Art and Design Commons^™

Donning The Cloak: Safavid Figural Silks And The Display Of Identity, Nazanin Hedayat Munroe

Publications and Research

Introduction

In a red world bathed in shimmering gold light, a man sits with his head in his hand as wild beasts encircle him. He is emaciated, has unkempt hair, and wears only a waistcloth—but he has a dreamy smile on his face. Nearby, a camel bears a palanquin carrying a stately woman, her head tipped to one side, arm outstretched from the window of her traveling abode toward her lover. Beneath her, the signature “Work of Ghiyath” is woven in Kufic script inside an eightpointed star on the palanquin (Fig. 1).

This depiction of the literary characters Layla and …

Angels And Demons: Christina Rossetti’S Goblin Market As A Social Critique Of The Victorian Ideal Of The “Angel In The House” And The Pre-Raphaelites’ Response To That Ideal, Melissa Adams

Theses and Dissertations

Christina Rossetti’s poem Goblin Market presents a subversive critique on the socially constructed dichotomy of Angel versus Demon as depicted in Pre-Raphaelite artwork, Dante Gabriele Rossetti’s poetry, and Coventry Patmore’s poem Angel in the House. An analysis of Goblin Market in relation to Patmore’s poem and the Pre-Raphaelite paintings The Annunciation, Ophelia, Lady Lilith, Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses, and Sibylla Palmifera and Dante Gabriele Rossetti’s poems “Soul’s Beauty” and “Body’s Beauty” illustrate the ways in which Rossetti presents a counter-image that breaks down this socially constructed dichotomy. This is additionally supported by an exploration …

Anatomy Of An Arabetic Type Design, Saad D. Abulhab

Publications and Research

Arabetic type design, like type design in general, should not be limited by rigid rules, other than those advocating open choice and user options. But as with all design fields, highlighting certain principles and guidelines is crucial to realizing a successful project. In an Arabetic font design environment, such guidelines and principles should reveal deeper understanding of various scripts visual and behavioral defining characteristics rather than mere traditional calligraphic and handwriting norms. A main goal of this study is to emphasize that designing Arabetic fonts is much easier than it is portrayed, and designers of all backgrounds should be more …

Typography Behind The Arabetic Calligraphy Veil, Saad D. Abulhab

Publications and Research

In the change from scriptural writing systems to textual mechanical systems and most recently to digital, computer generated text, some languages and their typographic representations have suffered. One such language, along with its visible language representation, that has not made a smooth transition is Arabic. The author argues that misinterpreting language tradition prevents what he calls Arabetic typography from embracing an appropriate technological adaptation. Putting forth an evolutionary argument, he critiques the notion that calligraphic styles must prevail and that legibility and readability of Arabic characters is objective. He further states that the resulting typefaces when abandoning the so called …

Review Of Analogías Musicales: Kandinsky Y Sus Contemporáneos, Antoni Pizà

Publications and Research

It is hard to believe that curators and scholars still find something to say about the relationship between music and art of the twentieth century. Still, in recent years there has been a relentless boom of exhibitions, scholarly studies, and books dedicated to this topic. This interest, to be sure, is due, in part, to the prestige that modernist art commands among wealthy collectors and institutions, but also to its immense popularity among the general public. Less popular in appeal, though equally revered among the happy few, is modernist music. When both manifestations – art and music – are brought …

The Mutamathil Type Style: Towards Free, Technology-Friendly, Arabetic Types, Saad D. Abulhab

Publications and Research

Efforts to adapt various Arabetic scripts to the machine are as old as the field of typography. But most of these efforts concentrated primarily on forcing the machine to duplicate the Arabetic handwritten forms. Others have practically advocated divorce from the calligraphic tradition rather than enrichment and reform. One reason why the few modern attempts to typographically solve the technology-induced Arabetic script problems had failed is that many typeforms (or many times just theoretical calligraphy style) was presented as replacement for the traditional ones rather than as optional working types. New “controversial” types should be made widely available for users …

"Sodoma, Sodoma, Thus Cried The Boys: A Reappraisal Of Gianantoni Bazzi's Life And Work, James Saslow

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

The farther back we go from modern into early modern history, the harder it gets to document those facets of an artist's personal life that might provide an anchor for claims to discern forms of homosexual authorial intention—without the probability of which, gay/lesbian studies might indeed collapse into the baldest claim of its detractors, that it is naught but meaningless psychospeculation.

Dalí'S Musical Roundabouts, Antoni Pizà

Publications and Research

Those familiar with Salvador Dalí's contradictory nature as well as his propensity to mask his own thoughts will not be surprised to learn that, publicly, he despised music, though obviously that was not the case at all. In fact, many witnesses say – Amanda Lear, for one – he was actually quite musical and, time and again, he could be caught off guard singing or humming Catalan folk songs, sardanas, zarzuelas, and cuplés – all folksy, kitschy, and, by most accounts, tacky popular songs. Dalí, however, went to a great length to conceal this spontaneous love for the simple, uncomplicated …

Standing Against Censorship—Again, Alisa Solomon

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

Good afternoon. I'm Alisa Solomon, the executive director of the Center for Lesbian and Cay Studies (CLAGS) at the City University of New York, and I'm glad to be here on behalf of CLAGS to voice our strong objection to Mayor Giuliani's so-called Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission. We at CLAGS are not fooled by the Mayor's disingenuous assertions that this committee is merely a group of concerned citizens exercising their free speech in offering him their advice, for we recognize many of the members as long-time activists in the effort to squelch dissident viewpoints and legislate their own narrow morality. …

Review Of William Blake, Antoni Pizà

Publications and Research

Although William Blake is the quintessential multidisciplinary artist – his achievements in literature and the visual arts are for the most part uncontested – as far as we know, he was never particularly interested in music. Indeed, neither his poetry nor his pictures describe or depict music directly. Yet, in the last 200 years or so, his work has made an astounding mark on composers and music. One sees Blake's influence primarily in the numberless musical settings of his poems, but also in more general, indefinite, and ineffable way – a very Blake-ian one, I am tempted to say. I …

Review Of 1900: Art At The Crossroads, Antoni Pizà

Publications and Research

There is probably little doubt that the fissure between "high" and "low" culture is more conspicuous nowadays than it ever was. Clement Greenberg, that dashing arbiter of contemporary art, had already sensed it in 1939 when he wrote the seminal essay quoted above, as Adorno also perceived it decades before him. Their foreboding premonitions, however, could not hinder the relentless success of popular culture and the retreat of so-called high art into the safe harbors of the university campus, the museum, and the private sphere.

Academics, Advocacy, And Activism, Jill Dolan

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

One of the ways in which CLAGS distinguishes itself from other academically based research centers is through our firm commitment to bridging the academic and activist spheres within the larger lesbian and gay social and political communities. This Spring, we sponsored a roundtable discussion addressing arts censorship that included twenty-five academics and activists concerned about the ways in which the decrease in public arts funding on national and local levels around the country is meant to further disenfranchise lesbians, gay men, and people of color (whether or not they're lesbian or gay).

The Ideal Catalogue House: Mail-Order Architecture And Consumer Culture, 1914–1930, Evie T. Joselow

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation explores the mail-order house and its relation to aspects of consumer culture, establishing a context for understanding its popular appeal and its notable presence in the competitive housing market between 1918 and 1930. Fueled by a demand for housing, and widely promoted during a period of economic prosperity which ushered in an interest in consumerism associated with home ownership, the mail-order house, assembled from pre-cut lumber and sold by mail-order suppliers, represented an affordable and appealing means for consumers to acquire the aesthetic and material elements associated with the ideal house and home.

The dissertation articulates the popular …

Musical Inspiration As Seen Through The Artist's Eyes, Antoni Pizà

Publications and Research

The role of inspiration in the creation of a musical work has been a matter for conjecture and research by musicians and psychologists. But the realm of inspiration belongs to the creators themselves, who supply mythology, religion, and science to account for the source of an artwork. Throughout history, painters, too, have given their version of musical inspiration and the process of the creation of the work of art. What is musical inspiration? Where does it come from? What are its effects? The following essay explores some painters' responses by surveying some representative works of art.