Empire and landscape in the 18th century

 

 

Aims and Objectives

The evolution of 'landscape' as a genre in the visual arts is usually attributed to developments in metropolitan English culture during the later 18th and early 19th centuries. Scholars have seldom considered the role of imperial landscapes in this process. This research workshop series seeks to document and analyse the ways in which some of the very different landscapes found within the British Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries came to be defined and represented in relation to each other.

For more details please go to the project summary document

 

Progress and Highlights

• The four workshops confirmed that there are still many exciting possibilities when it comes to rethinking the imagery of imperial India and the West Indies .

• In the first workshop a number of fascinating papers dealt with the ways in which the West Indian landscape was re-shaped and re-imagined under imperial rule.

• The second workshop explored painted and graphic representations of the Indian landscape. And one topic, in particular, caught the imagination of those who attended the series - the photographic imagery of the Indian landscape.

• The third and fourth workshops saw participants engage in a fascinating, thoughtful and provocative debate on the character, ambitions, and contexts for the ambitious landscape photography of figures such as Samuel Bourne, Lala Deen Dayal, Edmund David Lyon, and Donald MacFarlane.

• It was collectively agreed that this material was rich and interesting enough to form the focus of a larger research project in the future.