History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons^™

The Unicorn And Christ – Metamorphosis And Symbology, Luis Mendonça De Carvalho, Francisca Maria Fernandes, Maria Fátima Nunes, Ana Maria Costa, Paula Nozes, Ana Paula Figueira

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

The unicorn is a legendary chimaera that, for centuries, has been present in the mindset of Euro-Mediterranean cultures. Although its morphological description changed, tradition identifies it as an animal like a horse, albeit smaller and with a spiralling horn on its head pointing forward. The unicorn has been known since Antiquity, with references by authors such as Ctesias and Pliny. However, its relevance for medieval Europeans began with the Biblical references to this animal in several Old Testament verses. These verses gave legitimacy to the unicorn, and it was accepted as a tangible animal. During the Middle Ages and early …

The Seeming Beginning: The Drawings Of Dorothy Hood, 1942-1986, Natalia Lopez

Art History Theses and Dissertations

The notable career of American artist Dorothy Hood (1918-2000) spanned nearly six decades which she witnessed, and contributed to, the transformative shifts in art history from the 1940s through the late 1990s. Today, Hood is known as a cult figure in her native Houston, celebrated for her large-scale abstract paintings that are said to evoke the expansive Texas skies. While these paintings create a large portion of Hood’s oeuvre, they represent only a fraction of her prolific artworks. Equally significant are her meticulously detailed and surreal drawings, which form a substantial, often overlooked portion of her legacy.

Hood’s drawings embody …

Worship Through Miniature Gesture: The Tell Asmar Hoard As Ritual Role Models, Libby Bush

Art History Theses and Dissertations

This thesis argues for a new approach to hand gesture in the Early Dynastic period, and more broadly, the Ancient Near East. I use the Tell Asmar hoard, a group of twelve miniature sculptures that were found buried in a temple in ancient Eshnunna in the Diyala region of Iraq, as a case study. The sculptures are dated to the Early Dynastic (2900-2334 BCE) and belong to the larger corpus of sculptures of Mesopotamia. I argue that the Tell Asmar hoard act as role models and mediators for the temple worshiper. My argument is built upon miniaturization theory, as the …

El Presidio Hispano-Colonial: Estudio Del Discurso Moderno De Fortificación Del Imperio Español A Traves De Planos Y Mapas, Javier E. Astorga Villarroel Ph.D.

Latin American Studies ETDs

This dissertation project delves into the processes of ideation, design, projection, and knowledge-transfer around the Presidio, an iconoclastic fortification system deployed by the Spanish Empire while projecting its colonial power toward the Transatlantic region. Based on Bruno Latour’s classic theory on the agency of networks of meanings (also known as new materialism) applied to historical cartography, my investigation examines the production of techno-military knowledge around the presidios as they were depicted through plans, maps, and manuals while mapping out border areas over North America and the Caribbean, from the 17th to the 19th centuries. With archival research work performed at …

The Endurance Of West African Textiles Through The Ages, Sarah Isak-Goode

The Confluence

West Africans have a long history of creating distinctive textiles. Yet, they are frequently misunderstood. Though often bold, the patterns and colors used in textiles have a subtle meaning. Separately and together, many of these patterns and symbols represent an unspoken language among natives. Research from the pre-colonial era to the contemporary era has shown that these textiles have persisted because of the reverence West Africans hold for both their heritage and personal expression. Further research is recommended to gain understanding of these textiles, from both the past and the present, as well as the West Africans who have intently …

Presence Of The Past: The Translation Of Traditional Culture Into Contemporary Form Among The Igbo Peoples Of Southeastern Nigeria, Nelson Agalaba

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Architecture serves as the physical embodiment of a group’s cultural values, history, and social dynamics- or identity. The arrival of European colonialism and modernism brought about a paradigm shift, prioritizing a universal European aesthetic and “international style”, displacing indigenous architectural traditions and severing the deep connections between culture and the natural and built environments. The global south has experienced the brunt of this process, especially the African continent. For example, the Igbo peoples of southeastern Nigeria have lost nearly all examples of their building traditions and have been in a constant struggle to create an architecture that captures their rich …

The Development Of Violin Art In China And The Exchange Of Eastern And Western Elements: A Case Study Of Fritz Kreisler's Tambourin Chinois, Chengyu Ren

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Violin, often regarded as one of the most expressive and versatile instruments in the world, holds a central place in both Western and non-Western musical traditions. Its wide dynamic range, tonal flexibility, and unmatched capacity for nuanced expression have allowed it to transcend cultural boundaries and play a key role in the development of diverse musical genres. From classical symphonies and chamber music to folk, jazz, and even popular music, the violin's distinctive voice can be heard shaping the sonic identity of cultures across the globe. In the context of Chinese music, the violin's influence has grown significantly since …

Generative Ai: Cultural Shift Towards The Machine, Barbara Gilman, Damon Willick

Honors Thesis

No abstract provided.

The Tests Of Time: An Examination Of Contemporary Indigenous Artwork On Display In Southern Museums, Gwendolyn R. Pfrenger

Honors Theses

This paper examines current practices in three Southern museums of varying sizes and missions as they relate to the curation and display of Indigenous art. Specifically, the paper aims to investigate the place of contemporary Native art in art and anthropology museums: How does display vary across the two disciplines? What is its role, now that cultural institutions are becoming more progressive and making a stronger push toward representing artists from minority groups? This is a fairly new area of study, especially for art history, so much of what is discussed here is drawn from art historians, anthropologists, and museum …

Trans-Pacific Connections: Chinese Porcelain And Aztec Motifs In Colonial Mexico, Natalia Ramirez

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This research explores artworks within the Global Baroque as visual and ideological evidence through which colonial power, trade, and cross-cultural influence shaped the material culture of the early modern world. Centering on blue and white ceramics as a key medium of transcultural and trans-local exchange, the study analyzes how global motifs, particularly those drawn from Aztec and Chinese traditions, were reinterpreted, aestheticized, and circulated in Aztec and Novohispanic artistic practices.

Through a close observational comparison of Aztec and Chinese decorative systems, the study recognizes contrasting systems of cultural documentation embedded within similar visual forms. Aztec motifs, rooted in ritual, calendrical, …

Trans-Pacific Connections: Unveiling Cultural Exchange Through Baroque Folding Screens Of Japan And Mexico, Natalia Christine Ramirez

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

This study focuses into the often-overlooked world of 16th-17th-century globally-mobile folding screens, revealing them as vastly important cultural objects. While conventional scholarship tends to compartmentalize artistic traditions, focusing on isolated cultures, this research emphasizes the vibrant exchanges that connected Japan and Mexico during the ‘Baroque’ period. By contrasting the Conquest of Mexico screen with the Japanese Namban Folding Screen, the nuances and vastness of cultural interaction through creative objects becomes illuminated and revered as important pieces of global history.

Through applying global art historical theories, especially the concept of the ‘global Baroque,’ I explore how Mexican biombo screens adapted from …

Entropy And Incarnation In The Duchamp Room: An Inquiry Into Aesthetic Time, Jesse Goodman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the posthumous installation of Marcel Duchamp, Étant donnés, as a test case for how particularly historically situated artworks may or may not change over time. It begins with an overview of Duchamp’s biography, and his own theories of art’s relationship to temporality (which influenced the piece’s construction). It then moves through contrasting accounts of aesthetic time from Adorno and Robert Smithson. Section two works with Walter Benjamin’s writing on photography and aura to produce an account of estrangement between the piece and the viewing subject induced by the historical development of the artwork’s “translation” and “replication”—through …

Visibly Invisible: Reclaiming Atlanta Black Architecture Through Black Expression, Sean M. Spencer

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Architecture has long grappled with questions of self, community, and cultural identity. While the number of Black architects is growing, architecture that genuinely reflects Black identity remains rare. This lack of representation has contributed to a sense of invisibility for Black communities within the built environment—whether by design or neglect. There is an urgent need to define and celebrate Blackness and Black space in ways that reflect the cultural richness of Black communities. As George Will points out, broad labels like African American or African often obscure the unique cultural experiences within Black communities. Historically, the lack of economic and …

The Intersection Of Spirituality, Commerce, And Art In The Work Of William Keith, Joan Gallagher

Theses

This thesis examines the nineteenth-century Tonalist artist William Keith, focusing on how he successfully integrated commerce, art, and spirituality to achieve financial success, artistic innovation, and spiritual depth. While scholars often emphasize the symbolism and religiosity in his work, they tend to overlook his financial accomplishments. This study explores Keith's background, religious influences, and artistic development within the cultural, economic, and social context of nineteenth-century America. As a Tonalist, Keith produced popular works for the art market; as a Swedenborgian, his art reflected the spiritual principles of that faith. Unlike his East Coast counterparts, Keith’s California-based landscapes captured the dramatic …

Encountering The Imaginary: Félix Régamey In Japan And The Legacy Of Japonisme, Nicolas Moiseyev

Art and Art History Honors Projects

This thesis critically examines Félix Régamey’s transformative role in the development of Japonisme, highlighting his pivotal contribution to bridging Western perceptions and authentic Japanese culture during the late nineteenth century. Through an exploration of his firsthand experiences in Japan, Régamey emerges as a multifaceted and paradoxical figure—an artist, educator, and author—whose pursuits reshaped the narrative of Japanese art and cultural exchange in France amid the fervor of Japonisme. His immersion in Japanese society enabled him to engage directly with its artistic traditions, which he skillfully translated for European audiences. This study reveals Régamey’s efforts to challenge the prevailing Orientalist stereotypes …

Cuentos De Barro, Daniel Anthony Vasquez

Theses and Dissertations

Cuentos de Barros addresses the complexities of creating art and processing indigenous heritage and personal history as a Salvadoran immigrant within a neo-colonial society. Centering ritual, care, and healing, the artist imbues sculptures with tenderness using abstract forms and the tactile manipulation of unfired clay and graphite.

Stitch Theory, Brittany Adeline Adama King

Theses and Dissertations

This paper weaves personal history together using “stitched” citational text, supporting the concept that an archive can function as support, as worn; as garment.

Folds, Bayan Abukiwan

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses the fold as an orienting metaphor and material gesture to linger on the minor details of intimacy that are severed by occupation and political violence. Through painting, drawing and ceramics, the work traces the more implicit modes of dehumanization—particularly in relation to Palestine—while engaging the domestic as a site of quiet and complexity. Influenced by artists like Jennifer Packer and Beatriz González, the practice embraces slowness, touch, and opacity to fold the viewer into a haptic encounter with the work.

The Logic Of Car Accidents And Other Digestive Processes, Rosalie G.L. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

In this essay the author explores the artistic process via an analogy with digestion. The author goes on to explain their work via components of their practice, described as organs.

An Archeology Of Looking, Marco G. Dasilva

Theses and Dissertations

Marco DaSilva’s mosaics explore camouflage and syncretism, blending symbols from American culture, Catholic saints, Afro-Brazilian deities and queer spaces. His work examines objects as relics, where identity is hidden and revealed. By integrating simple materials and transforming them into unique compositions, DaSilva creates hybrid objects where all of his worlds intersect, crafting his own mythology.