20.10.2014 Views

building the american landscape - Univerza v Novi Gorici

building the american landscape - Univerza v Novi Gorici

building the american landscape - Univerza v Novi Gorici

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

Building <strong>the</strong> American Landscape.<br />

Territories and Cities in <strong>the</strong> 19 th Century Transformation<br />

Abstract<br />

The purpose of this research is to demonstrate <strong>the</strong> essential trait of <strong>the</strong> concept of<br />

<strong>landscape</strong>, which developed in America throughout <strong>the</strong> 19 th century.<br />

The decades under examination, from <strong>the</strong> Independence of <strong>the</strong> United States<br />

(1776) and <strong>the</strong> end of <strong>the</strong> Civil War (1865), were analysed with <strong>the</strong> intention of<br />

providing a general view of <strong>the</strong> problems concerning <strong>the</strong> <strong>landscape</strong> and <strong>the</strong> major<br />

transformations of American <strong>landscape</strong>s, <strong>building</strong>s and towns.<br />

The most important architectural, artistic, intellectual works realized throughout<br />

<strong>the</strong> nineteenth century are subjects of this intellectual history on American<br />

<strong>landscape</strong>. From <strong>the</strong> rural cemeteries to <strong>the</strong> first urban parks, <strong>the</strong> <strong>landscape</strong><br />

became a symbol of identification of <strong>the</strong> nation. The fields were no longer intended<br />

only for agricultural practices, and after years of diffusion of horticulture, <strong>the</strong><br />

territory was no longer interpreted as a symbol of Eden. The aes<strong>the</strong>tic writings and<br />

project considerations of <strong>the</strong> first <strong>landscape</strong> architects replaced <strong>the</strong> primitive<br />

demands for subsistence farming. This rapid revision of <strong>the</strong> <strong>landscape</strong> <strong>the</strong>mes led to<br />

a major revolution in thought. The idea that <strong>the</strong> <strong>landscape</strong> was common property<br />

and that one day this property could be in danger was an exquisitely American<br />

concern.<br />

Nowadays it should be difficult to think <strong>the</strong> modern culture of <strong>landscape</strong>, <strong>the</strong><br />

contemporary interest in preservation of natural spaces, and <strong>the</strong> contemporary<br />

approach to architecture without <strong>the</strong> work of <strong>the</strong> first American <strong>landscape</strong><br />

architects.<br />

Key words<br />

American <strong>landscape</strong>, nature, wilderness, agriculture, plantation houses, grid,<br />

horticulture, utopian experiments, middle <strong>landscape</strong>, industrial towns, manifest<br />

destiny, West, frontier, <strong>landscape</strong> gardening, picturesque garden, urban planning,<br />

American mind, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry<br />

David Thoreau, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson Downing, Alexander Jackson<br />

Davis, Frederick Law Olmsted, Frank Lloyd Wright.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!