Abstract
The eight thousand real photo postcards of the British landscape that Fred Judge produced between 1904 and 1924 are the most detailed survey yet of the British landscape by a photographer, but together they also posit a work of propaganda in reinforcing the pre-eminence of the landscape in British culture. Focusing on representations of the countryside as utopia, paradigms of inner peace and public prosperity, this paper examines how landscape represents idealized virtues of the British nation in mass-media. Locked in with this is an enduring nostalgia for a vanished age, which has infused British arguments about national identity from the late Victorian era to the present post-Brexit Referendum age and the uncertainties of the future. Because they are concerned with identity rather than ideology, the myths driving these forces influence conservative and progressive forces equally.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life
KEYWORDS
Photography, Landscape, Postcards, Visions of Utopia
