Renversements imaginaires ou le depaysement paysagier (Imaginary reversals or the exile of the landscapist)

The author discusses the question of "landscape', as posed by the DATAR-project
in France. The author relates to the text by Francois Hers and Bernard
Latarjet, the leaders of the DATAR-project, in their introduction in the
exhibition-catalogue ""Traveaux en cours'' (1986). The point is made that
landscape is by definition an imaginary reality constantly being constructed.
In the 19th century, the notion of the landscape evolved to the point where it
could designate a country site, and, paradoxically, to the opposite point, to a
way of conceiving the landscape image virtually irrespective of the site
itself. In 1852 Charles Negre, using the notion of the picturesque set out two
ways of photographing, thereby responding to those who refused to see any
imagination in the photograph. He argued that one should cease to see the photo
as a simple means of description and instead recognise its ability to translate
impressions, seize larger, ensemble views and render the native charm of the
landscape. The definition of landscape, then, is concerned less with the object
represented than with the mode of representation; it rests upon the idea of the
ensemble rather than upon the real extent of the motif. The landscape is born
from the marriage of a state of site and a state of mind: it is the reverse
side, the imaginary, of the document; it reveals creativity. The emergence of
this landscape imaginary is studied here in the work of DATAR-commissions by
Jean Bernard, Christian Milovanoff, Arnaud Claass and Pierre-Jean Amar.
(Abridged Authors Abstract) (French)