History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons^™

The Hospitality Of Doubt, Ian Grieve

Art Theses and Dissertations

This paper discusses the last two years of research toward a Master of Fine Art in Studio Art. I mainly address my painting practice, but while in the program, I have worked in collage, ceramics, intaglio printmaking, and sculpture. My paintings are thick, multilayered, and often contain ambiguous narratives. The pictures develop through engagement, openness, and response within the work. I seek and embrace connection with viewers of the work. The spectator ‘completes’ the art and enhances or alters the artworks meaning by observing it and applying their individual perspectives. I seek to incorporate a sense of nostalgia and familiarity. …

“She Didn’T Know I Was In The Room”: The Effects Of Hatfield’S Illustrations On Readers’ Interpretations Of “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Mason Repas

The Downtown Review

When Charlotte Gilman's short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper," was first published in New England Magazine in 1892, staff illustrator Joseph Hatfield created three realistic-style images to accompany the text. Research suggests that Gilman had no control or influence over these images, which altered readers' perception of her story about the dangers of the rest cure for female hysteria. While Hatfield faced artistic limitations and his intentions are not discoverable today, the choices and details in his illustrations support interpretations of the short story as a piece of horror fiction in which his cohesive series of images is a more reliable …

Other Oceans, Other Skies, Sharlene Lee

MFA in Visual Art

I create immersive installations, performances, and time-based media artworks that delve into stories of belonging, feminism, and language as power. These stories offer a potential for transformation from viewer to participant and a shift in how our world is seen and experienced. Through an exploration of perception and affect, I challenge dominant narratives, prompting a contemplation of contemporary power struggles for control.

In this text, I examine the impact of historical borders and migration on my life while also investigating questions of home, shared values, and rituals that contribute to one’s sense of belonging. I also highlight my commitment to …

Legends Of Light: Crafting Middle Grade Fantasy In The Tradition Of Catholic Philosophy And Medieval Visual Culture, Bernadette Lamb

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

This essay promotes the writing and illustrating of middle grade literature that mirrors the wonder-inducing experiences of leafing through an illuminated manuscript and stepping into a Gothic cathedral. An examination of Catholic medieval visual culture moves into a discussion on its underlying philosophy and theology, which are profoundly centered on relational healing and the dignity of the human person. Christian writers including St. Pope John Paul II, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Josef Pieper, Madeline L’Engle, Dr. Bob Schuchts, Makoto Fujimura, and Andrew Peterson inform an exploration of mercy, forgiveness, and love as self-gift in the context of illustration and storytelling …

Complexity Of Perfection, Ayanna M. Johnson

Honors Capstones

Many of the first art galleries and museums existed in places where elite individuals were allowed. The constant pursuit of achieving perfection in many circumstances may stem from a white supremacist narrative that often stagnates creativity from achieving its full potential. This sends a series of alarming messages to artists as they tend to lose the initial interest they have for their medium by attempting to achieve a level of perfection that is unattainable. As a result, this notion can shed light on the social impact art can have in society and the relationship with the type of artwork displayed. …

Archi-Comics, Timothy Gatto

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Humor in architecture is not at the forefront of architect’s minds, this comes from architects need to be deemed serious. This way of thinking is what has backed architects up into a corner banal and stagnant architecture. Architecture is the art of context, everything in architecture is referential. Humor is foundationally the exact same way, the incongruity theory makes humor possible by putting a concept into context with things and finding contradictions in the process, thus developing a joke. Each of these arts, humor and architecture, are that of context and when architecture is delivered like humor, it points out …

Presenting And Curating Contemporary Installation Art; The Work Of Cornelia Parker And Céline Condorelli, Bridget Curtis

Bachelor of Fine Arts Theses

The popular sentiment in curation among contemporary British art institutions has emphasized the attempt to reconcile with the divide between public art and art presented in institutions. The globalization of Britain in contemporary times has led to the wide dissemination of shows curated by British institutions. The location artwork is exhibited can change the reception and interaction with the work. Artists who use their work as a means of activism can benefit from the perception of a global audience. The question arises as to how impactful activism art can be when exhibited within the contemporary institution versus when it is …

The “Trans-Historical Community Of Women” And The Paintings Of Artemisia Gentileschi, Grace T. O. Ray

The Confluence

Though the term feminism did not yet exist, Artemisia Gentileschi’s embrace of the vital force of feminine strength is a distinctive component to her paintings. The woman painter’s life and art were affected by her sex, in a time when women were not only considered property but had to deal with the repercussions of an oppressive patriarchal society. From her youth onwards, Gentileschi witnessed women unjustly convicted and punished for crimes that had men committed, the law would have allowed them to walk free. Sadly, Artemisia was later privy to the misogynistic laws herself with the famous rape trial. It …

The Charterhouse Antiphonal Fragment, Kathleen E. Kennedy, Anna H. H. De Bakker

Manuscript Studies

An item included within the collection of manuscript leaves known as Ghent, University Library, MS BHSL.HS.3020 can now be identified as a fragment of the sole surviving English Carthusian antiphonal, and the third extant historiated English antiphonal. Specific features of the chant identify the use as Carthusian, and the illumination localizes the antiphonal’s production to London in the early Tudor period, making it likely that the volume was made for the London Charterhouse.

A Poor Third? A Reexamination Of Manuscript And Print Markets In Fifteenth And Sixteenth-Century Rouen, Kate Hodgson

School of Art Undergraduate Honors Theses

Manuscript and print scholars of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries have deemed Rouen a ‘poor third’ to the workshops in Paris and Lyon. Lacking the cultural status and political influence of these two major centers of book production, Rouen’s manuscript tradition has been coined an “eclectic” group of illuminators who were limited to a local, discontinuous demand for books and whose regional role hardly even bears examination. However, Between 1419 and 1449, Rouen was an epicenter of political and economic exchange between Normandy and England. The city’s manuscript ateliers experienced a period of unparalleled patronage from an international, elite clientele, …

Finding The Circle In The Square: A Neoplatonic Interpretation Of Kazimir Malevich’S Black Square, Matthew Madison Rowe

Theses

This thesis explores the influence of Silver Age philosophers Vladimir Soloviev, Sergei Bulgakov, and Pavel Florensky on Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square. Malevich was among the first to apply Silver Age philosophy to abstract art, fully rejecting all objective representation in art. The thesis argues that Malevich’s Suprematism was the result of the fundamental antimony of the Russian religious worldview, which understands reality as both immanent and transcendent. This understanding of reality was not unique to Russia but was the result of historic influences, including the Neoplatonic and religious-humanist philosophy that was prevalent in Russian intellectual culture during this period. …

Evaluating The Efficacy Of The Christian Reformational Transcendental Model Of Art Criticism As A Literary Theory Through Albert Camus’S The Stranger, Elizabeth Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The subfield of art criticism and theory within Christian reformational philosophy, a descendent of the neo-Calvinist theology developed through the work of Dutch Reformer Abraham Kuyper and others, is becoming increasingly diverse. Recently, scholars such as Leland Ryken, Glenda Faye Mathes, and Philip Graham Ryken have built upon twentieth-century theologian Francis Schaeffer’s worldview approach by popularizing a transcendental model of art criticism, an approach that applies the transcendentals of truth, goodness, and beauty to works of art. However, the transcendentals, while widely discussed in the fields of philosophy, theology, and, to a lesser extent, art theory, have not been explicitly …

Stop Kiss: A Scenic Design, Taylor Walters-Riggsbee

Student Research and Creative Activity in Theatre and Film

The purpose of this thesis is to document the design processes of the University of Nebraska Lincoln’s production of Stop Kiss by Diana Son, produced March 1-9, 2023, in partnership with the Nebraska Repertory Theatre. Documented is a complete representation of a scenic design process including discussion of practices and design methodologies, research plates, supporting analytical paperwork, preliminary sketches, digital renderings, and 1/4” scale model photos, a full set of drafting, painter’s elevations and a corresponding props and dressing list. Performance photos follow as an archive of the production process and performance photos.

Advisor: Joshua David Madsen

Monet In Bordighera, Valerio Volga

Theses

Claude Monet visited Bordighera, the coastal town on the Italian Riviera, in 1884. This paper argues how, in Bordighera, Monet pursued a more immersive experience with nature than ever before. Monet first visited Bordighera late in 1883 with Renoir; he then went back in 1884 for a second and last trip, this time on his own. He stayed almost three months and painted 38 canvases; this paper focuses on four canvases that help illustrate Monet's depiction of nature and its transition from wide open views to close-up views that convey an immersive experience. Monet began his painting sessions on bristling …

Curio-Stereo: A Vr Application For The Viewing Of Stereograph Cards, Paige Sandheinrich

Theses

This project discusses the historical significance of stereograph cards as a tool for constructing a shared visual culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States and the United Kingdom. Stereographs were widely popularized as an entertainment and educational tool, offering an immersive experience for the viewers. The stereoscopic nature of the images allowed the viewers to immerse themselves in a non-physical reality through visual stimulation, creating a haptic involvement that was unique to the medium. The project of creating a VR application to view stereographs is presented as a potential solution to the problem of …

Of Word And Stone: The History Of Medieval Spain Through The Lens Of Architecture And Language, Samantha Hernandez

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Medieval Spain is a unique summation of religious and cultural communities. Through the built forms of Al-Andalus, there is unique preservation of societal imprints that parallel the formation of the Castilian language. These two mediums—architecture and language—are a telling of the culture and history of the region. By first observing the historical formation of Spanish, and in turn the various communities which inhabited the Iberian Peninsula, one may find many correlations with architecture created at the same time. After understanding the historical making of the Spanish language, it is important to analyze the language itself and how it differs from …

The Moral Hygiene Movement In The United States, 1840s—1920s, Marissa Seib

History Theses

During the 19th and 20th centuries, the mental health care system in the United States underwent a series of reforms in an effort to better care for some of the country’s frailest citizens. This period, called the moral hygiene era of mental health care, emerged from a further understanding of psychiatry and psychology which led to structural changes in the mental health care system.

This thesis examines the beginnings of the Kirkbride system, which sought to reform the whole of American mental health care through landscaping and architecture as well as the specific treatment plan for each individual. Using case …

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

Student Research Submissions

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

Student Research Submissions

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 …

But What Is Troy: Art In Queer Mourning, Ian Lamasney

Symposium of Student Scholars

Death is something that everyone, regardless of any arbitrary divisions, will inevitably have to experience. For a variety of reasons, queer mourning is not practiced the same way that straight society does - it manifests as raw anger at the society around them. Deconstruction and queer theory perspectives reveals political, social, and artistic strategies that inform recent visual art practice. Examinations of the work of Felix Gonzalez-Torres and John Boskovich, informed by queer theory perspectives, highlight similarities in the process of queer mourning in the late 20th century. In addition, discussion of the tale of Achilles and Patroclus recorded in …