What ever happened to the Picturesque by Dr Connell Vaughan, 19 Nov at 1 pm
Dr Connell Vaughan of the School of Creative Arts at TU Dublin will deliver on a talk for World Philosophy Day focusing on the aesthetic concept of the Picturesque.
Defined by Reverend William Gilpin (1724-1804), as “that kind of beauty which is agreeable in a picture” the picturesque quickly developed into a popular discourse as the ideal frame for appreciating landscapes through painting. It was understood as the aesthetic pleasure of a moderated irregularity and roughness.
This was a pleasure between the beautiful and the sublime that inspired 19th-century elite rustic travel in the so-called “Picturesque Tour”. Its tendencies toward national exceptionalism, commodified nostalgia and obsessive pedantry saw it quickly become a subject of satire. Even though today these criticisms can be equally extended to the “tourist gaze” so popular on platforms such as Instagram there remains at the core of the picturesque something of value insofar as it allows a critique of how we approach natural beauty and popular environmental appreciation.
Free places can be booked via Eventbrite here.
This talk will be presented via the Zoom online platform.