environmentalists now fear, that the parks would become “’loved to death’ by backpackers and other visitors, through sheer weight of numbers” (Turnage 5). Perhaps, his belief that the parks should be left alone accounts for the reason why he never photographed any people in his scenery, a criticism his works face today. However, Ansel Adams took pictures worthy of the words of such legendary writers as Rachel Carson or Ed Abbey. His art was fundamental to the success and expansion of the environmental movement. As truly heroic deeds are never forgotten, Ansel Adams’ voice, art, mission, and passion will continue to captivate audiences and motivate Americans to protect their environment in every
In Thomas Cole’s Essay on American Scenery, the reader is able to appreciate Cole’s predilection and love for the American scenery. It is his belief this scenery is superior to the European scenery, since the latter’s “primitive features of scenery have long since been destroyed or modified … to accommodate the tastes and necessities of a dense population.” However, Cole presents his audience with a gloomy prophecy about America’s future, which he believes will be the same as Europe’s. Still, while acknowledging that industrialization could eventually take over many natural regions, Cole is hopeful that nature will remain victorious, since it will still be predominant. Because of this, he advises the American people to take advantage of
In Nature & Landscape: An Introduction to Environmental Aesthetics, Allen Carlson proposes that scientific knowledge can enhance our aesthetic appreciation of the natural world. He draws a connection between technical know-how used in the context of natural landscapes and art history or criticism in the context of conventional art forms. In either case, the viewer would find relatively more meaningful experiences of aesthetic appreciation than if one looked at a painting or landscape without any prior knowledge about it. Carlson endorses this point within his larger Natural Environmental Model, which asserts that though the environment is not entirely of our creation, it does not mean that we have to approach it without any prior understanding.