Landscape and the Sublime

1. What and when was the Enlightenment.
According to 'www.philosopher.org' the core period of Enlightenment was the second half of the eighteenth century. The characteristics of Enlightenment involve skepticism towards the beliefs and doctrines that the church had enforced on society. It involved the importance of individualism, science and experimenting, the use of reason and that education can drive for social change and the demand for political representation.
It was an intellectual movement that brought on the ideology of humanism, people being able to think for themselves and gain their own opinions through their own experiences or experiments. To observe human life and the universe rather than settling for what the church has enforced.

2. Define the concept of the Sublime.
- "Aesthetic category associated with ideas of awe, intensity ruggedness, terror, and vastness emphasizing Man's relative insignificance in the face of Nature, arousing emotions, and stimulating the imagination."
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O1-Sublime.html

- "The sublime is a form of expression in literature in which the author refers to things in nature or art that affect the mind with a sense of overwhelming grandeur or irresistible power. It is calculated to inspire awe, deep reverence, or lofty emotion, by reason of its beauty, vastness, or grandeur"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sublime_%28literary%29

3. How did the concept of the Sublime come out of the Enlightenment thought?
With exploring human life and the universe being a factor of the Enlightenment, it included the beauty of nature in which we are surrounded. This meant that the majestic landscapes and other wonders of our natural environment had become more recognized by artists of the Enlightenment era.

4. Discuss the subject matter, and aesthetic of Misrach's work to identify the Sublime in his work.
Richard Misrach is an American photographer who was born in 1949, Los Angeles. In the 1970’s, he helped pioneer the renaissance of color photography and large-scale presentation that are widespread practice today.
Misrach is well known for his work, photographing the deserts of America for more then 20 years. He has a passion for capturing every Sublime glance of the worlds natural creations, and through the beauty of God's creation, we, as an audience of his work, find the beauty in his photography. He focuses on revealing the different features of nature, landscapes as well as seascapes. To show the wonders of nature and how it deserves to be appreciated.



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

Caspar David Friedrich
A 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter



6. How does Misrach's photography make you feel? Does it appeal to your imagination?
Misrach's art shows landscape and nature, making me, as a viewer feel inadequate in comparison to the vast wonders of the worlds natural creation. My attention is drawn not only to the sublime landscape but to how the image gives off a sense of surrealism, how for some reason the contents of the image seem non-existent. And not only is it beautiful and aesthetically attractive, but it gives off an eerie atmosphere, an amazing yet somewhat abandoned piece of land, so it may seem. With this reaction, i can either find myself at peace with the image, or slightly uneasy with curiosity.

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


References:
http://www.philosopher.org.uk/enl.htm
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O1-Sublime.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sublime_%28literary%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Misrach