Art, Ethics and the Human-Animal Relationship

This book explores how artists in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries portrayed non-human life, examining how their works reflect individual and collective values towards animals. It demonstrates how artists discriminated between large and small felines, captured free-roaming animals, and depicted animal substances in pigments. It also highlights the artistic approach of William Merritt Chase, who honored fishes as sentient beings in his fish paintings.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 308 pages
Publication date: 22 September 2022
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG

This comprehensive book delves into the artistic creations of renowned artists spanning the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, serving as invaluable indicators of individual and collective attitudes towards non-human life. Initially perceived as mere representations, these works can be interpreted as tangential or morally instrumental through formal analysis and critical theories. In Chapter Two, the author highlights the discrimination exhibited towards large and small felines in the biblical texts of Genesis and The Book of Revelation. Chapter Three explores the cruel capture of free-roaming animals and the artistic representations of their furs, feathers, and shells in costume, serving as symbols of virtue and vice. Chapter Four identifies species-specific beliefs between donkeys and horses. Chapter Five examines the altered Dutch kitchen spaces and disguised food animals in various culinary compositions within still life paintings. Chapter Six explores the animal substances embedded in pigments. Chapter Seven examines animals in absentia, as seen in the craftsmanship of brushes. The book concludes with a thoughtful exploration of William Merritt Chase's fish paintings, showcasing his artistic approach that recognizes fishes as sentient beings.

Weight: 440g
Dimension: 210 x 148 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783030788353
Edition number: 1st ed. 2021