History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons^™

Posthumous Painting: On Pigment And Binder, Jameson G. Magrogan

Theses and Dissertations

Modernism brought about a logical culmination of painting, an epoch where logic and reason can no longer attempt to account for or speculate its behavior. This paper considers the perpetuation of painting from an ontological standpoint, documenting its inherent aporia, its relationship to meaning, and its function in contemporary society.

The Understanding Of The Other In Orientalist And Primitivst Art, Jasmine Groves, Jasmine A. Groves

Honors College Theses

In 1978, Edward Said published Orientalism, a seminal book that shed light on one of the “leftovers” of European colonialism. In it, he describes the West’s attempts to exotify and romanticize the non-Western world. While the Near East, the Far East, and East/Southeast Asia are geographic terms that correspond to specific countries and cultures, the “Orient” is a Euro-American fantasy that only exists to contradict the West. The term is intentionally vague in order to satisfy any and all exotic desires that a consumer may have.

A great deal of European and American artists found inspiration in the exotic …

Art And Environmental Racism In The United States: Through The Works Of Latoya Ruby Frazier, Pope.L, And Mel Chin, Veronika Anna Molnár

Theses and Dissertations

Through the works of LaToya Ruby Frazier, Pope.L, and Mel Chin, this thesis examines the ways in which artists address environmental racism in the United States. Focusing on three locations with majority Black populations and significant toxic hazards, this paper demonstrates artists’ agency to alleviate crises caused by environmental injustice.

A Sculpir Qui Cose Divine: The Spiritual Non-Finito In Michelangelo's Pietà, Kaitlin Arbusto

Theses and Dissertations

The evolution of Michelangelo Buonarroti’s faith – rooted in his contemplation of salvation and his own mortality in art and the written word – is explored in this thesis via an investigation of his four surviving Pietà. Each of these artworks, like the nature of his spirituality, is considered in relation to the non-finito.

The Female Body In The Works Of Débora Arango And Ignacio Gómez Jaramillo: Colombian Modernism, Religion, And Politics, 1930s-1950s, Gina M. Vásquez

Theses and Dissertations

In 1930s-1950s Colombia, the social position of women was highly politicized by the government and Catholic church. This thesis investigates how Débora Arango and Ignacio Gómez Jaramillo painted the female body at this time, exploring themes of the nude, modernity, and violence in an era of political and religious animosity.

Power Dressing: Feather Fans And The Visual Language Of Female Portraiture, Charlotte Svetkey

Theses and Dissertations

Feather fans in sixteenth-century portraiture not only allowed the female sitter to express her own claims to wealth, status, and power but also acted as a visual indicator of changes that were occurring on the global stage. Both fans and sitters will be evaluated through ideas of gender and class.

Pepón Osorio And Merián Soto: Multidisciplinary Collaborations, From 1985 To 1995, Zuna Maza

Theses and Dissertations

This paper assesses Pepón Osorio and Merián Soto’s collaborative multidisciplinary works created from 1985 to 1995. Underdiscussed in their individual scholarships, these joint works are reexamined through their collaborative approach, multidisciplinary framework, and their thematic explorations of the nuances of culturally specific subject matter.

Yankee Go Home: Roci In Latin America, Vitoria Hadba

Theses and Dissertations

In 1984, at an event hosted by the United Nations, American artist Robert Rauschenberg announced his most ambitious and controversial project to date: the Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange—or ROCI. Blending primary source documents with social art history, I retrace the artist’s steps—and missteps—during the first leg of his tour through Mexico, Chile, and Venezuela. This thesis investigates the convoluted political implications of ROCI in Latin America during the transitional period in which binary Cold War politics were ebbing amidst the rise of a global free-market economy.

Matson Jones, Jasper Johns, And Robert Rauschenberg: Breaking The Boundaries Of Advertising And Art, Ximena Santiago

Theses and Dissertations

Matson Jones, formed by Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, has scarcely been the focus of art historical scholarship. This thesis examines works created for New York City department store window displays, revealing that the Matson Jones collaborations were rooted in intersubjectivity and challenge historical hierarchies of high and low art.

Stripped And Exploited Blackness: Black Nude Men In The Art Of F. Holland Day And John Singer Sargent, David P. Saiz

Art & Art History ETDs

Black representation in late-nineteenth to early-twentieth-century U.S. art and visual culture is primarily dominated by racist depictions produced by white elite (usually male) artists. Exploiting Black male nude subjects in their art production, F. Holland Day and John Singer Sargent are inextricably tied to this complicated legacy. For Day, his African series featuring U.S.-born model, J.R. Carter, extracts the subject from his time and place to present him as an exotic African subject/object. On the other hand, Sargent encounters Black Bahamian laborers at Miami’s Villa Vizcaya where he then documents his subjects in watercolor as bathers in the surrounding subtropical …

Kinstitution: A Topia Between Archive And Proposal, Christopher Lineberry

Theses and Dissertations

Situating Topher Lineberry's work, this paper offers a primer on institutional critique, preliminary developments of "kinstitutional critique," and the cultivation of family-derived art history through the work of the artist's grandmother, Helen Lineberry. Feeding into a working understanding of family-and-kin-as-institution, the paper ultimately locates Topher Lineberry's work between relations to place, historical archives, and speculative proposals.

Some (Im)Material Girls, Living In (Im)Material Worlds, With Seeds, Stars, And Shit, Matthew Weiderspon

Theses and Dissertations

This writing situates material and gestural vocabularies cultivated in my artwork in relation to my lived experience; primarily my rural upbringing in Colorado. Scattered floor dispersals, calling sounds, and bodily movements desire reconsiderations of hope in precarity through a disorientation of place, association, scale, and language.

History In Crisis: Museum Programming During The Covid-19 Outbreak, Lindsay Mcconnell

Honors Thesis

The subject of my research is how museums adapted their public programming in response to COVID-19. The goal of my research is to analyze how successfully museums shifted their community engagement programming to online platforms. Since I hope to work in the museum field of programming, I was motivated to conduct this research. Not much research can be found on this topic because COVID-19’s effects on museums are still unfolding. My research could provide a foundation of ideas to build on. To begin, I read articles about the relationship between museums and technology. I applied this knowledge to analyze how …

El Paso Segundo Barrio Muralism: Barrio History, Memory, And Identity In Community Artwork, Eduardo García

Chamisa: A Journal of Literary, Performance, and Visual Arts of New Mexico and the Greater Southwest

The border city of El Paso, Texas has a longstanding tradition of muralism in one of its oldest neighborhoods- the downtown Segundo Barrio. Though these manifestations have not received as much scholarly attention as other borderland muralist traditions, they echo a similar theme of community artwork focused on sociohistorical issues, cultural memory, and barrio identity relevant to their geopolitical space. Through a study of mural artists and programs in the downtown El Paso area, I view the use of specific iconography and themes as expressions of Segundo Barrio history, memory, and identity. These artists have continued a lineage of …

Aztlán Del Sol, Marcus Zúñiga

Chamisa: A Journal of Literary, Performance, and Visual Arts of New Mexico and the Greater Southwest

An artistic writing developed from the themes and concepts of an of art installation made by a visual artist of Mexican-American descent from New Mexico. The work references the relationship of Aztec mythology to the American Southwest, art theoretical discourse in object oriented ontology and aesthetics, and key ideas in astronomy. Additionally interwoven is an expanded sense for interpreting ancestry and history under the constructs of multicultural conceptions of time, specifically cultures with notable spiritual rituals of Sun worship and observation.

Structures Of Time: Expressions Of Subjectivity And Social Politics In Works By Silvia Gruner, 1986–2014, Silvia Sampaio De Alencar

Theses and Dissertations

The works of Silvia Gruner (born 1959) illustrate the use of time registers as strategies to express contemporary subjectivity’s experiences with globalized environments between 1986-2014. Through this approach, the artist connects her production to the social politics of Mexico to critique the effects of globalization on Mexican society and culture.

The Theoretical Color Of Sunlight: An Examination Of Charles Blanc’S Color Theory In Joaquín Sorolla Y Bastida’S The Blind Man Of Toledo, Rachel L. Anthony

Art and Art History Theses

Spanish painter Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863 – 1923) exhibited a unique method of impressionistic naturalism in his painting The Blind Man of Toledo of 1906. His impressionistic process was derived from his training in Valencia, Spain with the Spanish Impressionists Francisco Domingo y Marqués and Ignacio Pinazo y Camarlench. Through their lessons at the Valencian Academy, Sorolla learned how to portray intense sunlight by using saturated pigments and creating contrasting shadows. Moving beyond Valencia, the artist traveled to Madrid to copy the works of the Spanish Baroque painter Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez. Afterwards, he visited Paris to …

Greco-Roman Paganism And Women Leaders: The Foundation Of Early Christian Art, Rowan Murry

Honors Theses

In this thesis, I explore the impact of Greco-Roman pagan motifs as well as women leaders and officials on the development of Early Christian art by analyzing catacomb paintings, sarcophagi, and minor arts such as finger rings and carved gemstones. I also discuss surviving primary sources written by Tertullian, Eusebius, St. Jerome, and Clement of Alexandria, to gain a better understanding of anti-art views in the first few centuries of the Church’s rise to power. These anti-art sentiments were often rooted in attempts to disassociate themselves from pagan practices while Early Christian art was emerging amongst the lower classes who …

Fakes, Forgeries, And Value Perception, Pearson Moore

Honors Theses

Fakes and forgeries generate a false sense of value in the art market that changes the perception of authentic works. Understanding the difference between a fake and a forgery is essential for explaining the schemes of deceivers who have fooled the art market into believing their work is of grandiose value and prestige. The creation of a forged piece or fake provenance documents requires immense artistic skill and a talent for breaking the rules. Examining famous figures and the criminal cases against them is a great way to work backwards from their “successes,” tracing the alleged origins of the piece’s …

Germania: The Nazi Party And The Third Reich Through The Lens Of Classical Architecture, Maggie L. Smith

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the influence of classical architectural styles and principles on architectural projects in Germany during the Third Reich. My research focuses on major projects completed by the state and does not delve into private buildings or other structures. All of the data was gathered from scholarly publications of repute and photographs to determine how Adolf Hitler’s regime utilized Greek and Roman stylistic elements in an attempt to revive the power and culture of Germany during a time of strife, as well as how Nazi architecture reflected Hitler’s personal ambition as dictator. Additionally, the thesis doubles as an expansion …

Artist Analysis Archive - Boryana Rossa, Ana Leonard

Global Contemporary Artist Analysis Archive

Artist analysis archive on contemporary interdisciplinary artist Boryana Rossa.

Awol Erizku - Cultural Identity, Tyus Allen

Global Contemporary Artist Analysis Archive

No abstract provided.

Fine Roman Dining At Affordable Pompeian Prices: A New Evaluation Of The Non-Domestic Gardens Of Pompeii, Claire Campbell

World Languages, Literatures and Cultures Undergraduate Honors Theses

Previous scholarship has designated Roman gardens into otium or negotium designations; however, this research on Roman gardens suggests that these concepts often exist in the spaces simultaneously. To address this issue, I compiled catalogs of garden spaces identified at Regio I and Regio VI of Pompeii. This methodology cuts across traditional public and private or productive and aesthetic designations, which will allow me to draw connections between the gardens found in different types of settings. This new catalog methodology of Roman gardens presented in this thesis allows for an integrative analysis of garden spaces, which reveals that these commercial gardens …

Living Memories: Rethinking Remembrance, Timothy Mulhall

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis will interrogate conventional types and methods of memorialization, challenging the memorial as a complete product. Developing from inquiries into alternative acts of commemoration, this investigation will seek to conceive a memorial in the making. Memorials must be alive, changing, constantly developing as a result of interaction. The reliance on overly abstract, rhetorical conditions of design will become obsolete. The static condition of the image-friendly object will be replaced with a dynamism influenced by time and participation.

Optimistic And A Little Flawed, Christian Schultz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The accompanying exhibition to this paper, Optimistic and Flawed is a body of drawings and objects that explores the liminal space between playful and intended actions. Inspired by the landscape of the yard and the actions that take place within, the goalless play of a child and the laborious maintenance of an adult. The value of play exists within labor and labor exists within play. The drawings observe this through the theoretical framework of telic and paratelic motivational states as they relate to drawing. Abstracted yards and landscapes provide a space for the labor of the hand. A history of …

Do You Want To Be Tender?, Leah Grant

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, you will find a body of writings and artworks that reflect Leah Grant’s art practice and research. Throughout the paper, you will see Leah alternate back and forth between her artwork and writings. Leah Grant addresses her personal experience as a Black woman and what it means it explore vulnerability through understanding how the relationships around her affects the relationship she has with herself. Leah has created a collection of poems, prints, and video and audio collages that assist her with revealing and concealing.

Made Of Water, Covered In Mud, Nicole Norman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My fixation on water as metaphor is a product of my cosmic design; Scorpio sun, Pisces moon, Pisces rising. I am made of water, begging to be held. Anything liquid has this same desire. I use my art practice to examine the fluidity of physical and digital spaces; how they transform almost constantly. This is only possible through the use of containers that give form to abstract ideas and make them easier to drink (read: digest). Containers can vary in size and shape, but their purpose remains the same. A drinking glass, a swimming pool, a creek bed. These are …

What's Going On Here, Joanna R. Pike

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project is an installation depicting shirts and pants in various degrees of Recognizability. The Components vary from somewhat Unrecognizable to entirely Unrecognizable; Bumps and Blocks are interspersed and interrupt the Semi-logic of What’s going on here while adding repetitive elements to clarify the existence of the Semi-logic. The arrangement of the Components in the installation makes the Unrecognizable forms surrounded by the In-between Space into somewhat Recognizable versions of shirts and pants. The viewer does not fully recognize all the Components, but instead understands the implied Recognition given their existence within the installation. The ideas of Lists, Patterns, Systems, …

In-Between Spaces, Trinity Kai

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In-between Spaces is a paper based in personal narrative that uses Critical Race Theory and art to analyze the history of photography and systems of discrimination facilitated by hegemonic culture. Body is at the center as a symbol of the physical and psychological impacts systemic inequalities have on people that are classified as other and how one can be absent and present in institutional and public spaces.

Book Review: Maile S. Hutterer, Framing The Church: The Social And Artistic Power Of Buttresses In French Gothic Architecture, Kyle G. Sweeney

Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture

No abstract provided.