Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Beyond Romanization: An Indigenous Study Of Cultural Change In Classical Britain, Brooke Prevedel

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The Roman Empire is among the best-known empires in the world, renowned for unifying vastly different peoples and lands. The process of these unifications was, at times, something resembling peaceful, but was at other times much more violent. Regardless of the method of acquisition, peoples brought into the Roman Empire always experienced some degree of cultural change. The modern study of this cultural change has most often been examined through the lens of Romanization, a mostly one-way transfer of Roman cultural practices onto the conquered territory and culture. Romanization, however, presents too narrow and too historically imperialist an approach to …

Dorian And The Double: Repressed Homosexual Desire In The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Alexandra Wohlford

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Written for Dr. Chris Foss’s English 478 Seminar on Oscar Wilde, “Dorian and the Double: Repressed Homosexual Desire in The Picture of Dorian Gray” examines one of Wilde’s most infamous and beloved works through the lens of both psychoanalytic and queer theory. Drawing on the Romantic and Gothic traditions’ concept of the “literary double,” this research paper explores the dynamic portrait of Dorian Gray as a double for multiple characters in the text, serving as a representation of their repressed homosexual desire. Namely, Basil Hallward and Dorian Gray himself emerge as the primary focus of this analysis. In addition, …

Demythologizing Homer: Investigating Religion In Minoan Crete, Elizabeth Rybarczyk

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The Minoan civilization of Bronze-Age Crete has, until recently, been obscured in mythological uncertainty. As a prehistoric civilization, the available evidence for historic analysis is sparse and ambiguous. This paper evaluates the material evidence for ritual activity to chart the religious developments of Minoan Crete. In the earliest periods of their civilization, the Minoans practiced animism, which reflected their ideals towards survival and cooperation. As their prosperity grew due to technological advancements, a social hierarchy formed. The emerging elite employed religion to justify their claim to power by appropriating religion, which culminated in a dual-monotheistic Knossian theocracy. This lasted until …

Prometheus & The Body Beautiful: Arno Breker And The Weaponization Of The Greco-Roman Tradition In The Größe Deutsche Kunstausstellung, Sophia Maldonado

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During the Third Reich (1933-1945), Hitler and the Nazis turned to the visual arts as a tool for propaganda to promote Hitler’s conception of the ideal people, i.e. the ‘Aryan’ race. Rooted in a calculate understanding of Greco-Roman civilization and culture, this conception of the ideal appropriated the visual vocabulary of the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Within the 1937 inaugural exhibition of the Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung, a propagandistic effort designed to promote this ideal, Arno Breker, chief sculptor of the Nazi Party, would exhibit his Prometheus. Breker’s interpretation of this mythological figure stood as a representation of …

How We Talk About Archaeology In The Digital Age, Michael Messina

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Abstract

Archaeology is known for the research, study, excavation, and exploration of the past. Often the present advancements at hand are not thought about when it comes to this field of study. This paper aims to shine a light on how the digital era has progressed the ways in which the archaeological field opened up like never before due to the all of the social mediums in which archaeologists can share their research and findings. Theory is explored both new and old on globalization within the field and how everything arrived to where it is now. Questions are researched through …

Performative Disability: The Objectification Of Atypical Physiognomy In The Self-Portraits Of Egon Schiele, Sophia Maldonado

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By the early-twentieth century, developments in medicine and psychology tremendously influenced the visual arts. From the medical photography of the Salpêtrière to the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud, the cultural attitudes and understandings of illnesses and treatments were available to artists whose work engaged with the medical community during this time. The oeuvre of Viennese Expressionist Egon Schiele demonstrates this influence by utilizing iconography related to disability. In order to construct his identity as an artist, Schiele turns to representations of atypical physiognomy that allow him to assert the identity of a ‘tortured artist’ and establish himself among the Viennese …

Vincent Van Gogh's Self-Portraits, Mary Novitsky

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This paper analysis the correlation of Vincent van Gogh’s mental and physical state with his application and choice of color in his self-portraits. His life before art held a heavy influence over his self-perception throughout his artistic career. Van Gogh could not escape his sense of guilt from failing his family, and constantly felt like a burden on his brother, Theo, who sponsored his artistic endeavors. Through Theo’s encouragement and work as an art dealer, van Gogh developed his own artistic style and met other popular artists from his time. His friendships along with his developing mental issues lead to …

Representations Of Lucrezia Borgia And The Image Of The Moral Exemplar In The Late Quattrocento And Early Cinquecento, Nina Wutrich

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Throughout her life, Lucrezia Borgia (1480-1519), the daughter of Pope Alexander VI, appropriated the imagery of holy women and other moral exemplars in her portraiture. This appropriation of imagery evolved as Lucrezia herself matured; the representations shift from those where Lucrezia disguises herself as a morally exemplary woman such as Saint Catherine of Alexandria, to those where she presents herself, in her role as Duchess of Ferrara, as a morally exemplary holy woman in her own right.

A Royal Display: The Significance Of Rubens' Banqueting House Ceiling, James T. Stewart

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The Banqueting House ceiling by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) that was commissioned by Charles I (1600-1649) embodied the power that the Stuart monarchy thought they had and they intended to display that power. The Banqueting House is the only surviving building of Whitehall Palace in London. The ceiling completed between the years 1632 to 1634 clearly demonstrated the idea of divine monarchy that was part of a wider European tradition. The main narrative of the ceiling is the triumphal and peaceful kingship of Charles I's father James I of England (1566-1625). In the paintings the king is depicted as a …

The Venus Problem: An Examination Of Botticelli's Venus And Mars, Eynav R. Ovadia

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Botticelli's paintings of Venus present unsolved dilemmas to ressearchers. Why do these paintings portray women as the central figures in the narrative when 15th century gender dynamics marginalized women, and what messages are viewers meant to understand from these works of art? My research attempts to answer these questions through an analysis of the "Venus and Mars", which was created between 1483-1484.

A Critical Reassessment Of Duchamp's Readymades And His Antiaesthetic Of The Ordinary, Alexandra M. Parrish

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This research focuses on the readymades of Marcel Duchamp and the impact made by these influential "anti-art" sculptures on the value of aesthetics in art. Duchamp's readymades and the concepts that informed them have had a profound influence on art since the mid 20th century. In American art, Duchamp's influence is a determinant of the art of the Neo-Dadaists of the 1950s, whose works blur the line of distinction between art and life. Readymades were created by Duchamp as a solution to what he called "retinal art," and were intended to provoke thought from the viewer on the nature of …

Herrad Of Hohenbourg And Her Garden Of Delights, Alyssa M. Hughes

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Herrad of Hohenbourg was a major contributor to the visual culture of 12th century European monastic tradition. She was the abbess of a female convent known as the Hohenbourg Abbey located on the eastern slope of Mount Odilienberg in the Vosges mountain range of modern day Alsace, France. Herrad seceded her mentor Relinde as Abbess of Hohenbourg in the year 1167; her reign would last from this year until her death in 1195. Amidst the suppression of a patriarchal society, Relinde and Herrad were able to instill the necessity of education within the convent. With the passing of Relinde, Herrad …

The Mighty Equine: The Influence Of Titian And Rubens On The Equestrian Portraits Of Velázquez, Kristine Susan Woeckener

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Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660) is considered by many to be one of the greatest artists Spain has ever produced. This essay explores the relationship between the painters Titian (ca. 1488-1576), Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), and Velázquez. In analyzing aspects of Velázquez's equestrian portraiture of the family of Philip IV, circa 1635-1636, Isabel of Bourbon, Infante Baltasar Carlos, and especially that of the king himself, Philip IV, and comparing them with Titian's Charles V at Mühlberg (ca. 1548) and The Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand at the Battle of Nördlingen (1634) by Rubens, it is possible to see stylistic similarities between …

We Are The Reckless, We Are The Wild Youth: Decadence And Debauchery In The Art Of The Utrecht Caravaggisti, Katie Brooke Frazier

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Scenes of prostitution, gambling, drinking and vice personified in the art of the Utrecht Caravaggisti who were the Dutch followers of Caravaggio, featured the street subjects of the Italian Baroque master however these artists infused their work with moralizing content that appealed to a Dutch audience. The social and religious climate of the Netherlands in the 17th century allowed for a self indulgent and hedonistic art to be produced despite the fervent, god-fearing culture surrounding it. The art of the Utrecht Caravaggisti borrows the style and subject matter from Caravaggio however it draws upon the indigenous proverbs and moralizing literature …