What the hell is a landscape?

Landscape?
I thought it was very interesting, if not to be expected, that JB Jackson took the time to spend a chapter discussing the meaning of “landscape.” It is certainly a word that when thought about manages to dodge any simple definition, and eventually becomes quite confusing when trying to define it. Jackson is right to see its most common manifestation as influenced by artists. The landscape to them was a single shot and angle of some natural confluence of trees, rivers, mountains, prairies, meadows, fields, etc. This is a definition I think most people still hold close to themselves and would not mistake. It is one of the few things I actually think we might refer to as a “landscape.”

I was trying to think of when I say landscape with any sense of it being the correct word. In truth, I think describing art is just about the only time I would say it. I might refer to the “landscaping” of a home or a building or a park as well, but again, this is far from what a landscape truly is. Both are pre-fabricated sights that are supposed to encourage a love of nature. The artist chooses his angles and colors wisely just as a landscaper might choose a nice arrangement of hedges, trees, and flowers. Somehow, these have actually nothing to do with natural land.

So why, when someone says, the American landscape, do we know what that means? We would almost never refer to anything in America by saying, “look at that landscape.” Perhaps it would be check out that view, or check out that building, or check out this road, but rarely would you hear, check out this landscape. It doesn’t really make sense. In truth, I think it is because our idea of landscapes is that they are fixed and with some order. We often note views and buildings because they affect individually, not as a collection of images. Landscapes on the other hand, when not painted or built by hand around a garden, are all-inclusive. They represent the order of all things in a given realm. I could say the Yosemite landscape and that would make sense. And in this case JB Jackson can say the American landscape and have it make sense. At the end, I commend Jackson for digging in to this subject as it is often the way we refer to things that elucidate the most about the nature of those things themselves. In this way, I think landscape is a fascinating word.