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Updating the Hudson River School of Art
Sublime beauty is not the only reason why the wilderness inspired Thomas Cole’s most esteemed paintings. He also revered wilderness because it embodied the wondrous workings of nature and the sacred mysteries of God. Cole watched with consternation as the Hudson Valley’s rugged wildness was leveled by railroads, paved by roads, rechanneled by mills, deforested by tanning industries, and tamed by farms. His romanticized nostalgia epitomizes the art of the region, known as the Hudson River School of painting, in the early days of the Industrial Revolution.
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To Life! Eco Art in Pursuit of a Sustainable Planet documents the burgeoning eco art movement from A to Z, presenting a panorama of artistic responses to environmental concerns, from Ant Farm’s anti-consumer antics in the 1970s to Marina Zurkow’s 2007 animation that anticipates the havoc wreaked upon the planet by global warming. This text is the first international survey of twentieth and twenty-first-century artists who are transforming the global challenges facing humanity and the Earth’s diverse living systems. Their pioneering explorations are situated at today’s cultural, scientific, economic, spiritual, and ethical frontiers. The text guides students of art, design, environmental studies, and interdisciplinary studies to integrate environmental awareness, responsibility, and activism into their professional and personal lives.
To Life! website »