Landscape and Sublime

1.What and when was the Enlightenment?

The 16th and 17th century was the period of time during where Enlightenment had arisen. It was a period of time where the population began to veer from the conservative views of church and its traditions, and began to explore the universe for-themselves making there own judgements and thoughts of their surroundings. As a result of the Enlightenment philosophies has arose being; Reason, Empiricism, Science, Universalism, Progress, Individualism, Toleration, Freedom, Uniformity of human Nature, and Secularism.

2.Define the concept of the Sublime.

is when something has the quality of greatness, whether being physical, moral, intellectual, metaphysical, aesthetic, spiritual, or artistic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sublime_(philosophy)). It can also be described as something that has that certain wow factor in which nothing can ever compare to.

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

When the concept of enlightenment came out man has started to explore the world. Therefore they started to make their own judgements and views of their surroundings. Because they had started to move away from the traditions and views of the church it had sparked thoughts that there is something of greatness out there in the world. This greatness was beyond all possibility of calculation, measurement or imitation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sublime_(philosophy)).

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

American photographer Daniel Misrach is known for his photographs of human intervention in landscapes. One of his most recent works ‘On the Beach’ was done as series in which he used to show the beautiful landscape and mans complex relationship with it. ‘On the Beach’ had been inspired from the 911 attacks in which where taken directly afterwards. his works consist of large scaled photographs which are 6 by 12 feet, this allows you too see detailed expressions even a quarter of a mile out of sea dgashdhasdfgasfdgh. The photographs “ at first glance its people on the beach, frolicking in the water were used to seeing things like that in travel magazines” hdasdhjgasdgjasdgjh. He was very careful in the choosing of the pictures to give that sense of ambiguity, so that you look at them and think, “maybe some of them are not to safe after all”. the ocean was used metaphorically to show the ocean as the unknown. This really identifies the sublime as we are in awe of it beauty and are unaware of how dangerous and scary it can be (http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/26514/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.

Andreas Gursky- Known for his architectural landscape photography (above)

François Boucher, The Triumph of Venus, 1740 (above)

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

Misratchs photography at first gave me the impression of beauties of nature in which we interact with. But once looking closer (especially the cover photo of ‘On the Beach’) is gave me an unease feeling of that of no control of what could happen. The ocean is an unknown territory to most humans and is not exactly an environment in which we feel as comfortable as on ground. there is a feeling off unknown such as creatures. This appeals to my imagination as the cover picture almost makes me feel as if a shark or creature could just pop up and get him unexpectedly. My mind also thinks that there is a strong sense of lack of control and that anything can happen without being able to calculate it.

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