Representing Place: Landscape Painting and Maps (review)

Representing Place: Landscape Painting and Maps is the third volume of Edward S. Casey's project of reinterpreting evolving conceptions of space in world thought. In this third volume, Casey, who is a philosophy professor at State University of New York, Stony Brook, argues that place in visual works should be judged in terms that reconnect us to the earth and the world. He presents his case by skillfully integrating 19th-century American and British landscape painting, Northern Sung landscape painting, prehistoric petroglyphs and medieval portolan charts, convergences in 17th-century Dutch painting and mapmaking, and various other representations. I found myself in awe of the breadth of his research. Equally impressive is the way Casey weaves cross-cultural history, philosophy, art and cartography into his discussion of how representation and space speak to the power of place. Well-chosen, descriptive images add clarity, and there is much to learn from a close reading of this copious book. It is not a book one can read quickly.

Overall Casey deserves high marks for this study, particularly his seamless integration of cross-cultural examples. Painting with this broad brush allows Casey to argue effectively that visual works should be judged in terms of how they connect us with an earth and world that is not merely the content of mind or language. Still, although the book is a splendid accomplishment, it is disappointing to find that the author gives limited attention to scientific influences and how science/technology combinations reconfigure representations. Ultimately, this produces a book that speaks of the appreciation of the power of place in a way that favors tradition and history. Thus, despite the high caliber of the book, I found Casey's conclusion that a fuller understanding of the space/place relationship will renew our appreciation of the power of place too ensconced in the past and the humanities. His focus on tradition and history is perhaps most striking when he presents his views of the imagination, for Casey's perspective effectively excludes contemporary landscapes. Virtuality, the post-biological and the imaginative, technologically driven work that has re-configured our relationship to space and place in the last 20 years are far beyond the scope of this study. Instead, imaginative landscapes are defined in terms of the kinds of landscape paintings Hieronymus Bosch and Joan Miró contrived. Descriptive characterizations similarly are in line with traditional visual representations and terms such as the sublime and verisimilitude.

This is not to suggest the book's impressive range simply plods along charted paths. It is quite the contrary. For example, Casey's chapter on Northern Sung landscape painting was particularly compelling and is a useful addition to the literature. In this chapter Casey begins by showing some commonalities between the Western and Chinese approaches to the landscape historically. Proceeding, then, to explain the differences between Western and Chinese views of nature, Casey effectively illustrates that Chinese philosophical assumptions about nature differ from the defining Western view. His discussion conveys that the West developed a transcendent dimension, which was a logical extension of

the idea of an Almighty Creator God. The Chinese, on the other hand, saw relationships as the governing factor. In a relational environment, where nature and society are co-created, as Casey explains, heaven and earth, like yin and yang, are place-specific terms. Since space is connected to place, place is accorded great respect, and the artist endeavors to connect with the landscape. Thus, according to Casey: "The crux of the matter is whether the artist wishes to transmit the formal likeness of a place—'verisimilitude,' as is said in the West, as if to mock the original sense of this term . . . or the spirit of that place. For the ancient Chinese, the answer is unequivocal: the task of the painter is to transmit this spirit by re-implacing it into his painting" (p. 115...