The Emperor's New Clothes? Landscape Photography in Europe (De nieuwe kleren van de keizer? Landschapsfotografie in Europa).

"After years of having been relegated to the domain of publicity
photographers and amateurs, landscape photography is once again
being taken seriously. At least in Europe. In other parts of the
world the rejection of this genre has never been so strong. If
we consult books on the subject, we can see that in fact in this
century there is hardly any European landscape photography of
any stature. Why is this so? Why is there no European equivalent
of Ansel Adams? Why is there suddenly such a great interest in
landsdcape photography? And what does this interest mean for
photography itself?" Various projects are discussed: the French
DATAR (Mission Photographique de la DATAR), the Mission
Photographique Transmanche (Cross Channel Photographic Mission),
the Swedish EKODOK-project, the Belgium Mission Photographique à
Bruxelles, and the Berlin based commission "Fotografie für die
Stadt", as well as some Dutch projects, mostly commissioned by
City Art Councils. What these projects have in common is: "the
need for material that visualizes the human environment". The
exemplary DATAR project, finished in 1990, is critically
examined.