Romanticism and Ruralism: Changing 19th-Century American Perceptions of the Natural World

Abstract

This is a digital public history research initiative that examines the correlation between European Romantic art and literature and 19th century American culture, particularly in regards to perspectives the natural world, landscape painting, landscape design and institutional reform. Romantic ideology was transplanted into American culture through the mediums of art and design. The creation of visual representations of the natural world through landscape art and architecture provided the American populace with a means of understanding and appreciating the natural world, and of seeing themselves as a viable part of it. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the presentation utilizes art history, cultural anthropology and material culture history as a means of understanding the growing sensitivity between the individual and the natural world in 19th century America.