Representing Urban America: 19th-Century Views of Landscape, Space, and Power

Abstract

Approximately 5000 lithographic views of cities across America were produced and copies were widely disseminated in the century after 1825, In this paper, urban lithographs are examined as landscape texts in light of contemporary notions of space, vision, representation, and power. A major shift in the genre of urban representation from ‘pictorial’ to ‘bird's-eye’ views is presented as capturing the story of an emerging industrial-capitalist order; as embodying the place of the individual within that order; and as actively legitimating/promoting particular visions of change and progress. Interpreting urban views illustrates the problematic nature of representation and the need to examine particular landscapes/representations within their cultural contexts.