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History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Theses/Dissertations

2012

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The Museum Of Modern Art's "What Is Modern?" Series, 1938-1969, Jennifer Tobias Jan 2012

The Museum Of Modern Art's "What Is Modern?" Series, 1938-1969, Jennifer Tobias

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Between 1938 and 1969, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) poses the question of What Is Modern? (WIM) in a series of books, traveling exhibitions, and a symposium. This dissertation argues for the WIM project as a sustained if minimally effective effort to influence popular American perceptions of modern art, architecture, and design, at the same time embodying tensions inherent to the museum and its notions of that modernism.

MoMA is an unquestionable influence on modern art history. WIM is a significant component of this influence, yet scholarship on the series is minimal. Hiding in plain sight, the series offers …


Yayoi Kusama: Biography And Cultural Confrontation, 1945–1969, Midori Yamamura Jan 2012

Yayoi Kusama: Biography And Cultural Confrontation, 1945–1969, Midori Yamamura

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Yayoi Kusama (b.1929) was among the first Japanese artists to rise to international prominence after World War II. She emerged when wartime modern nation-state formations and national identity in the former Axis Alliance countries quickly lost ground to U.S.-led Allied control, enforcing a U.S.-centered model of democracy and capitalism. As a result, the art world became increasingly internationalized. This interdisciplinary study is the first attempt to comparatively examine postwar artistic developments in Japan, the United States, and Europe, through a focus on Kusama. I consider Kusama not so much in terms that seek to aggrandize the uniqueness of the individual, …