What is meant by beautiful and sublime?
These very words have caused me much trouble in reaching an understanding of the meaning. Taken from the course notes, the most comprehensible definition is from Liz Wells (2011,p.48) " the sublime is associated with awe, danger and pain, with places where accidents happen, where things run beyond human control, where nature is untameable" .
With these words in mind I have tried to identify situations or places that relate to them.
First, I considered the forces of nature e.g. the power of the tides and waves that can wreak such destruction. In recent weeks there has been just these conditions and people have been drawn to go and witness them. One 18 year old lost his life in going to photograph, no doubt, to wonder with some awe, at the powerful waves and immensely high tides, exacerbated by strong to gale force winds. There is an associated feeling of fear.
Then I considered awe-inspiring geographical features such as the Grand Canyon, or a volcano or great waterfalls and imposing mountains. In one light they may appear beautiful, in another perhaps in adverse weather conditions, the definition above of sublime would definitely apply.
Again, from the course notes, Sigmund Freud gives the words 'uncanny' and the feeling of discomfort when seeing something that is simultaneously familiar and alien. 'Das Unheimliche' - unhomeliness in both location and also identity. (Course notes)
On the Tate website I discovered many more definitions of sublime which has altered through the ages.
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/the-sublime/project-overview-r1117556
Then I took heart when I read the quote below from "Taking inspiration from the rediscovery of the work of the classical author the so-called ‘Pseudo-Longinus’ and from the writings of the philosopher Edmund Burke, British artists and writers on art have explored the problem of the sublime for over four hundred years." [http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/the-sublime/what-is-the-sublime-r1109449]
With these words in mind I have tried to identify situations or places that relate to them.
First, I considered the forces of nature e.g. the power of the tides and waves that can wreak such destruction. In recent weeks there has been just these conditions and people have been drawn to go and witness them. One 18 year old lost his life in going to photograph, no doubt, to wonder with some awe, at the powerful waves and immensely high tides, exacerbated by strong to gale force winds. There is an associated feeling of fear.
Then I considered awe-inspiring geographical features such as the Grand Canyon, or a volcano or great waterfalls and imposing mountains. In one light they may appear beautiful, in another perhaps in adverse weather conditions, the definition above of sublime would definitely apply.
Again, from the course notes, Sigmund Freud gives the words 'uncanny' and the feeling of discomfort when seeing something that is simultaneously familiar and alien. 'Das Unheimliche' - unhomeliness in both location and also identity. (Course notes)
On the Tate website I discovered many more definitions of sublime which has altered through the ages.
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/the-sublime/project-overview-r1117556
Then I took heart when I read the quote below from "Taking inspiration from the rediscovery of the work of the classical author the so-called ‘Pseudo-Longinus’ and from the writings of the philosopher Edmund Burke, British artists and writers on art have explored the problem of the sublime for over four hundred years." [http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/the-sublime/what-is-the-sublime-r1109449]
Exercise 1.6: The Contemporary Abyss
'Staring into the Contemporary Abyss' by Simon Morley gives an overview of the sublime as a theme within visual culture.
In this exercise I shall choose a body of work which I feel explores the sublime. Using Morley's text to support what I say, I shall describe why I believe the work I have selected relates to the sublime.
My notes on the essay:
The essay by Simon Morley moves chronologically through the four centuries in which the "Sublime" has been a subject of discussion and portrayal in the world of Art. He demonstrates how the meaning and interpretation of "Sublime" has changed over this period and how it is probably still evolving. Edmund Burke said the sublime was "the heightened and perversely exalted feeling we often get from being threatened by something beyond our control or understanding"
In the eighteenth century it was described by Joseph Addison as something that 'fills the mind with an agreeable kind of horror'. Canvases were produced depicting grandiose and awe-inspiring land or seascapes often with small figures battling against the elements or other difficulties presented. The threat in some of them is almost tangible. (Click on 1-3 of the blue links below to see examples of this).
These works show elements of beauty and some had a religious element too.
Contemporary Sublime.
However in the 1950's and 60's the form of the sublime from the 18th and 19th centuries was rejected and a new minimal visual concept was developed to establish purity and also to reject kistschy popular culture. By the 1970's Sublime was interpreted more as transcendence (lying beyond the ordinary range of perception) rejecting traditional concepts. Examples 5 and 6 demonstrate a completely new way of seeing, or interpreting ideas, of which, apparently, you make of what you will. There was a move from American artists to separate their sublime interpretation away from the old ideas of Europe and also the religious connotations.
Albert Speer's Light Dome 1937 (see item 4) is a different concept and one that certainly inspires, awe, fear and the undertow of extreme power. Whether this is because I have the benefit of hindsight as to what was to follow or whether the event displaying anti-aircraft lights was awesome and terrifying in itself is hard to say.
Recent art work is often in the form of installations such as that of Mike Kelly, (see 11.), Olafur Eliasson's The Weather Project, Anish Kapoor's Marsyas 2002, How it Is, Balka, Wedgeworks by James Turrell (8), Douglas Gordon's Untitled (See 7), Mike Kelly (see 11) and Hiroshi Sugimoto's Union City Drive In (see 10).
Douglas Gordon and Mike Kelly both talk of Sublime as being synonymous with uncanny. Here the "blank Abyss" from Wordsworth is suggested.
As time passes the cutting edge of art becomes blunted, perhaps by familiarity. Where the boundaries have been pushed, new boundaries will appear. From Simon Morley: The eclipsing of the sublime in painting is part of the logic of the sublime experience itself.
In this exercise I shall choose a body of work which I feel explores the sublime. Using Morley's text to support what I say, I shall describe why I believe the work I have selected relates to the sublime.
My notes on the essay:
The essay by Simon Morley moves chronologically through the four centuries in which the "Sublime" has been a subject of discussion and portrayal in the world of Art. He demonstrates how the meaning and interpretation of "Sublime" has changed over this period and how it is probably still evolving. Edmund Burke said the sublime was "the heightened and perversely exalted feeling we often get from being threatened by something beyond our control or understanding"
In the eighteenth century it was described by Joseph Addison as something that 'fills the mind with an agreeable kind of horror'. Canvases were produced depicting grandiose and awe-inspiring land or seascapes often with small figures battling against the elements or other difficulties presented. The threat in some of them is almost tangible. (Click on 1-3 of the blue links below to see examples of this).
These works show elements of beauty and some had a religious element too.
Contemporary Sublime.
However in the 1950's and 60's the form of the sublime from the 18th and 19th centuries was rejected and a new minimal visual concept was developed to establish purity and also to reject kistschy popular culture. By the 1970's Sublime was interpreted more as transcendence (lying beyond the ordinary range of perception) rejecting traditional concepts. Examples 5 and 6 demonstrate a completely new way of seeing, or interpreting ideas, of which, apparently, you make of what you will. There was a move from American artists to separate their sublime interpretation away from the old ideas of Europe and also the religious connotations.
Albert Speer's Light Dome 1937 (see item 4) is a different concept and one that certainly inspires, awe, fear and the undertow of extreme power. Whether this is because I have the benefit of hindsight as to what was to follow or whether the event displaying anti-aircraft lights was awesome and terrifying in itself is hard to say.
Recent art work is often in the form of installations such as that of Mike Kelly, (see 11.), Olafur Eliasson's The Weather Project, Anish Kapoor's Marsyas 2002, How it Is, Balka, Wedgeworks by James Turrell (8), Douglas Gordon's Untitled (See 7), Mike Kelly (see 11) and Hiroshi Sugimoto's Union City Drive In (see 10).
Douglas Gordon and Mike Kelly both talk of Sublime as being synonymous with uncanny. Here the "blank Abyss" from Wordsworth is suggested.
As time passes the cutting edge of art becomes blunted, perhaps by familiarity. Where the boundaries have been pushed, new boundaries will appear. From Simon Morley: The eclipsing of the sublime in painting is part of the logic of the sublime experience itself.
- John_Martin_003.jpg Sadak in Search of the waters of Oblivion
- N00490_10.jpg Turner, Snow Storm: Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps
- Caspar_David_Friedrich_der-wanderer-ueber-dem-nebelmeer.jpg Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, David Friedrich.
- tumblr_ldl52n2o5I1qzprlbo1_500.png Albert Speer’s Light Dome consisting of 130 anti-aircraft searchlights, conceived for Hitler’s rally at the Zeppelinfeld in Nuremberg, 1937
- T04149_10.jpg Mark Rothko 'untitled'
- 1247_10.jpg 'Adam' and 1259_10.jpg 'Eve' Barnett Newman: ‘the impulse of modern art’ resides in the ‘desire to destroy beauty’
- 1266193176471_f.jpg Douglas Gordon 'Untitled" Douglas Gordon
- stonescape_outside_2copy-1024x681.jpg James Turrell .New Yorker critic Calvin Tompkins writes, “His work is not about light, or a record of light; it is light — the physical presence of light made manifest in sensory form.” Hallwedge_1976_C-819x1024.jpg Wedgeworks. In a Turrell Wedgework, the precise use of projected light creates the illusion of walls or barriers where none exist.
- Luc Tuyman Photography is part of the tool box of art and painting. His paintings in this show are about what you are trying to get across - not so much directly as under the skin.
- 07.Union-City-Drive-In.jpg Hiroshi Sugimoto, 1993 Gelatin Silver Print
- MikeKelley_John-Glenn-1_at-MoMA-PS1.jpg Mike Kelly, Installation artist Mike-Kelley_Switching-Marys-1.jpg
Ansell Adams Photography of Yosemite National Park, California
What have I found in this huge body of work that I could call sublime by the definitions given above?
What is awe inspiring, causing wonder, what is terrifying, what is unknown and uncanny? At first glance many of these pictures are pretty and attractive landscapes. But what is there in addition to that?
In the first example, 'Clearing Winter Storm' 1937, one can only be impressed by the enormity of the landscape and experience a feeling of wonderment. From Ansell Adams 400 Photographs, (Little, Brown and Company) p 419, he is quoted as saying " A moment of beauty is revealed and photographed; clouds, snow or rain then obscure the scene, only to clear in a different way with another inviting prospect". Perhaps the beauty could well be replaced by a sense of fear or impending doom according to the lighting or weather conditions. In that way there would be an additional factor towards the sublime.
My second example 'Nevada Fall Rainbow, Yosemite', displays the terrific force of nature in the form of the powerful waterfall and the low lying rainbow. There seems some relation of this with Burke's statement quoted above about the ' perversely exalted feeling we often get from being threatened '.
My third example is Half Dome and Cottonwood trees. This impressive granite rock formation is subject to land slips, one as recently as 2009. Looking at the photo, one can imagine the huge sound and dust that such an occurrence would cause. Both terrifying and awe inspiring.
Although most of the works are of apparently benign and beautiful scenes there is no denying the extreme forces of nature that they are subject to and have made the landscape what it is.
Ansell Adams returned to Yosemite time and again - the very nature of the place must have drawn him- although undoubtedly beautiful, in different weather conditions both threatening and . The small figure in these landscapes is in fact the photographer himself.
What is awe inspiring, causing wonder, what is terrifying, what is unknown and uncanny? At first glance many of these pictures are pretty and attractive landscapes. But what is there in addition to that?
In the first example, 'Clearing Winter Storm' 1937, one can only be impressed by the enormity of the landscape and experience a feeling of wonderment. From Ansell Adams 400 Photographs, (Little, Brown and Company) p 419, he is quoted as saying " A moment of beauty is revealed and photographed; clouds, snow or rain then obscure the scene, only to clear in a different way with another inviting prospect". Perhaps the beauty could well be replaced by a sense of fear or impending doom according to the lighting or weather conditions. In that way there would be an additional factor towards the sublime.
My second example 'Nevada Fall Rainbow, Yosemite', displays the terrific force of nature in the form of the powerful waterfall and the low lying rainbow. There seems some relation of this with Burke's statement quoted above about the ' perversely exalted feeling we often get from being threatened '.
My third example is Half Dome and Cottonwood trees. This impressive granite rock formation is subject to land slips, one as recently as 2009. Looking at the photo, one can imagine the huge sound and dust that such an occurrence would cause. Both terrifying and awe inspiring.
Although most of the works are of apparently benign and beautiful scenes there is no denying the extreme forces of nature that they are subject to and have made the landscape what it is.
Ansell Adams returned to Yosemite time and again - the very nature of the place must have drawn him- although undoubtedly beautiful, in different weather conditions both threatening and . The small figure in these landscapes is in fact the photographer himself.