The ecological eye: Assembling an ecocritical art history (Rethinking Art's Histories)

From the Inside Flap\n‘The book is an important contribution to art history and visual culture. It provides a much-needed map for an “ecocritical art history”, making accessible writing in not only art history but the environmental humanities overall.’ Professor Lisa Bloom, Scholar in Residence, Beatrice Bains Center, University of California, BerkeleyIn the popular imagination, art history remains steeped in outmoded notions of tradition, material value and elitism. While there are many books that discuss individual ‘eco-art’ practices, up to now none has gone so far as to imagine the kind of art history that would be capable of confronting the Anthropocene and its associated environmental changes.Taking up the challenge, this book aims to awaken, define and orientate an ecological sensibility within the discipline. It draws on three main bodies of existing work. Part I examines the diverse histories of art history itself. Part II focuses on the politics of social ecology, eco-marxism and anarchy. Part III looks at emerging work in posthumanism and new materialism. Each section is framed by the idea of nonhierarchy, a response to the elite structures that continue to dominate the discipline.Aimed at inspiring future work in the area, The ecological eye offers a grounding in existing ecocritical thinking and frames the need for a radical expansion that will allow art history to re-imagine itself in as powerful a way as possible. The book concludes with an appeal to the discipline to respond positively to the environmental justice movement.\nIn the popular imagination, art history remains steeped in outmoded notions of tradition, material value and elitism. How can we awaken, define and orientate an ecological sensibility within the history of art? Building on the latest work in the discipline, this book provides the blueprint for an ‘ecocritical art history’, one that is prepared to meet the challenges of the Anthropocene, climate change and global warming. Without ignoring its own histories, the book looks beyond – at politics, posthumanism, new materialism, feminism, queer theory and critical animal studies – invigorating the art-historical practices of the future.