The origins of landscape painting

an intercultural perspective

Heinz Paetzold

pp. 55-67

in: Antoon van den Braembussche, Heinz Kimmerle, Nicole Note (eds), Intercultural aesthetics, Berlin, Springer, 2009

Abstract

In this essay, I would like to scrutinize the origins of landscape painting. The common opinion in Europe has it that the birth of landscape painting should be dated in the period of the Renaissance. However, I shall show that such an outlook is based on a restricted view. In order to reveal the limitation of such a view, I shall refer to the tradition of Chinese landscape painting. It is much older than the European one and it has a completely different appearance. Only an intercultural perspective can help us further, since it offers a more complete description of the origins of landscape painting.