Wildlife art, art on the subject of wild animals and birds, is a popular area of the arts. Some of the very earliest artworks were on this subject.
The first known artworks are cave art and ancient sculptures. These commonly represented animals and birds that the people were familiar with in their environment. However it should be seen that these people had a different view of wildlife than we do today. To them wild animals and birds were things to eat or dangers to avoid rather than how we see them today.
As people's attitudes and perspectives on the natural world changed, so did the depictions of wildlife in art. An initial change was the shift from living in close daily contact with wildlife, to later separating the human world from the natural world as much as possible. This is mirrored in the almost complete absence of wildlife in art of the period. Religious perspectives at the time were focused on the human world and mostly ignored the natural world.
In the romantic period animals and birds were used as emotional representations in art. For example a lion might be represented as a noble beast with head held high in pride, where as a tiger might be represented as an evil creature, slinking guiltily with head bowed in shame.
Around this time wildlife in art was also often about the boundaries between the human world and the natural world, rather than a view of nature in its own right. For example, there was art depicting a lion attacking a domestic horse.
Landseers paintings of stags were among the most popular of all artworks in the Victorian age and are still well loved today. Wildlife art became a popular and much loved subject. Audubon's wonderful book on the birds of America is considered the finest ever published picture book.
Currently nature is of great interest as a thing in its own right as well as for conservation issues. Wildlife art reflects these interests with natural depictions of animals in their environment as well as art created for the purpose of increasing awareness of wildlife conservation issues. - 32194
The first known artworks are cave art and ancient sculptures. These commonly represented animals and birds that the people were familiar with in their environment. However it should be seen that these people had a different view of wildlife than we do today. To them wild animals and birds were things to eat or dangers to avoid rather than how we see them today.
As people's attitudes and perspectives on the natural world changed, so did the depictions of wildlife in art. An initial change was the shift from living in close daily contact with wildlife, to later separating the human world from the natural world as much as possible. This is mirrored in the almost complete absence of wildlife in art of the period. Religious perspectives at the time were focused on the human world and mostly ignored the natural world.
In the romantic period animals and birds were used as emotional representations in art. For example a lion might be represented as a noble beast with head held high in pride, where as a tiger might be represented as an evil creature, slinking guiltily with head bowed in shame.
Around this time wildlife in art was also often about the boundaries between the human world and the natural world, rather than a view of nature in its own right. For example, there was art depicting a lion attacking a domestic horse.
Landseers paintings of stags were among the most popular of all artworks in the Victorian age and are still well loved today. Wildlife art became a popular and much loved subject. Audubon's wonderful book on the birds of America is considered the finest ever published picture book.
Currently nature is of great interest as a thing in its own right as well as for conservation issues. Wildlife art reflects these interests with natural depictions of animals in their environment as well as art created for the purpose of increasing awareness of wildlife conservation issues. - 32194
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Wildlife art, the definitive Guide, see the art referred to in this article, and lots more of the world's best wildlife artworks, including photography, wildlife art blog etc.
