From Sublimity to Ecopornography: Assessing The Bureau of Reclamation Art Collection

Authors

  • Paul Jeffrey Lindholdt Eastern Washington University

Keywords:

Bureau of Reclamation, sublime, ecopornography

Abstract

Beginning in 1968, during a period of growing environmental activism and concern in the United States, the Bureau of Reclamation commissioned paintings from artists willing to depict the “imaginative aspects of the Reclamation Program.” The result was a collection of paintings, drawings and etchings that often worked within the well known traditions of American exceptionalism and which was used to promote the Bureau’s activities. As such it is possible to view the collection not only as an example of the Bureau of Reclamation’s self-promotion and “issues management” public relations style, but also as an example of ecopornography, a concept which is further theorized in the paper.

Author Biography

Paul Jeffrey Lindholdt, Eastern Washington University

Paul J. Lindholdt, Ph.D. Pennsylvania State University, is Professor of English at Eastern Washington University, teaching courses in American literature, composition, and environmental literature. A charter member of the Editorial Board of ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment and the winner of an Academy of American Poets Award and two awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, he has published more than one hundred and fifty books, book chapters, journal articles, essays, columns, reviews, and poems – and has given more than one hundred invited lectures, conference papers, and readings – on American studies and American literature. His edited books include John Josselyn, Colonial Traveler: A Critical Edition of “Two Voyages to New-England” (University Press of New England, 1988), Cascadia Wild: Protecting an International Ecosystem (Frontier, 1993), History and Folklore of the Cowichan Indians (Marquette Books, 2004), Holding Common Ground: The Individual and Public Lands in the American West (Eastern Washington University Press, 2005), and The Canoe and the Saddle: A Critical Edition (University of Nebraska Press, 2006). His current book projects include Another Wild (poems), In Earshot of Water (essays), and Overtures to Sublimity: The Bureau of Reclamation Art Collection (scholarship).

Downloads

Published

2009-01-05

How to Cite

Lindholdt, P. J. (2009). From Sublimity to Ecopornography: Assessing The Bureau of Reclamation Art Collection. Journal of Ecocriticism, 1(1), 1–25. Retrieved from https://ojs.unbc.ca/index.php/joe/article/view/67

Issue

Section

Articles