Nature and Us - A History through Art S01complete (1280x720p HD, 50fps, soft Eng subs)

In this ambitious series, art historian James Fox tells the story of our ever-changing relationship with nature through the lens of some of the world’s most extraordinary artwork.

E01
In this first episode, art historian James Fox explores the art of the ancient world to reveal the story of our earliest relationships with nature. From the art of prehistoric hunters and the advent of agriculture and our first cities to the arrival the great faiths, including Hinduism and Christianity, James shows how we began to wrestle with our place in nature and tried to control the great forces that shape our world. Along the way, we journey from Arctic Norway to the jungles of Guatemala and the holy city of Varanasi in India. /  / Beginning with cave paintings of animals and a fascinating 12,000-year-old carving of a reindeer, James shows how we were once much closer to nature. We meet Nils Peder, a contemporary Sami Reindeer Herder in northern Norway. His way of life is still influenced by a belief in nature's spiritual energy and power. But then as James studies an ancient Egyptian model of cattle, we reach a dramatic turning point in our relationship with nature - the advent of agriculture. At this point, humans collaborated with nature but ultimately took 'control'. James takes this a step further with the extraordinary lion hunt carvings from the Assyrian palace of Nineveh. He demonstrates how it was at this time that humans began to set out to conquer nature. James then turns his attention to ways in which religion helped us make sense of the great shifts in our relationship with nature. We see the first human personifications of natural forces: the river Ganga in India and the ancient Greek god of the sky, Zeus. And we see how, in Christian art, nature becomes the backdrop for the very human-focused story of the crucifixion. /  / In this first great phase in human history, James reveals how we moved from caves to farms, to the emergence of the first civilisations and to global faiths. And through it all, he shows how we struggled to control nature and began to move away from it, no longer living as just one part of the natural world.


E02
James Fox uses art to explore how humans began to try to understand nature for the very first time. From the Song dynasty in China and the Islamic world, through to the Scientific Revolution and the advent of the industrial era, James shows the very different ways in which humans came to both appreciate and understand nature, whilst at the very same time beginning to dominate and control it. With the advent of landscape painting in medieval China, James discovers that these artworks reflect an attitude of harmony and balance with nature that came from a philosophical belief system known as Daoism. We then meet a Zen Buddhist monk Shunmyo Masuno, who is also an internationally renowned garden designer, and learn that Zen gardens are the means to contemplate the unknowable mysteries of nature. James’s story then moves from East Asia to the cultures of the Islamic world. He examines a brightly coloured chameleon painted by Ustad Mansur in 1612 for the Mughal emperor Jahangir - a combination of artistic flair and close observation in which we see the beauty of the natural world closer than ever before. James also explores the story of one of the first European botanical artists, an extraordinary woman called Maria Sibylla Merian. Her 1705 collection of images from her travels in Suriname was a milestone in natural history. We encounter Nirupa Rao, a contemporary Indian botanical artist who is breathing new life into this traditional art form, working in the jungles of the Western Ghats. From the analytical to the romantic, James’s story then moves to the wild and awesome paintings of JMW Turner, before exploring the advent of landscape photography in the American west. The photography of Carleton Watkins played a part in creating the first protected landscape in the world - Yosemite National Park. James reveals the many ways in which art illuminates the extraordinary changes that took place in this millennia-long period. From an East Asian acceptance of the unknowability of nature to the drive to understand, classify and appreciate it, each point of view is an attempt to understand our place in nature.

E03
In the concluding episode of the series, James explores how the art of the last hundred years reflects how we swapped nature for progress in the first half of the 20th century before rediscovering its beauty in the decades following the Second World War, and how today’s artists are re-imagining our future relationship with nature. The film begins in the first decades of the 20th century, an era of human self-confidence, intent on conquering nature. In the art of Piet Mondrian, James explores how an artist who began life as a landscape painter gradually leaves nature behind, tidying up the messy reality of nature into abstract lines. We meet Chinese artist Yang Yongliang on the streets of New York, whose sprawling digital landscapes ask questions about our drive for rapid urbanisation. James continues to explore this story through the images of one of the best photographers of the last century – and one of its most brilliant women - Margaret Bourke-White. In 1930, she was the first professional western photographer to be allowed into the Soviet Union, where she captured the rapid transformation of the country from being largely rural into a modern, industrial state. James moves on to explore how the destructive power of the atomic age both terrified and inspired artists in the 1940s and 1950s, from painters like Bittinger to the world of sci-fi films. We then see the arrival of a new kind of art – land art. In the late 60s and 70s, a growing number of artists left the city and started working not only in nature but with it. We meet two contemporary land artists based in New Zealand: Philippa Jones and Martin Hill, who use natural materials to create sculptures in the landscapes of New Zealand’s South Island. And finally, we explore how artist collective Random International are using technology to explore our future relationship with nature – through a series of mesmerising art works. James finishes the episode and the series asking questions of the interviewees who have appeared across the series. How do they see our future relationship with nature? He concludes that on the long journey we humans have been on since our beginnings, artists have played a vital role not only in reflecting but also shaping our attitudes to nature. They’ve helped us understand its intricacy, appreciate its beauty, and now – when the entire planet seems under threat – they can help us forge a new relationship with it.

First broadcast: October 2021
Duration:  1 hour per episode

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