Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Creating Art And Artists: Late Nineteenth-Century American Artists' Studios, Karen A. Zukowski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the studios of American painters and sculptors working in the cosmopolitan era of the late nineteenth century. Between the Philadelphia Centennial and World War I, most makers of fine art worked in studios furnished with old furniture, personal mementos, historic relics and superbly-crafted objets d'art, all rich in evocative associations. In these spaces artists made art, taught art, sold art, entertained friends and patrons, and kept house. These studios were often opened to the public, they were featured in newspaper and journal articles, and they appeared in paintings and novels, making them quasi-public places. Born out …

The Writings Of Russell Sturgis And Peter B. Wight: The Victorian Architect As Critic And Historian, Marjorie A. Pearson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The focus of this dissertation is on the writings of Russell Sturgis (1836–1909) and Peter B. Wight (1838–1925). As part of a movement that professionalized the practice of architecture in the United States, they brought an awareness of the role of architecture to a larger public, both through their buildings and their writings. Their joint beginnings in the American Pre-Raphaelite movement led to their journalistic endeavors in the New Path, published between 1863 and 1865 in New York City. As proselytizers for Ruskinianism in their architectural work and words, this pervasive force was to remain an important influence throughout their …

A Theater Of Anxiety: The Irrepresentable In Shelley's "The Cenci" And In Musset's "Lorenzaccio", Remy Joseph Roussetzki

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation I develop a comparative study of two outstanding Romantic dramas, Shelley's The Cenci (1819) and Musset's Lorenzaccio (1834), with the purpose of demonstrating that both offer a viable answer to the difficult problems facing the revival of tragedy at the beginning of the Nineteenth Century. Both Shelley and Musset took into account the tragic traditions available in their time, starting with the Greek models, to the evolution and transformation of the genre during Elizabethan and Jacobean periods in England, Neo-classicism in France and the Baroque in Germany.

I argue that these plays aggravated in particular the Historical …

Deflating Deflationism, Bradley Philip Armour-Garb

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation, I take a close look at the deflationary theory of truth, and deflationary semantics, generally. My thesis is that, as a theory about the nature and function of the property of truth, deflationism is well supported. However, deflationary semantics, which combines deflationism about truth with deflationism about meaning cannot be argued for by pointing to the expressive function of the truth predicate.

Having shown that deflationism about meaning cannot be argued for in this way, I develop a challenge to deflationary semantics, the challenge of the contingency of sentential truth conditions. The challenge for the deflationist …

Contemporary Romanian Theatre: Artistry, Honesty, And Adaptation In The Plays Of Iosif Naghiu, Dumitru Radu Popescu And Marin Sorescu, Eric Pourchot

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study examines the plays and productions of three contemporary Romanian playwrights—Iosif Naghiu, Dumitru Radu Popescu, and Marin Sorescu—as they reflect the changing cultural policies and climate of Romania from 1968 to 1998. The three case studies demonstrate that, faced with harsh political censorship during the Ceausescu years and economic difficulties since the overthrow of communism in 1989, contemporary Romanian drama and theatre has nevertheless maintained an artistic merit and integrity deserving of wider acknowledgment. Romanian directors are well-known internationally but, paradoxically, the drama of Romania, despite close linguistic connections to Western Europe, has received far less attention than has …

Robert Henri And Cosmopolitan Culture Of Fin-De-Siecle France, Linda Jones Gibbs

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The American painter Robert Henri (1865–1929) lived in Paris and its environs for nearly eight years between 1888–1900. This dissertation relates the critical impact his extensive exposure to fin-de-siecle French culture had upon his early paintings, his theories about the production of art, and ultimately upon the ideological foundation of the Ashcan School. This is accomplished through analysis of the many significant cosmopolitan elements Henri encountered in France not only in the realm of art but literature, philosophy, and politics.

Henri's rebellion against the art institutional bureaucracy and hierarchy and his non-traditional teaching methods have frequently been attributed to the …

John Brougham: The American Performance Career Of An Irish Comedian, 1842–1880, Dana Rahm Sutton

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Reports during the nineteenth century indicate that John Brougham was one of the best known actors of his day, but little study during the twentieth century has been made of his performance career. Today he is sometimes recognized as a playwright, probably because two of his plays have been included in anthologies of nineteenth-century plays, but he considered himself primarily an actor rather than playwright. While it has been acknowledged that he was never very successful financially in his repeated attempts at theatre managements, reasons for his lack of success have not been fully explored. His artistic triumphs as a …

The Women Of The Ten, Twent', Thirt': Popular Melodrama Theatre In Turn-Of-The-Century New York, Barbara Meredith Waldinger

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

During the first decade of the twentieth century, when the population of New York City was growing by leaps and bounds because of immigration, urbanization, and industrialization, a short-lived theatre movement known as the "ten-twenty-thirty," or, more familiarly, the "ten, twent', thirt," was born. Originally named for the low prices of the tickets, the term came to encompass various types of touring companies that travelled throughout the country, resident stock companies, and hundreds of plays, mostly melodramas, written expressly for this movement. Created by enterprising producers, managers, and playwrights, the ten, twent', thirt' catered to the needs of the working-class …