Art, Animals, and Experience : Relationships to Canines and the Natural World

Elizabeth Sutton, using a phenomenological approach, investigates how animals in art invite viewers to contemplate human relationships to the natural world. Using Rembrandt van Rijn’s etching of The Presentation in the Temple (c. 1640), Joseph Beuys’s social sculpture I Like America and America Likes Me (1974), archaic rock paintings at Horseshoe Canyon, Canyonlands National Park, and examples from contemporary art, this book demonstrates how artists across time and cultures employed animals to draw attention to the sensory experience of the composition and reflect upon the shared sensory awareness of the world. Cover 1 Title 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 List of Figures 10 List of Color Plates 11 Acknowledgments 12 1 Relational Ethics and Aesthetics 14 Being and Thinking with Art and Animals 18 Between Presence and Absence 21 An Ethical Art History 27 2 Dogged Flesh: Rembrandt’s Presentation in the Temple, c. 1640 39 Real and Represented Dogs 42 Rembrandt’s Three R’s: Radical, Reflective, Revelatory 45 The Rhetoric of Etching 50 Fleshly Experience 52 Past Made Present 55 3 Glances with Wolves: Encounters with Little John and Joseph Beuys 62 Entangled Encounters 64 Seeing and Being with Little John 67 Presencing Other Worlds 73 Imaginative Empathy 75 Gathering Together in the Gap 79 4 Glimpse into the Unknown: Contemporary Taxidermy and Photography 93 Spaces Between: Yellow and Taza 94 Respecting Unknowns 96 Dominance, Submission, and Freedom: Inert and Progression of Regression 98 Death and the Object (Ars longa vita brevis est) 102 From Hierarchy to Horizontality 105 5 “We Are All Connected”: Experiencing Art and Nature at Horseshoe Canyon 112 Guided by Dogs and Children 113 “We Are All Connected” 119 Dwelling with Dogs and Earth 120 Accessing Histories with Attentive Care 124 Art and Earth as Places of Emergence 126 6 Caring for Art and Animals 135 Bibliography 141 Index 157 Chapter 1. Relational Ethics and Aesthetics Being and Thinking With Art and Animals Between Presence and Absence An Ethical Art History Chapter 2. Dogged Flesh: Rembrandt’s Presentation in the Temple, c. 1640 Real and Represented Dogs Rembrandt’s Three R’s: Radical, Reflective, Revelatory The Rhetoric of Etching Fleshly Experience Past Made Present Chapter 3. Glances with Wolves: Encounters with Little John and Joseph Beuys Entangled Encounters Seeing and Being with Little John Presencing Other Worlds Imaginative Empathy Gathering Together in the Gap Chapter 4. Glimpses into the Unknown: Contemporary Taxidermy and Photography Spaces Between: Yellow and Taza Respecting Unknowns Dominance, Submission, and Freedom: Inert and Progression of Regression Death and the Object (Ars longa vita brevis EST) From Hierarchy to Horizontality Chapter 5. "We Are All Connected": Experiencing Art and Nature at Horseshoe Canyon Guided by Dogs and Children "We Are All Connected" Dwelling with Dogs and Earth Accessing Histories with Attentive Care Art and Earth as Places of Emergence Chapter 6. Caring for Art and Animals