Logo of Humboldt-Universität zu BerlinLogo of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
edoc-Server
Open-Access-Publikationsserver der Humboldt-Universität
de|en
Header image: facade of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
View Item 
  • edoc-Server Home
  • Elektronische Zeitschriften
  • kunsttexte.de - E-Journal für Kunst- und Bildgeschichte
  • Künste Medien Ästhetik
  • Ausgabe 1.2015 / Kunst Medien
  • View Item
  • edoc-Server Home
  • Elektronische Zeitschriften
  • kunsttexte.de - E-Journal für Kunst- und Bildgeschichte
  • Künste Medien Ästhetik
  • Ausgabe 1.2015 / Kunst Medien
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
All of edoc-ServerCommunity & CollectionTitleAuthorSubjectThis CollectionTitleAuthorSubject
PublishLoginRegisterHelp
StatisticsView Usage Statistics
All of edoc-ServerCommunity & CollectionTitleAuthorSubjectThis CollectionTitleAuthorSubject
PublishLoginRegisterHelp
StatisticsView Usage Statistics
View Item 
  • edoc-Server Home
  • Elektronische Zeitschriften
  • kunsttexte.de - E-Journal für Kunst- und Bildgeschichte
  • Künste Medien Ästhetik
  • Ausgabe 1.2015 / Kunst Medien
  • View Item
  • edoc-Server Home
  • Elektronische Zeitschriften
  • kunsttexte.de - E-Journal für Kunst- und Bildgeschichte
  • Künste Medien Ästhetik
  • Ausgabe 1.2015 / Kunst Medien
  • View Item
2015-04-01Zeitschriftenartikel DOI: 10.18452/7479
Cinematic New YorkFrom the Hudson River to Niagara Falls, 1896–1920
Manthorne, Katherine E.
Phil Solomon's immersive, high-definition installation American Falls (2010) transformed the Corcoran Gallery of Art's rotunda in Washington, D. C. from April to July 2010 into a cinema-cum-panorama, where viewers were surrounded by three screens upon which moving images of plunging water alternated with key moments from the nation’s past. Considering American Falls as a culmination in the filmic depiction of national scenery, this paper employs it as a springboard to traverse backward in time to explore its roots, and thereby investigates the ways landscape functioned in early movies of the silent era (1896–1926). I argue that nineteenth century American landscape art provided the common ground for early filmmakers in much the same way as an oft-told story provided the familiar narrative necessary for audiences to follow silent movie action. In the beginning, neither cameramen nor audiences knew how to see cinematically, and as they learned the potential of the new medium they relied on the formats and tropes of the old: landscape painting and its popularization in chromolithographs, calendar art, even china patterns. Surveying three key moments of early cinema demonstrates the evolving dialogue between silent cinema and landscape art. Chronologically examining Thomas Edison, Edwin S. Porter, and D. W. Griffith, I explicate my thesis that a century ago these pioneers necessarily adopted canonical American landscape sites as their points of departure, and viewed them through the paradoxical lens of modern technology and nostalgia. Since the heart of America’s nascent film industry - like its Hudson River School - was centered on New York, we too focus there.
Files in this item
Thumbnail
manthorne.pdf — Adobe PDF — 460.8 Kb
MD5: c7e89c0cfb99c5f92e228d9a74df90b0
Cite
BibTeX
EndNote
RIS
InCopyright
Details
DINI-Zertifikat 2019OpenAIRE validatedORCID Consortium
Imprint Policy Contact Data Privacy Statement
A service of University Library and Computer and Media Service
© Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
 
DOI
10.18452/7479
Permanent URL
https://doi.org/10.18452/7479
HTML
<a href="https://doi.org/10.18452/7479">https://doi.org/10.18452/7479</a>