Interpreting Art Ecologies of the Past

Abstract

<p> <span>This essay examines interpretive frameworks and analytical methods for applying an ecocritical lens to art made before the Anthropocene and before the explicitly ecocritical art practices that have emerged alongside it. It first distinguishes between intentional and incidental forms of ecological art practice, i.e. art that intentionally engaged with ecological or environmental issues and art whose ecological relevance derives only from modern ecocritical interpretation. It then suggests three ways in which art could incidentally attract such interpretation: through the representation of ecologically significant motifs (such as geology or climate); by functioning in an ecological manner (such as monuments aligned with solstices); or as part of art’s general material exchange with the earth and its particular ecozones (as in the production of pigments and supports). In each case, the essay considers the diverse methods of analysis that are needed for ecocritical interpretation and the diverse forms of ecocritical knowledge that are thereby produced.</span> <br></p>