Art came before writing and even speech—art was humankind’s first expression of its relationship with nature. Art and the environment is such a huge topic that we will have a two-part discussion on it, so read up here for Part I and then look to Part II coming soon!
The first homo sapiens adorned their bodies, then their tools. The earliest forms of visual expression are found in Africa, where some artifacts date back 70,000 years. Slabs of rock in the Apollo 11 Cave in the Huns Mountains of southwestern Namibia were colored with human hands about 27,000 years ago. The rocks depict animal figures painted in charcoal, ocher, and white1. Historians still don’t know why humans made rock art, but the most likely explanation is simple – they found satisfaction in it. According to historian Paul Johnson:
The men and women of the Stone Age were surrounded by, subjected to, the forces of nature, overwhelming in their power, unpredictable, operating in terrifying spasms, death-dealing, relentless yet also quixotic and eccentric. Was it all aimless, purposeless, unmeaning, as it sometimes seemed? Humanity could not accept this nihilism, which reduced them to the level of the animals or even the insects. So it turned to art to fashion a sense of order, to introduce regularity, predictability; to distinguish between the seasons, the months; and to reflect on earth the regularity of the heavenly motions.23
Stone tablet from the Apollo11 Cave in Namibia – Erich Wend
During the Neolithic Age, which lasted until 2200 BC,4 humans began to change nature in incredible ways, all in the name of art. Stonehenge in England was constructed of giant bluestones, each weighing at least four tons. Some of the stones were dragged for more than 20 miles! The monument aligned with the forces of nature—the original placement of the entrance was “to the most northerly rising of the full moon in midwinter, and it could only have been determined by careful observations throughout six lunar cycles, each lasting nearly twenty years.”56
Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England
Similarly, the early Egyptians expressed supreme order in their sculptures and paintings, whose style remained unchanged for thousands of years. In this way, the Egyptians exercised control over nature. Everything was drawn at the angle that showed off its characteristics best. For example, the head and legs were always viewed in a profile position while the eyes and upper body would always be viewed from the front of the body positioning, and hands on the knees for all seated poses.7
Sobek, crocodile God of ancient Egypt8
The Greeks believed that perfection rested in fixed mathematical relations, which they imposed on nature. “Other societies acted on impulse or from credulity and emotion—the Greeks used their minds.”9 Doryphoros, or “spear carrier”, is a statue of a naked young man sculpted around 450 B.C. It portrays male beauty as defined by mathematics. For example, the body is seven times bigger than the head.10 When the Greeks looked at living things, they saw rules and numbers.
A cast of the Doryphoros of Polykleitos11
The Romans liked leaving their mark on Earth, in a big way. They built thousands of bridges, about a hundred of which still survive today. They routed fresh water to their major cities with aqueduct bridges such as Pont du Gard. As exemplified by Pont du Gard’s three tiers of arches, the Romans believed that strength and quality created beauty.12
Pont du Gard: An ancient aqueduct bridge in Southern France13
The Romans borrowed heavily from the Greeks, but they also invented their own styles. “In Greek works of art landscape is subordinate to men,” but Roman art often emphasized the landscape.14 Romans incorporated perspective into their landscape paintings to more accurately portray the space between objects. A windowless basement room in Livia’s Villa at Prima Porta (around 9 miles north of Rome) displays Roman garden frescoes from the first century BC. The frescoes depict blackbirds, pomegranates, cypresses, oleanders, swallows, and many more flora and fauna. The images are gentle and whimsical, radiating birdsong and rustling leaves. In this way, the artists brought nature into a dreary, sunless space.15
The garden room of Livia’s Villa at Prima Porta16
Nature plays a crucial role in Chinese art, perhaps more than in any other culture. The early Chinese believed that humans should follow the flow of nature’s rhythms “for optimal mental and physical health.”17 They decorated their ritual bronze vessels with real and imagined creatures such as serpents, cicadas, and dragons. The first known Chinese landscape painting—a work by Zhan Ziqian of the Sui Dynasty (581-618)—features mountains receding into the distance. For the Chinese, mountains held a sacred power and were symbols of chi, nature’s vital energy. Mountains provided purity and immortality. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art:
They not only attracted the rain clouds that watered the farmer’s crops, they also concealed medicinal herbs, magical fruits, and alchemical minerals that held the promise of longevity. Mountains pierced by caves and grottoes were viewed as gateways to other realms—”cave heavens” (dongtian) leading to Daoist paradises where aging is arrested and inhabitants live in harmony.18
Stroll About in Spring by Zhan Ziqian19
In the following centuries, the Chinese further developed the genre of landscape painting. However, environmental art did not flourish in all parts of the world during this time. As monotheism—i.e. Chrisitanity, Islam, and other major one God-oriented religions—replaced polytheism, many artists were limited by their duty to portray only one God.20 Nature was downplayed but not altogether ignored. To see how the relationship between art and the environment was transformed through modern day, look for Part II of Art and the Environment, coming soon!
