Political landscape: the art history of nature

Abstract

Warnke finds evidence of the politicized landscape everywhere, on nature's own ground and in art, artifacts, and architecture, in features defined by the demands of conquest and defense, property rights and picturesque improvement, trade, tradition, communication, and commemoration. Whether considering the role of landscape in battle depictions; or investigating monumental figures from the Colossus of Rhodes to Mount Rushmore; or asking why gold backgrounds in paintings gave way to mountains topped with castles; Political Landscape reconfigures our idea of landscape, its significance, and its representations. The book sharpens our perceptions of nature in art and as art - a nature charged with symbol and meaning as a result of interventions by turns enlightened, insensitive, or, as now, dangerously corrosive.

Contents

1. The Occupation of the Plain -- 2. Hills and Castles -- 3. From Battlefield to War Landscape -- 4. Nature's Freedom as Political Freedom -- 5. Natural Forces and Natural Forms -- 6. Political Nature Imagery.