About the Book

By empowering readers to approach the study of art enriched with ecocritical tools, this book makes an indispensable addition to art historical pedagogies.

Book Synopsis

From the Back Cover

This publication is the first survey of methods of ecocritical analysis in art history. Its range gives a strong indication of the diversity of approaches that show ecocritical art history to be a vital new nexus for the discipline. The book also indicates clearly what the interdisciplinary project of ecocriticism stands to gain from art historians, by presenting the specific ways in which climate emergency is appraised and countered through methods and practices of art history.
The book brings together established scholars and new voices shaping this burgeoning field. Moving beyond subjects explicitly environmental in meaning or procedures, the authors engage with the widest range of artefacts and objects drawn from across the globe, spanning chronologies from early medieval to contemporary. The spectrum of methodological approaches covered include ecofeminism, planetary ecologies, material ecocriticism, more-than-human and Indigenous ecopolitics.
The essays are framed by a series of editorial introductions. Their aim is to provide orientation within a disciplinary territory that is still in a state of flux, yet already complex. Written in clear, jargon-free language, they are accompanied by thematically arranged lists of bibliographies to facilitate further study. By empowering readers to approach the study of art enriched with ecocritical tools, this book makes an indispensable contribution to art historical pedagogies.

About the Author

Olga Smith is a NUAcT Fellow in Fine Art at Newcastle University
Andrew Patrizio is Professor of Scottish Visual Culture at the University of Edinburgh