An Ecological History of Eurasian Art: Natural Resources, Aesthetic Practices, and Early Modern Globalization

Introduction

Works of art are repositories of environmental knowledge. Paintings, sculptures, and artifacts preserve material evidence of the use of natural resources like mineral pigments, plant-based dyes, and precious metals. They contribute to a visual archive of human interaction with nature by providing pictorial records of mining and deforestation.

Project Aim

ECOART aims to rewrite art history as a history of ecological interconnections. It seeks to prove that aesthetic practices were conditioned by environmental circumstances by examining the artistic use and visual representation of geographical, geological, botanical, zoological, and climatic resources across Eurasia. This region is dominated by European and Chinese economic spheres of influence during the era of early modern globalization from 1500 to 1800.

Key Artistic Sites

The project investigates six key artistic sites with a focus on the Global South, an area still affected by the colonial exploitation of resources:

1. The Indian region of Gujarat
2. The port city of Manila in the Philippines
3. The port city of Jakarta in Indonesia
4. The port city of Guangzhou in China
5. The port city of Yangon in Myanmar
6. The city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands

Objectives

ECOART has three main objectives:

1. To analyze works of art as early modern repositories of environmental knowledge.
2. To reconstruct local ecologies of art and artisanship in the Global South in relation to trade and colonial exploitation.
3. To make visible transcultural models of sustainability and creative reuse across early modern Eurasia.

Methodology

Digital mapping will demonstrate linkages between sites of artistic activity, resource extraction, and trade via overland and maritime connections.

Contribution to Art History

Through a geographic focus on under-researched regions of the Global South and its transcultural and comparative methodology, ECOART will:

• Contribute to the decolonization of art history.
• Provide theoretical insights into circular economies and the ecology of art.
• Contribute key historical information to an interdisciplinary understanding of natural resource conflicts during the Anthropocene.