The Anthropocene is a geological unit of time, continually describing the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity began to have a significant impact until now. It takes into account the effects on the Earth’s geology, landscape, climate, limnology and ecosystems. This geologic time scale is split into hierarchical series of smaller lengths of time, descending in length of time: eons, eras, periods, epochs and ages. These units of time are composed through the classification of the Earth’s rock layers and the fossils found within them. Through this, scientists can examine the correlation between the certain organism’s characteristics of the certain parts of the geologic record – stratigraphy.

The word Anthropocene comes from the Greek terms for human (‘anthropo’) and new (‘cene’), but its definition is controversial. It was coined in the 1980s, then popularised in 2000 by atmospheric chemist Paul J Crutzen and diatom researcher Eugene F Stoermer. The Earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old while humans have been here for a much smaller scale, yet irreversible influence has taken place on biodiversity and nature, fundamentally altering the Earth’s physical, chemical and biological code. In the last 60 years, the Great Acceleration has began. This is a term used for the increasing rate at which human impacts are unfolding at an unprecedented scale and speed, causing the globe to deteriorate and become more modified, spiralling downwards. Being the most influential species of the planet, human behaviour has created a snowball effect of significant impacts not only for other ecosystems or species but ourselves too. Just a few of these are:

• Carbon dioxide emissions,
• Global warming,
• Ocean acidification,
• Habitat destruction,
• Extinction,
• Widescale natural resource extraction,
• An increase in extremeness and frequency of severe weather conditions e.g earthquakes, tornados and storms

In photography, the scientific research of The Anthropocene is used to document and investigate the substantial impact humans actions have had on the state, dynamic and future of the planet. The burning of trees releases carbon however, when all the other trees have been destroyed for urbanization, there aren’t any nearby to take in this carbon and revert it. As a result, this carbon goes up into the atmosphere and begins to create holes in the ozone layer. This then provides the sun to be able to get its harmful rays in even stronger as the ozone layer acts as protection. This heats up the globe and continues our path down global warming. Alongside this, the burning of fossil fuels releases harmful toxins which contribute to this issue which is a result of the constant redevelopment of areas around the globe. This is a continuous cycle, especially in over-populated cities in countries such as Tokyo, Mumbai and Manila, causing people to begin moving out into the countryside/ more vacant areas further from the city to compensate for this, resulting in further destruction of natural spaces contributing to the growth of climate change. For example, in 2014 the global population was 7.3 billion however it is now 8.1 billion. If civilisation doesn’t move towards more sustainable lifestyles such as the refusal of consistently burning fossil fuels, even more dramatic changes could occur which could be incredibly life-threatening for the human species too, as if it is nature taking its revenge.

The opposing side of The Anthropocene epoch is The Symbiocene, a vision created by scholar Glenn Albrecht.This is an idea to stimulate all humans to create a future where positive Earth emotions will prevail over negative aspects, allowing the period of reintegration between humans and the rest of nature to begin. Some principles of this are:

• The full elimination of toxic-to-life substances,
• The complete and safe biodegradability of all materials in human use (e.g plastic)
• Exploitation of non-polluting forms of safe, renewable energy,
• Priority use of the renewable resources of locality and regions,

The idea of all materials becoming biodegradable is one of the many vital aspects at the moment. It is estimated there is now 5.25 trillion macro and micro pieces of plastic in our oceans at the moment, meaning that there would approximately be 46,000 pieces in every square mile of ocean. The weight of this on land would amount to about 269,000 tonnes. Not only is this incredibly harmful to sea life and even species on land, but once this is ingested by the fish we eat it ends up in our own food.

Nearly one-quarter of the world’s plastic waste is mismanaged or littered. Around 82 million tonnes. This means it’s not stored in secure landfills, recycled or incinerated. One-quarter of that – 19 million tonnes – is leaked to the environment. 13 million tonnes to terrestrial environments, and 6 million tonnes to rivers or coastlines. 1.7 million tonnes of this is then transported to the ocean: 1.4 million tonnes from rivers, and 0.3 million tonnes from coastlines. The rest of the plastic waste that was leaked into aquatic environments accumulated in rivers and lakes.

https://ourworldindata.org/how-much-plastic-waste-ends-up-in-the-ocean

Mood Board:

-The Anthropocene Project

I went through each of my images and rejected the ones that were blurry, angled in an awkward way or lack the detail that I wanted to capture. I created images of my own, however I also created responses to my artist references: Bernd & Hilla Becher and Joe Deal.

Contact Sheets:

I created virtual copies of my favourites so that I could experiment with them in black and white alongside other tones and temperatures.

My Best Images:

(Bernd and Hilla Becher inspired images)

This image would be my favourite as I think the light has hit off the metal so perfectly so it didn’t require much editing. I think the composition has worked together well too by zooming in on a smaller area of these structures.

Joe Deal inspired images:

In this image I chose to shoot a construction site against a modern house as I feel this shows how modernisation is taking over from typical buildings and structures.

My own:

I took this image as I liked the contrast of the new modernized building behind an older, more timely structure as its a prime example of how society progresses.

Similarly, I shot this image with the same idea behind it. This structure used to be a part of an old railway track flowing around the island however, they are no longer is use. I wanted to capture this as there is black graffiti on the bench showing the change in timeline. I also wanted to do this as people would usually just walk past the many of these huts located around the island without even acknowledging the history behind it.

Similarly, I liked the contrast in this image with the new modern flats in the background of an obviously old wall as it shows the fast progression we have as a society. It shows the rise of modernisation.

‘buildings where anonymity is accepted to be the style’.

Bernhard “Bernd” Becher and Hilla Becher, née Wobeser (1931–2007; 1934–2015) were a married collaborative duo of German conceptual artists and photographers. In the forty years in which they worked together, they are best known for their extensive focuses on the disappearing industrial structures and buildings, often arranging them into grid formats. They are said to have changed the course of late twentieth- century photography and pioneering the thought behind these industrial spaces being something made, artifacts frozen in time to tell a story of history.

They originally began working together in 1959 after meeting each other at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in 1957. Bernd began as a painter whilst Hilla was a trained commercial photographer, marrying after two years. The documentary style of their images were of water towers, coal bunkers, gas tanks and factories just to name a few, presented in black and whit in the form of typologies. These images never including people and just focused on the industrial structure. These images focused on Western Europe and North America where the modern era was fuelled. The Becher’s tended to call the subjects of their work ‘anonymous sculptures’, leading to this referral, and produced a very successful photobook of these images in 1970. This meant that in 1990, they received an award at the Venice Biennale for sculpture due to the powerful ability they had to illustrate the sculptural properties of architecture in such an aesthetic way. The themes represented in their work was commonly about overlooked beauty and compiling an in-depth study of the intricate relationship between form and function. This addressed the effect of industry on the economy and environment.

Typologies:

a set of images made with a common subject or idea in mind, repeated through out the set. 

One of the first photographic typological studies was by the German photographer August Sander, whose epic project ‘People of the 20th Century’. He produced a large volume of portraits entitled ‘The Face of Our Time’ in 1929. Sander categorised his portraits according to their profession and social class. This methodical and disciplined approach later influenced many other photographers at an enormous scale, notably Bernd and Hilla Becher. Each image is replicated in a consistent style, shooting from the exact same angle and distance from the same building, documenting how the building would change over time going unnoticed. This not only makes the viewer become more considerate of their surroundings, but question the subject’s reasoning/place in the world. It also invokes questioning revolving around the rate at which we develop as a society – for example these industrial structures are being taken down for developments to move towards urbanization and modernization. Bernd and Hilla Becher also used this technique to group images together of structures that had similar styles, just with size differentiations, yet still keeping that structure consistent throughout the grid. Each subject has a relationship with the other.

They used a large-format camera and carefully positioned it under overcast skies. This was necessary to record shadowless front and side elevation views of their subjects in a deadpan way.

Their key pieces of work began with their first photobook in 1970 named ‘Anonymous Sculptures’, being their most well-known piece. The title was chosen through not only the referral of their images as ‘sculptures’ but due to Marcel Duchamp’s ready-mades:

This noted that the Bechers acted as if these industrial pieces of history were like found objects. This photobook acted like an encyclopaedic inventory, documenting kilns, blast furnaces and gas-holders, categorising them into their related sections.

Bernd and Hilla’s work left a legacy that led to influence minimalist and conceptual artists such as:

• Ed Ruscha
• Carl Andre
• Douglas Huebler

Alongside being photographers themselves, they were also professors at The Dusseldorf School of Photography, continuing to influence their German students such as Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Thomas Ruff and Thomas Struth. Bernd died on June 22, 2007 in Rostock, Germany, while Hilla died on October 15, 2015 in Düsseldorf, Germany. Today, their works are included in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Tate Gallery in London.

“The Great Plains of North America exists for me both as a physical landscape and as an idea, or internal landscape” – Joe Deal

Joe Maurice Deal was an American landscape photographer, who became one of the ten founding photographers of specializing in depicting how the landscape of the earth had been transformed by people. Born in Topeka, Kansas on August 12, 1947, Deal attended the Kansas City Art Institute where he subsequently earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. After his graduation in 1970, Deal worked as a janitor and guard at at the George Eastman House in New York within its museum of photography instead of enrolling in the military. This led to him receiving his Masters degree in photography alongside his Masters of Fine Arts degree in the University of New Mexico, paving his way to becoming one of the participants in the movement of New Topographics.

During the mid-70s, Joe Deal was chosen for an exhibition, alongside 9 other photographers, curated by William Jenkins named “New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape” at the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House. This was an exhibition focusing on the effects human beings as a society have on the landscape and furthermore, the globe. Deal contributed 18 black and white photographs in a 32 cm × 32 cm format, submitting newly constructed homes against the desolate landscape of the American Southwest. These housing developments were presented at various stages of completion, using indicators of development from newly-laid roads with construction materials spread nearby, adjacent to mounds of dirt and other piles of destroyed plants.

“anthropological rather than critical, scientific rather than artistic.” – William Jenkins

Joe Deal and his colleagues rejected Romanticism from their predecessors and aimed to achieve a realistic and straightforward document of contemporary society by using emotional indifference. Through square formatting, viewers could read the landscape as if it was traces of human decision-making. The moments of too-perfect symmetry in the patterns of rocks and bushes expose the landscaping as unnatural. Joe Deal photographed suburban development in the form of construction sites which become contrasted against the large piles of refuse and empty lots regularly shown in these images that suggest the wastefulness of abandoned projects. By framing the land in this way, he created a space where his viewers must consider the cost of rapid growth in the fragile desert and how dangerously this would be impacting these natural spaces that should be protected and preserved.

 Analysis:

Joe Deal’s work actively focused on the destruction of these natural spaces due to the inclusion of construction sites against the decaying deserts with rubble and waste discreetly scattered around. The angle of the camera looking above and over this area whilst using a 32 cm × 32 cm format causes the viewer to face and understand the uneasy coexistence of man and nature along the San Andreas Fault in Southern California. This was a key feature continued through into his portfolio of images, “The Fault Zone,” in which he created after his huge success within the “New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape” by William Jenkins. His worked acted revolutionary towards Romanticism and ideas of The Sublime in landscape photography. In a monotone way, Deal presented tract houses, industrial sites, motel, warehouses and highway projects in a deadpan and uninflected style, looking at these spaces straight on. The mundane style of this image, this desolate areas guided by three homes with a dividing road resonates with climate change and global warming as it depicts how humans are consistently “having a want for more”, urbanizing and emptying these natural spaces, blankly showing society the personal intrusion we do consciously or unconsciously. The scattered construction materials discreetly point out to the viewer, unmanipulated, alongside the tire marks swirling around on the grass, giving evidence of human interruption. The housing is shown in a more accurate 3D form through the shot being taken from a high angle, contrasting against the harsh decaying bushes surrounding, patchy and destroyed. The black and white gives a large tonal range, resembling Ansel Adams’ work, appearing perfectly exposed. The image brings a lot of sharp and fine detail taken in daylight yet even though it is quite far away, the long depth of field captures it at a wide angle. The cropped section of grass laid out purposefully at the back of the house, being the focal point, appears wilted and especially sparse being left to be destroyed by the next building development.

A few of his other exhibitions:

In these images, Deal took these images on the concept of geology and land use however are seen to be memorable from their beautiful composition and structures rather than subject matter.

In West and West: Reimagining the Great Plains, Deal used a gird format once again. In this series, Joe Deal captured much of the Midwestern United States which led to it being exhibited at University of Arizona’s Centre for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona. This series opened at Rhode Island School of Design which led to it being presented again at being presented at New York City’s Robert Mann’s Gallery. This image gives a clear notification towards the work of Roger Fenton in his series of the Valley of the Shadow of Death due to their composition. The resemblance between the two is very obvious, and has connotations towards how the landscape changes over the years.

Subdividing the Inland Basin featured suburban areas east of Los Angeles, tending to include people within the landscape. This is a notification towards the way humans almost ‘conquer’ the landscape, for example in this image this is done through graffiti as if society claims these beautiful things only to destroy them in a selfish way.

“Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape”

New topographics was a term coined by William Jenkins in 1975 to describe a group of American photographers whose pictures had a similar banal aesthetic, in that they were formal, mostly black and white prints of the urban landscape. These photographs captured a site of interaction between humans and the non-human, nature, and how the rapidly increasing population growth in countries produces new housing developments which are moving further and further away from city centres, taking over the countryside. New Topographics reflected this suburbanisation and reacted to the idealized image of landscape photography in a world where the ideal image of nature had simply been altered due to mankind. William Jenkins curated this as a signalled new approach to Landscape photography. The ten photographers who used this approach were:

• Robert Adams
• Nicholas Nixon
• Lewis Baltz
• Frank Gohkle
• Joe Deal
• Henry Wessel
• John Schott
• Stephen Shore
• Bernd Becher
• Hilla Becher

These photographers signalled the radical shift away from traditional depictions of landscape photography and revealed the stark industrial views around us, scenes we go by every day unconsciously aware of them. They documented these suburban areas such as housing, warehouses and even car parks, depicted in the same way that these countryside areas were captured – beautiful stark austerity. Not only did this cause people to be more consciously aware of the reality of our environments, filled with man-made structures, but it also raised a daring concern and worry on how humans had been eroded natural spaces with industrialisation. An exhibition that helped with this awareness was The International Museum of Photography in Rochester, New York featuring these photographers.

This documentation of combined natural and man-made structures in America also captured the tension between natural scenery and monotonous structures of post World War Two. These images were often stark of human presence, described to be “neutral” in style, “reduced to an essentially topographic state, conveying substantial amounts of visual information but eschewing entirely the aspects of beauty, emotion, and opinion” by Jenkins himself. The American Landscape being photographed in such a casual and common place without beautification opens peoples eyes to the unnoticed and how much society progresses. By foregrounding, rather than erasing human presence, the photographs placed people into a stance of responsibility towards the landscape’s future. This was a position that resonated with ecology, the branch of environmental thought that was gaining traction in the 1970s.

Through square formatting, viewers could read the landscape as if it was traces of human decision-making. Moments of too-perfect symmetry in the patterns of rocks and bushes expose the landscaping as unnatural. Joe Deal photographed suburban development in the form of construction sites which become contrasted against the large piles of refuse and empty lots regularly shown in these images that suggest the wastefulness of abandoned projects. By framing the land in this way, Deal creates a space where his viewers must consider the cost of rapid growth in the fragile desert and how dangerously this would be impacting these natural spaces that should be protected and preserved.

Climate Change:

The message of climate change and global warming is invoked within these images. Due to the mundane showings of our society’s continuous and persistent growth further and further into industrialisation, it causes the viewer to question our actions. To create these spaces for urbanisation, trees and plants must be destroyed in order to create the largest space possible to allow the largest amount of houses to be developed for example. This is due to the constant growing population rates in countries, especially after World War Two where many people, especially Jewish, were occupied in Nazi Germany. Those who didn’t pass away were returning to their homeland to re-join with their families. Alongside this, the aftermath of World War Two brought:

• Inflation and labour unrest – a large economic concern
• The baby boom and suburbia – millions of people had died and lost family or friends. Veterans were finally free to make up for lost time, get married and begin their family.
• Isolation and mental health issues – Many people had lost family and were alone, PTSD from returning veterans

The returning people who fought for the country were various ages, especially those whose life had only begun due to being such a young age, were returning to begin families of their own after being away for 6 years of their lives already – resulting in ‘The Baby Boom’. This resulted in immediate new housing developments which began a spark, still continuing to this day where there is constantly a need for more. The burning of trees releases carbon however, when all the other trees have been destroyed for urbanization, there aren’t any nearby to take in this carbon and revert it. As a result, this carbon goes up into the atmosphere and begins to create holes in the ozone layer. This then provides the sun to be able to get its harmful rays in even stronger as the ozone layer acts as protection. This heats up the globe and continues our path down global warming. Alongside this, the burning of fossil fuels releases harmful toxins which contribute to this issue which is a result of the constant redevelopment of areas around the globe.

During an exhibition of New Topographics, some comments made were:

“I don’t like them—they’re dull and flat. There’s no people, no involvement, nothing.”

“At first it’s stark nothing, but then you look at it, and it’s just about the way things are.” 

“I don’t like to think there are ugly streets in America, but when it’s shown to you—without beautification—maybe it tells you how much more we need here.”

However, it causes viewers to rethink their choices and decisions when taking advantage of what is already there and what is genuinely needed against what is not once you really look at the image.

I took a series of images focusing on the damages around the island from Storm Ciaran however I also took images that involved Romanticism and the Sublime.

My Inspiration from the Storm:

Photoshoot:

I focused on the area of St Clements for my photoshoot as it was one of the areas in Jersey that was affected the most severely therefore it would still have damage and debris around.

Photoshoot 1 best images:

For these images I focused on the surrounding areas of a row of fields as I felt that this would be an area where there would be not only a lot of damage from the storm but also many different locations and perspectives to find.

For most of my images I created virtual copies of them and made them black & white to represent Ansel Adams’ work as his were also monochrome. I also feel that this shows the distinct and unique forms that the branches take on due to the strength of the wind. I really liked this area as there was a combination of natural and man-made resources, as well as many twisting branches varying in size. Many of them twisted forwards so I positioned the camera in certain angles the create depth in the image. For some of my images I used HDR to combine 3 images so that the exposure was suitable, this also resulted in the images looking more vibrant by saturating the green tones more. However, this wasn’t necessary for all images as I wanted some to have a more pastel shade such as in the sky as I feel that this creates a calming and tranquil tone for the viewer, representing ‘the calm after the storm’. As well as this, in the majority of my images I used the graduated filter to create a smoother gradient from the top of the image through to the middle, then increasing or decreasing the contrast.

Photoshoot 2 best images:

For these images I chose to go into a more public space. This was a pile of chopped wood from trees that had fallen down and been piled up on top of each other. I really liked the way they had been placed and all the details that would’ve been hidden within the tree have been exposed that wouldn’t normally be shown. I also liked the way some smaller pieces had rolled off as the position each of them have landed in makes it look intentional yet relaxed. I created some blank and white versions of these images too because I wanted to show aspects of Ansel Adams work in my own.

I created an idea using Photoshop, keeping the main part of the image in colour and the background in black and white. This adds more vibrancy to the orange/brown tones and makes each layer stand out more.

On Lightroom I merged 3 images using HDR after using exposure bracketing. This is where you take an image slightly under-exposed and another slightly over-exposed through either negative or positive exposure compensation. By doing this, I am then able to combine the images to get a perfectly exposed shot to capture all of the details that I can see myself. This makes sure I don’t just rely on the camera’s dynamic range and are able to visualise my image before I take the shot and can capture all the tones in the image. This technique is inspired by Ansel Adams zone system.

After I blended my images, I used the graduated filter and pulled it downwards from the top of the image. After, I lowered the exposure on the marked area as this creates a gradient in the sky, darker towards the top of the sky and lighter the closer it gets to the trees. By doing this, the clouds are more visible and doesn’t leave the sky looking so blank and dull. This will also make the environment that I’m shooting appear brighter due to the contrast.

I also decided to create a blank and white version of this image as Ansel Adams’ images were also monochrome:

I decided to experiment with the tones and temperatures of the graduated filter alongside the actual image itself:

‘Life is your art. An open, aware heart is your camera. A oneness with your world is your film.‘

Ansel Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images, documenting his experiences in the West. He had a visionary belief in the conservation of nature and wanted to inspire that through his images. At the age of twelve, Adams found a passion for the piano, acting as a distraction from the bullying he received from classmates due to his disfigured nose from an accident that occurred when he was four. Throughout the 1920s, Ansel was pursuing both music and photography however once realising that he wasn’t able to become a professional musician, he transferred to photography for his future. Adams always enjoyed spending time outside taking images of nature and growing a strong love for it, desperate to capture such an overwhelming experience on film. The process began when he was just age 14, gifted a Kodak No. 1 Box Brownie Camera. This passion grew as he got older whilst more natural spaces were destroyed by the growth in man-made machinery and building of factories in the 20th century as he wanted to conserve these important spaces.

In 1932, Adams founded Group f/64 with Edward Weston, referring to the smallest aperture setting on a camera to achieve the sharpest detail and depth of field. He would travel on hikes through areas such as Yosemite National Park, being his greatest inspiration as these were areas with great natural structures.

The Zone System

Ansel Adams used a technique called the zone system – a scale from 0-10 showing the different shades beginning at pure black to pure white. He used this as a way of visualising how the image would look before he even took the image, he called this seeing into the minds eye. By doing so, he could use his exposure to show the illuminance of each subject in the image to achieve his intention. For example, due to exposure metering the camera may not be able to fully show the detail of a darker object in the image however by using the Zone system it allows tonal balance and contrast. This means that Ansel Adams was able to achieve the shot he previsualised as he will know what it will produce before he even takes it.

Analysis of his most famous image

My favourite images:

I feel that these two images represent Romanticism well because the in the image appear small and weak in comparison to the enormous cliff edges behind them which highlights natures greatness and how much power it holds in contrast to mankind. I also feel as if it shows how such beautiful things go unnoticed, for example there isn’t a single person paying attention to the incredible natural structure behind them. This is a key feature of why Romanticism began and I think this image encapsulates that.

I feel that this image also has representation of the sublime due to the vibrant greenery and flowers towards the foreground of the image, whilst a dark looming cloud hovers over this beauty as if it is all about to be destroyed. This also reflects well as the eyes travel up over the hills, getting darker and darker further into the background.

I feel that this image represents Romanticism because over every hill and mountain, there are hundreds and hundreds of houses and buildings taking over this natural space, showing the large amount of urbanisation within this area. This indirectly represents Romanticism.

The late 18th/19th century

“Romanticism is precisely situated neither in choice of subject nor in exact truth, but in a way of feeling.” – Poet and critic Charles Baudelaire, 1846

The rise of Romanticism prompted the rise of landscape art. Romanticism is an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe that characterized literature, music, painting and architecture. This movement contained attitudes of a deepened appreciation of the beauties of nature. This movement brought a new view of upon artists, believing that their creative spirit is more important than adhering to strict rules and procedures. This emphasized imagining a gateway to a transcendent experience and spiritual truth whilst having an obsessive interest with folk culture, looking at the exotic, mysterious and even the satanic. This movement emphasized the individual, the irrational, the transcendental and the spontaneous.

This movement originated in Western Europe in the 18th century during the cultural movement of Neoclassicism, inspired by the aesthetics of ancient civilisations; valuing order, self-control and promotes ideal values. Romanticism contradicted this, focusing on instinct rather than reason. The German poet Friedrich Schlegel defined ‘romantic’ as literature depicting emotional matter in an imaginative form”. In each separate culture across Europe this was interpreted differently. In England, William Turner was one of the artists at the head of this movement, painting surreal yet chaotic landscapes where he would blur areas of his work to give the impression of dream vs reality. In France, the artist is usually a failed poet, their work misunderstood and rejected in majority of society acting as a detached observer to express feelings freely. However in Spain, Francisco de Goya used a genre of ‘dark romanticism’, full of anxiety, imaginary and insanity, typically consisting of characters facing demons. This speaks out for how the romantics in this period did not hide from their suffering anymore but turned it into a source of imagination to inspire.

This was during the era of the Industrial Revolution where machinery and factories were constantly being built, so the interest in landscapes grew due to the lack of them and how they began slowly disappearing. These landscapes preserved the nature in time during this period. Romanticism offered an escape from the stresses of the early Industrial Revolution as it was a place of urbanization and consumerism, trying to show how nature is more important and powerful compared to mankind. After the French Revolution in 1789, François-Auguste-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand, and Madame de Staël were the chief initiators of Romanticism, by virtue of their influential historical and theoretical writings. This was a response towards the disillusionment within the values of reason and order, explaining why this movements key principles were emphasizing imagination and emotion. Such explorations of emotional states extended into the animal kingdom, marking the Romantic fascination with animals as both forces of nature and metaphors for human behaviour. 

The Sublime

The sublime played a part within Romanticism, discovered within the natural world’s wild and mysterious expanses. This was a concept that was beautiful and awe inspiring however to contrast, it could be terrifying due to the potential darkness in the image. Through paintings, romantic artists explored this by using the fluidity of their imagination however these could turn to nightmares with mysterious tones to them.

The theory of sublime art was put forward by Edmund Burke in ‘A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful’ published in 1757. He defined the sublime as

‘an artistic effect productive of the strongest emotion the mind is capable of feeling’.

The sublime was used to evoke emotion within the viewer, giving them and experience of self-forgetfulness through nature or natural events. For example, Caspar David Friedrich’s paintings typically infused mist, fog and darkness to convey an experience of the infinite, leading to the viewer feeling an overwhelming sense of emptiness.