Natural Visions: The Power of Images in American Environmental ReformWalden Pond. The Grand Canyon.Yosemite National Park. Throughout the twentieth century, photographers and filmmakers created unforgettable images of these and other American natural treasures. Many of these images, including the work of Ansel Adams, continue to occupy a prominent place in the American imagination. Making these representations, though, was more than a purely aesthetic project. In fact, portraying majestic scenes and threatened places galvanized concern for the environment and its protection. Natural Visions documents through images the history of environmental reform from the Progressive era to the first Earth Day celebration in 1970, showing the crucial role the camera played in the development of the conservation movement. In Natural Visions, Finis Dunaway tells the story of how visual imagery—such as wilderness photographs, New Deal documentary films, and Sierra Club coffee-table books—shaped modern perceptions of the natural world. By examining the relationship between the camera and environmental politics through detailed studies of key artists and activists, Dunaway captures the emotional and spiritual meaning that became associated with the American landscape. Throughout the book, he reveals how photographers and filmmakers adapted longstanding traditions in American culture—the Puritan jeremiad, the romantic sublime, and the frontier myth—to literally picture nature as a place of grace for the individual and the nation. Beautifully illustrated with photographs by Ansel Adams, Eliot Porter, and a host of other artists, Natural Visions will appeal to a wide range of readers interested in American cultural history, the visual arts, and environmentalism. |
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Page xii
... sense of humor, and way of being in the world. He is a true role model. Many other scholars offered advice and comments on portions of this work. At Rutgers, John Chambers, John Gillis, and Eviatar Zerubavel all offered constructive ...
... sense of humor, and way of being in the world. He is a true role model. Many other scholars offered advice and comments on portions of this work. At Rutgers, John Chambers, John Gillis, and Eviatar Zerubavel all offered constructive ...
Page xix
... sense of power in the presence of human engineering and machines. In the postwar period, Ansel Adams became legendary for his dramatic portrayal of Yosemite, yet other Sierra Club photographers—particularly Eliot Porter—departed from ...
... sense of power in the presence of human engineering and machines. In the postwar period, Ansel Adams became legendary for his dramatic portrayal of Yosemite, yet other Sierra Club photographers—particularly Eliot Porter—departed from ...
Page 3
... sense of excitement provoked by the landscape. Penning a lengthy letter to Mather, Gleason summarized his recent travels through Utah and then described the spectacle of Bryce Canyon. “Suddenly, without the slightest warning,” he wrote ...
... sense of excitement provoked by the landscape. Penning a lengthy letter to Mather, Gleason summarized his recent travels through Utah and then described the spectacle of Bryce Canyon. “Suddenly, without the slightest warning,” he wrote ...
Page 6
... sense of what constitutes spiritual faith, describing religion as “the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude . . . in relation to whatever they may consider the divine.” This conception of religion ...
... sense of what constitutes spiritual faith, describing religion as “the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude . . . in relation to whatever they may consider the divine.” This conception of religion ...
Page 11
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Contents
Part 2 The Nature of the New Deal | 31 |
Part 3 Picturing the American Earth | 115 |
Epilogue The Ecological Sublime | 194 |
Notes | 213 |
Index | 241 |
Other editions - View all
Natural Visions: The Power of Images in American Environmental Reform Finis Dunaway Limited preview - 2005 |
Natural Visions: The Power of Images in American Environmental Reform Finis Dunaway Limited preview - 2005 |
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Adams aesthetic agricultural American American Earth Amon Carter Museum appear artists beauty became began believed Brower called camera Canyon celebrated City claimed color conservation continued critics culture David Brower Deal described documentary Dorothea Lange dust Earth ecological Eliot Porter environmental Exhibit experience explained expressed farm feel fields film Flaherty floods followed Gleason hope human idea images imagined individual John Krutch land landscape leaders Library living look Lorentz machine meaning Mississippi moved movement national parks natural world Newhall offered Pare Lorentz past photographs Plains Plow politics Porter portray Pratt presented produced progress published record reform represented Review River scenes seemed sense Sierra Club society soil space spiritual story sublime suggested Thoreau turn University Press Valley vision visual wanted wilderness Wildness wonder writings wrote York