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Cityscape
Cityscape
the same difference in urban size and density (and even modernity) implicit in the difference between the words city and town. In urban design the terms refer to the configuration of built forms and interstitial space. In the visual arts a cityscape (urban landscape) is an artistic representation, such as a painting, drawing, print or photograph, of the physical aspects of a city or urban area.
Seattle, Washington, cityscape
History of cityscapes in art
From the first century A.D. dates a fresco at the Baths of Trajan in Rome depicting a bird’s eye view of an ancient city. In the Middle Ages cityscapes appeared as a background for portraits and biblical themes. From the 16th up to the 18th century numerous copperplate prints and etchings were made showing cities in bird’s eye view. The function of these prints was to provide a map-like overview. Halfway the 17th century the cityscape became an independent genre in the Netherlands. In his famous ’View of Delft’ in 1660-1661 Jan Vermeer painted a quite accurate portrait of the city Delft. Cities like Amsterdam, Haarlem and The Hague also became popular subjects for paintings. Painters from other European countries (i.e. Great Britain, France, Germany) followed the Dutch example. The 18th century was a flourishing period for cityscape painting in Venice (Canaletto, Guardi). At the end of the 19th century the impressionists focused on the atmosphere and dynamics of everyday life in the city. Suburban and industrial areas, building sites and railway yards also became subjects for cityscapes. During the 20th century attention became focused on abstract and conceptual art, and thus the production of cityscapes declined. American painter Edward Hopper, who stayed loyal to figurative painting, created intriguing images of the American scene. With a revival of figurative art at the end of the 20th century comes a revaluation of the cityscape. Well-known living cityscape
Houses of Parliament, Sunset, 1902, by Claude Monet
View of Delft (1660-1661) by Jan Vermeer A cityscape is the urban equivalent of a landscape. Townscape is roughly synonymous with cityscape, though it of course implies
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
painters are Rackstraw Downes, Antonio López García, and Richard Estes. American artist Yvonne Jacquette has made a specialty of aerial cityscapes. Some famous painters who practiced cityscape-painting were: • Canaletto • James • Jan McNeill Vermeer Whistler • Alfred • Paul Sisley Signac • Johann Berthelsen • Matthäus Merian • Camille Pissarro • Edouard Leon Cortés • Isaac Israëls • Childe Hassam
Cityscape
• George Hendrik Breitner • Gustave Caillebotte
See also
• • • • Skyline Veduta Landscape art Gordon Cullen
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cityscape" Categories: Cityscapes, Art genres, Cityscape art, Landscape This page was last modified on 25 February 2009, at 20:53 (UTC). All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) taxdeductible nonprofit charity. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers
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