Fierce Friends: Artists And Animals, 1750-1900

by Louise Lippincott, Andreas Blühm, Desmond Morris (Foreword)

Fierce Artists and Animals, 1750-1900 examines a critical period in our evolving relationship with animals. Between the mid-eighteenth and the early twentieth centuries, the philosophical legacy of the Enlightenment, the mechanical inventions of the Industrial Revolution, and the intellectual transformation sparked by Charles Darwin undermined many of the traditional roles assigned to animals, and overturned our view of them as physically, mentally - and divinely - separated from humans. This book interweaves the history of science and of art in an account of how humans came to understand and appreciate their shared biological ancestry.
Fierce Friends explores how painters, sculptors, illustrators, and ceramists reflected contemporary changes in the perception of animals, incorporating in their work the latest developments in geographical exploration and comparative anatomy, advances in geology and the birth of paleotology, the enthusiasm of amateur naturalists, and the impact of evolution theory. It identifies the importance of illustrators such as Audubon, who were frequently at the forefront of natural history discoveries, and reveals the visionary artists who drew imaginatively on Darwin's theory of natural selection to create mythical beasts. Artists as diverse as Hogarth, Oudry, Gericault, Delacroix, and Van Gogh here demonstrate mankind's increasing awareness of animals as sentient creatures, infusing genres such as animalier painting and portraiture with new meaning and emotional power.

Genres: Art

160 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1990

Reviews

[Ece · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book holds pretty interesting and thought-provoking details and I learned about artworks I had no idea about so I really appreciate those, as well as the dark humor in some places.
I was quite irritated by the language, referring to nonhuman animal individuals as ‘it.’ But given that this is more of an animal studies meets art history kind of book, without the critical animal studies approach which I’d prefer, not so surprising to see that ‘it’ all over the place.
For what it promises to do, it’s pretty good and enjoyable to read. Would recommend.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm biased when it comes to this one; this was my favorite art exhibit of all time, and I was lucky enough to see it being put together behind the scenes.

I love the variety of artwork and information presented. The commentary is interesting and fun, but there are some pretty big leaps in logic and the author's final conclusions sometimes seem forced.