Gezichten van Amerika, Nieuw-Zeeland en Canada 1869 - 1882

This lithograph, "Gezichten van Amerika, Nieuw-Zeeland en Canada" by Gerhardus Philippus Zalsman, presents a series of vignettes, each attempting to capture the essence of distant lands. The subdued palette and neatly arranged compositions reflect a 19th-century desire to classify and contain the unfamiliar. Consider how each scene is framed, almost like a window onto another world. The artist employs soft lines and gentle gradations of color, yet these stylistic choices do more than simply render a landscape; they codify it. Each panel operates as a sign, a visual shorthand intended to convey the character of a place through a limited set of established visual tropes. In its formal structure, the lithograph echoes the period's fascination with taxonomy. Yet, by reducing complex realities to digestible images, it inadvertently reveals the limitations inherent in representation itself. Each landscape is not merely observed but constructed through a lens of cultural expectation.