History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons^™

'Bajo Su Sombra': The Narration And Reception Of Colonial Urban Space In Early Nineteenth-Century Havana, Cuba, Paul Barrett Niell

Art & Art History ETDs

In early nineteenth-century Havana, Cuba, a small commemorative monument was erected on the Plaza de Armas to honor the site of the city's founding. Through academic history painting, Neoclassical architecture, and the appropriation of symbolic urban space, this memorial reconstructed the sixteenth-century history of the city for nineteenth-century audiences. This addition to the plaza could be seen as an extension of the Bourbon Reforms, which aimed to modernize the city by introducing public works and pedagogical methods that would make this Cuban colony function more efficiently in the insterests of Spain. However, upon closer examination, the memorial for the plaza …

Arthur Shilling: Anishinaabemowin-MazinibiiʼIgewinini, Suzanne Rita Mcleod

Art & Art History ETDs

Arthur Shilling, Anishinaabe artist from Mnjikaning First Nation in southern Ontario, was one of the first generation, contemporary Native painters who emerged in the early years in the formation of a "Canadian Native" art. Born in 1941, Shilling was, first, an artist who wrestled with the creation of a dignified expression of a people struggling to place themselves within the general population, and second, a man whose principles demanded the preservation of cultural and personal integrity. Shilling's "people-portraits" transcended the narrow definitions of "Native" or "Indian" art, with his artistry too close to Western styles to be comfortably catalogued as …

Syncretic Topographies: The Portraits Of Seydou Keïta, Sara L. Marion

Art & Art History ETDs

This thesis examines the writing, exhibitions, and discourses that have accompanied the translocation of Seydou Keïta's photographs from the center of the French Sudan to the core of the New York art world. Between 1948 and 1962. this Malian photographer established a commercial portrait studio in the city of Bamako, then the capital of the French Sudan and now the capital of Mali. He produced a body of portraits that catered to the aesthetics of a West African clientele on the verge of colonial independence. Nearly forty years later. these photographs resurfaced in the exhibition Africa Explores: 20th Century African …

Types And Markets: Photography And Masks Among The Nuxalk In The Twentieth Century, Joanne P. Carrubba

Art & Art History ETDs

Nuxalk mask making styles changed throughout the twentieth century for various reasons. The ideas of transition, transformation, and the market are central to the establishment of these alterations. Mask making is one response to acculturation and one means of cultural survival; masks are an outward form of cultural pride.

The nineteenth century brought increased contact and trade between Native groups and Euro-Americans. Missionaries, more settlers, and tourists came to the Northwest Coast, all of whom wanted to see and experience the authentic Natives of the region before they disappeared. These groups were quickly followed by anthropologists who wanted to study …

The Slide: Image And Object, Cindy D. Abel Morris

Art & Art History ETDs

Through an extensive review of the literature of the history and methodology of art history and visual resources, this thesis charts the effect of the use of slides for the discipline of art history.

The three chapters examine the conjunction between slides and art history. Chapter one gives an account of the pedagogical and practical reasons for the current predominance of the slide as the reproduction of choice in art history, concluding with a discussion of the relative importance of the text and image for art history. The second chapter briefly traces the evolution of magic lantern to 35mm format …

Rethinking Martín Chambi, Michele M. Penhall

Art & Art History ETDs

This dissertation examines the photographs of Peruvian photographer Martín Chambi. A successful photographer and celebrated artist during much of his life, Chambi and his work was largely forgotten about since the 1950s and unknown outside of South America. During the 1970s he was rediscovered and his photographs made known to audiences around the world. As a result, new interpretations of him as an artist have emerged which are different from those during his life. The photographs he is known for today are not those he considered his artistic work.

Giving Birth To Onions, Stefanie London Feld-Galbraith

Art & Art History ETDs

I have always questioned the authority of Art History. I was taught that the historians gave a true, unbiased examination of art, while the critics and the artists created works wrought with subjectivity. But experience has taught me that nothing can be looked upon objectively. Even as we look, we are changing what we see.

There is not just one truth, one voice; there are many, and this is mine. The stories you are about to see are real, except for the ones I made up, which are also real. I think the truth must be something that wraps around …

Egypt Recovered: The Photographic Surveys Of Maxime Du Camp, Félix Teynard, And John Beasley Greene, And The Development Of Egyptology, Kathleen Stewart Howe

Art & Art History ETDs

This dissertation examines the work of three photographers, Maxime Du Camp, Félix Teynard and John Beasley Greene, active in Egypt in the middle of the nineteenth century. In doing so, it relates the new technology of photography to the developing discipline of Egyptology in France. It proposes connections between the photographic oeuvres of Du Camp, Teynard, and Greene and contemporary trends in the study of Egyptian antiquity. It reveals the extent to which the personal circumstances of the three photographers mediated the influence of different sectors of the French academic and intellectual establishment.

The intent of this work is to …

Sculptors Of The Realm: Classic Maya Artists' Signatures And Sculptural Style During The Reign Of The Piedras Negras Ruler 7, John Ellis Montgomery

Art & Art History ETDs

The discovery of hieroglyphic artists' signatures on monuments of the Classic Maya represents a turning point for the study of Precolum­bian art. As key elements in the retrieval of artists from long-standing conditions of anonymity, artists' signatures theoretically afford the scholar an opportunity to follow the careers and sculptural repertoire of individual artists, allowing recognition of the artist's style over time and on unsigned monuments. However. while various studies have tried to identify individual sculptors solely on the basis of style, to date no pro­ject working in the medium of stone monuments has explored the rela­tionship between signatures and style, …

The Linguistic Affiliation And Phoneticism Of Teotihuacan Iconography, David Brown

Art & Art History ETDs

This study examines one of the major issues of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican history--the identity of the Teotihuacan culture--through a correlation of figurative art and iconography with writing and language. An examination of the last century of Mesoamerican scholarship points out the inherent shortcomings of reconstructing pre-Conquest history from Nahua ethnohistorical documents in the early-Colonial period. A re-evaluation of methodological assumptions used in the reconstructions of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican history leads to the conclusion that the Teotihuacan culture should be studied as much as possible within its cosmopolitan context of the Early-Urban period. Further reassessment of previous iconographic studies reveals that many interpretations …

Anne Seymour Damer (1748-1828), Sculptor, Susan Benforado

Art & Art History ETDs

The Honourable Anne Seymour Darner (1748-1828), aristocrat, classical scholar, novelist and actress, was also that anomalous being, an amateur woman sculptor. By her own admission, she considered sculpture the chief business of her life, and the pursuit of the "true style," now known by its nineteenth-century name of neoclassicism, its focus. She studied sculpture privately, first with Giuseppe Ceracchi and then with John Bacon the Elder, in whose studio she may have worked for a short time; William Cumberland Cruikshank taught her anatomy. Her wealth and connections --her maternal grandfather was the fourth Duke of Argyll, the third Duke of …

The Fossil Records, Glenn Craig Cornwall

Art & Art History ETDs

This paper deals with how the traditional fossil record of the geological past with its scientific interpretations has influenced and affected my current work. It also deals with the more recent metaphoric explorations of Robert Rauschenberg with regard to the term "fossil" and their subsequent influence on my work. Comparisons between these different representations of fossils and my own work reveal similarities and parallels.

Stylistic And Iconographic Study Of Lower Central American Stone Sculpture, Joan Kathryn Lingen B.V.M.

Art & Art History ETDs

In this study of Pre-Columbian sculptures from Panama and Costa Rica, style and iconography were investigated with the purposes of determining relationships among the different archaeological regions of this area of Lower Central America, establishing geographic and time distributions of traits, and creating a relative chronology for both style and motif. Over 1400 volcanic stone sculptures were organized into the two primary categories of Ceremonial Objects and Figural Images. These were further divided on the basis of formal similarities.. The major emphasis of this study has been an analysis and seriation of effigy grinding stones and standing human images. Two …

Edward Weston's Early Photography, 1903-1926, Amy Conger

Art & Art History ETDs

The purpose of this study is to examine the early work of the photographer Edward Weston (1886-1958) and to investigate the nature and direction of his development as well as the social and cultural environment during the first half of his career, that is, from 1903 through 1926 when he returned definitively to the United States from Mexico. About 800 photographs made by Weston during this twenty three year period are illustrated and discussed in the catalogue.

Architecture And Town Development In The Mining Camps Of Southwestern New Mexico, Carol L. Clark

Art & Art History ETDs

The architecture and town planning of the mining communities in Grant and Sierra Counties, New Mexico during the later nineteenth century are the focus of this study. The intent is to describe and illustrate the phases of development in these towns through three stages: The Initial Settlement, The Boomtown, and The Mature Town. The changing character of the architecture reflected the increasing stability, wealth, and sophistication in the camps. These towns were populated by Anglo-American immigrants and reflected the tastes and culture of America in the late 1800's. Popular architectural styles from the Midwestern and Eastern states were imitated in …

Restoring Soul With Art, Lawrence Michael Rutherford

Art & Art History ETDs

This thesis traces the roots of the rejection by technological man of soul and its accompanying workings through the intuitive, imaginal and irrational. This absence of credence in the workings of the soul or spirit has left the present age searching for meaning in life and desperate for justification of existence. Since art is by its very nature an expression of the imagination and fantasy, it has the capability to restore the soul and the truths of life that it expresses.

Notes On Viewfinding, Anna Lynn Grimes

Art & Art History ETDs

My mixed media works on paper are a result of an exploration in the landscape that I call “viewfinding. '' This exploration involves looking at the surrounding physical environment from different perspectives, discovering features that are significant to me and producing evidence of these discoveries in my work. To expand my concept of the landscape I explore multiple ways of viewing, i.e. viewing from different positions in the landscape, through window frames and through secondary sources of information such as maps and scientific diagrams. Levels of information are collected and reassembled in my "view” drawings of the landscape. The resulting …

My Onepoint Plan For Saving The World Or Approaching The Goddess, Playfully, Jason Eric Jones

Art & Art History ETDs

This thesis discusses my primary motivations in making art, which center around a felt need to exercise the nonverbal, arational processes that seem inappropriate, or at least generally neglected, in our culture. The trend toward increasing intellectuality at the expense of emotionality is described as a prime cause of Western civilization's “spiritual bankruptcy," and various rebellious movements against this trend, such as the cult of the White Goddess, are mentioned, briefly. Bicameral mind theory is used as a convenient model for the duality of the rational and the intuitive. In the context of this model, my approach to photography, which …

Progress In Preparedness, Vahe Guzelimian

Art & Art History ETDs

The primary purpose of this thesis is to discuss the contribution made by these sources toward my "progress in preparedness." I will examine my current photographic work in an effort to show how this preparedness guides the synthetical nature of my creative process.

Beyond Fascination, Robert C. Reck

Art & Art History ETDs

This thesis discusses the underlying concepts of my work. Part I reveals how intuition became an active part of my image-making process and chance assisted personal vision. Part II discusses the formal and stylistic means by which I address the relationships between my personal philosophy and the symbolic theory of the work.

Alienation And Creativity: A Study In Twentieth Century American Art, Judi Church

Art & Art History ETDs

The society in which one lives conditions the creativity of the individual. To quote Herbert Read, alienation, "is the progressive divorce of human faculties from natural process.” A society in which alienation is pervasive will spawn types of artistic activity related to that phenomenon. The desire to create is a positive means of transcending the alienation of contemporary life. In attempting through art to unite self and world I have looked to the works and lives of other artists. These include Jasper Johns, Antonio Tapiès, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, and Richard Diebenkorn. The evolution of my work over the past …

Portraiture--A Psychological Approach, Marcia Lee Perkins

Art & Art History ETDs

Portraiture is examined as a record of the artist's response to both the psychological and physical aspects of the person. The elements and avoidance of depersonalization and idealization are discussed.

DéSiré Charnay: Photographer, Keith F. Davis

Art & Art History ETDs

Desire Charnay, born in France in 1828, was a traveler, explorer, author and photographer best known for his studies of the Pre-Columbian ruins in Mexico. Educated and well-read, Charnay taught school in New Orleans before embarking on his 1857-61 expedition to Mexico. Using the cumbersome wet collodion process, he made the first successful photographs of the ruined monuments of Mitla, Chichen-Itza, Palenque, Izamal and Uxmal. These were published in a large folio of original photo­graphic prints, entited Cites et ruines americaines, in Paris in 1862. Charnay returned to these and other Mexican sites in 1880-82 and 1886, and published many …

Changes In My Images From 1977 To 1979, Sandra Rothfork

Art & Art History ETDs

During the period from 1977 through 1979 my pictorial images have undergone a gradual, but ultimately radical, change in appearance; though the philosophical sources for the paintings have remained the same. Using phenomenological and Buddhist definitions for samsara (constant change) and maya (appearance and reality) as the ideational basis for my images, I initially used a photorealistic technique. Finding epistemological problems with this method, I have recently used an abstract expressionist style. I have also replaced glass with water as a metaphor for consciousness. In painting water I have been influenced by the work of Joseph Raffael and Clyfford Still. …

Toward A Feminist Sensibility, Barbara J. Nugent

Art & Art History ETDs

This thesis recounts the many influences that have been important in the transition of my work from purely formalist concerns to ideas and content reflective of a more feminist sensibility. I have shown how these influences affected my work, not only in content, but also in the marks and the images used. The problems inherent in such a transformation have been cited as have the solutions to these problems. I see myself as a woman artist who is projecting her sense of power as a woman, who has deliberately chosen content based on being a woman artist, and who is …

A Statement On Recent Work, Sharon Siskin

Art & Art History ETDs

I am influenced and motivated by numerous elements, both inside and outside the realm of art. In this thesis I will explain how these elements have influenced the making of my art. I have decided to divide the discussion of my work into three sections. The first section will deal with color, the second with the grid and the third with the use of craft elements in this work. A final section will be added to bring these three sections together and to allude briefly to future directions of this wok.

Food For Thought, Faye Ellen Passow

Art & Art History ETDs

This paper is a brief account of my art and the philosophy behind it. I will discuss my life experiences which have had influence on my work. I will talk about the structure of the work which involves the juxtaposition of familiar social orders, creating disorder and comedy'" I will also talk about the processes used and how they aid in creating an effective piece.

The Concerns And Concepts Underlying My Photographic Work, Mark Ivan Hinderaker

Art & Art History ETDs

This is an examination of the underlying concepts and the formal characteristics of my photographic work. In my work, the repetition of formal elements, the visual meanings which emerge from the sequential interplay of the images, and my interest in visual problems related to depth and surface, are combined with a diaristic and existential viewpoint in the use of the camera and with an interest in photographing American material culture. My work is in the tradition of Robert Frank and uses insights from my study of Ralph Gibson's use of sequencing. I see my work in relation to poetry and …

Dead Reckoning And Sufficient Means, Kendra Mackenzie

Art & Art History ETDs

I discuss the nature of this installation as a work in progress, a situation set up both to generate information and to make possible an assessment of certain issues within this work. I discuss my original intentions and my changing perceptions of them. Included notes from the actual week in progress and a sample of the sequences of the photographic documentation. I conclude with a brief discussion of selected sources and some thoughts for future work.

The Sequential Photographs Of EugèNe Atget, Photographer Of Paris, Donald Lee Neal

Art & Art History ETDs

An examination is made of Atget's style, the range, scope and content of his photographic work. The purpose of this dissertation is: to clarify facts about Atget's career, to draw conclusions about the way Atget photographed and developed a personal style through an examination of Atget's original prints and other source material, and to determine whether the published view of Atget is representative of his work as a whole. Eugene Atget made an exhaustive photographic record of aspects of Paris and its surroundings. While his work was methodical, it was not systematic; mature but lacking in the overall structural clarity …