Modern Art and Architecture Commons^™

Jadughar: The House Of Magic, Dhruvi A. Shah

Masters Theses

Jadughar or the House of Magic is what people call a 'museum' in parts of South Asia. The practice of museum making, at its origin, is the act of collecting, preserving, interpreting and representing a culture’s tangible and intangible heritage to make it accessible to diverse audiences. Since the early 19th century such practices have been performed at various kala bhandars (art centers) in India, without the need of a formal or institutional organisation. The British introduced the model of a ‘museum’ in South Asia, with the aim of not only preserving ethnographic collections, but also showcasing their power and …

41.82379°N, 71.38497°W, Xiaotong Cai

Masters Theses

I, Xiaotong Cai, have known an abandoned bridge was lifted and stuck at 64-degree from 1976. I have walked and bent down towards it for over 60 times, each paralleling a journal entry. The visits and 27,351 words (up until May 5th) are the living proof: observation, encounters, correspondence, collectively and personally. It’s been nine months since it emerged in flux. Two flesh. A moving outsider and a still bridge. How can an Unused giant activate a human body? Who is the attractor and intervener?

Here, my solution is to conduct a series of small gestures. I say, interpreting without …

Open_______, Eitan Boiarsky

Masters Theses

This thesis examines how ambiguity can function as a deliberate design strategy rather than a condition to eliminate. While modern design traditions have prioritized clarity, efficiency, and immediate legibility, this work revisits Umberto Eco's concept of the Open Work and Oskar Hansen's Open Form to argue that openness is not a failure of design but a method within it.

Through a series of workshops and object-based experiments, ambiguity is structured as a design instrument that invites interpretation rather than delivering fixed meaning. Participants encounter unfamiliar forms with deliberately withheld information, producing moments of hesitation, speculation, and reinterpretation. These encounters demonstrate …

Jewelry As A Portable Sanctuary, Yuhao Li

Masters Theses

This thesis examines how individuals remain intact in the presence of emotional difficulty. Rather than treating protection as withdrawal, the research proposes that stability emerges through the construction of an interior structure capable of holding vulnerability without collapse. Drawing on psychological theory, philosophy, and spatial thinking, it frames emotional repair as a spatial condition: an interior that can contain experience and be returned to when external conditions become unstable.
Within this framework, jewelry is redefined as a material extension of this interior. Positioned between body and world, it operates as a structure of containment, functioning as a portable …

Beyond Display: Crafting Emotional Journeys For Belonging And Connectivity, Jiamin Yang

Masters Theses

In bustling urban areas like Manhattan, New York, the majority of interactions between individuals occur amidst the whirlwind of daily life. Yet, there is an absence of genuine connections within local communities, particularly among neighbors who are geographically close, creating a sense of detachment, untrusting, and anonymity. This thesis involves exploring innovative interventions with the ultimate goal of uncovering novel possibilities in interactive exhibitions, distinct from traditional displays. All of this is an effort to curate emotional journeys that transcend routine, fostering vibrant community belonging and connectivity. Against the backdrop of the city’s vertical living, where neighbor encounters are often …

A.R. Futuristic Scenario In Seun, Yookyung Lee

Masters Theses

Due to social distancing policies during the coronavirus pandemic, people have increasingly turned to digital platforms to fulfill what they previously enjoyed in face-to-face interactions. The high demand for virtual world services, called “metaverses,” has sparked discussions about the possibility of completely replacing the real world, which has raised questions about the role of architects in dealing with physical spaces. However, it is widely believed that digital elements will merge into the real world instead of completely replacing it, which makes augmented reality (AR) a key technology to study in the context of architecture.

In “Learning from Las Vegas,” Robert …

Navigating Contextualism: An Architectural And Urban Design Study At The Intersection Of Climate, Culture, Urban Development, And Globalization Case Study Of Dire Dawa, Ruth Wondimu

Masters Theses

This thesis investigates architectural typologies that have dominated the world especially in the context of Ethiopia. It critiques the de-contextual nature of the modernist and related typologies through the lens of climate, socio-economic fabric, and urban design. It then focuses on Dire-Dawa University, located in the eastern part of Ethiopia, by investigating the authenticity, functionality, and contextuality of the architectural designs as well as their relationship with the people, urban landscape, and culture. Finally it provides design interventions that mitigate the climate related problems through local solutions.

Dissident Artists' Associations Of Germany 1892-1912, Mary Jo Eberspacher

Masters Theses

With the end of the Franco-Prussian War on January 18, 1871, the German Empire under the leadership of the Hohenzollern king, William of Prussia, was proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. Now Emperor Wilhelm I, Otto von Bismarck, his chancellor, and their staff as federal executives of the Empire possessed important legislative and economic powers. However, the individual states retained rights in some areas such as: education, health services, police protection and some powers of taxation, and in some instances, there was a distrust of the newly organized federal institutions. Consequently, this states' rights concept seemed to have …

Post Object Art And Sociological Influences On The Internal Processes Of Art Making, Steve Havens

Masters Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to discuss how external sociological factors inevitably have a profound effect on current art.

Much great art has been created against the flow of what is critically "popular" or "fashionable," but as these external factors become more prominent so the art work produced inevitably suffers.

The exhibition of Frank Stella's black and aluminum paintings at the turn of the 60's, in my own opinion, provided something of a landmark in the history of art. These works, in all their stark, flat, geometric nakedness denied both "form" and "content." They bare no illusions, no mythology, …

The Photograph And Superrealism, Christopher Stokes

Masters Theses

In 1968 an exhibition entitled "Realism Now" was held at Vassar College under the direction of Linda Nochlin, a noted art historian and professor at the school. The exhibition sought to present a cross-view of recent American painting in the realistic mode. Included in the catalog were twenty-five artists including Jack Beal, Robert Bechtle, Richard Estes, Alex Katz, Alfred Leslie, Malcom Morely and Philip Pearlstein, as well as many other artists who, at the time, were relatively unknown. The exhibition generated a great deal of attention, not only because of its recognition of contemporary representational painting as an influential movement, …

Cezanne, The Unknowing Father Of Modern Art, David Thomas

Masters Theses

In this paper, Cezanne's life and work are discussed with emphasis on his influence on the Modern Movement in Art. Questions are raised concerning the interpretation of his work both by art historians and artists. This, in turn, casts doubt on some of the premises of Modernism. It is important to realize that Cezanne had a great respect for the art of the old masters and, had he lived, would probably have been abhorred by modernist developments.

To understand Cezanne's complex attitude, his background is extensively dealt with in a biographical section. His relationship with the realist novelist Emile Zola …

Objectivity And New Realist Painting, Jacky Palman

Masters Theses

This thesis describes the methods of New Realist painting ( also known as Sharp-Focus Realism, Photo-Realism, Super Realism and Hyper-Realism ) and its philosophy of objectivity behind the photographic approach and the choice of subject-matter. It also points out that this aim for total objectivity is ultimately unattainable.

A definition of New Realism in painting follows in Chapter One, which also deals with the factors separating it from other photographically realistic styles - the primary distinction being the constant striving of New Realism for complete objectivity.

Chapter Two deals with the influences responsible for the emergence of New Realism. Pop …

The Inevitability Of Abstract Expressionism In America, Brenda Hawtin

Masters Theses

Although a non-figurative, non-realistic art had been invented and developed in Europe during the early part of the Twentieth century, it was inevitable, due to innumerable circumstances, that abstract art should culminate in its absolute expression in America, in the form of Abstract Expressionism, during the 1940's.

The combination of these events - large scale works being executed, the awareness of the innovational developement of European art, the changing attitudes from Americans who had experienced other cultures - put American artists at the point where they were ready to invent their own new style of painting. The large abstract paintings …

Surrealism And Abstract Expressionism, Michael R. Robins

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Analysis Of Selected Twentieth Century Watercolorists, Bonnie L. Ferguson

Masters Theses

My objectives in writing this paper were to research selected watercolorists whose work I admire and whose work bears a relationship to my own, and to make a comparative analysis. In the process of research, I found that not all of the work of the artists I had chosen related totally to my own, but there was at least one of the basic elements that did apply. I wanted to learn from looking at their work and reading about their philosophies. That I did; and it has stimulated in me many thoughts and plans, wishes to try some of their …

Tradition In American Realism, George L. Ganley

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Edvard Munch: Motifs And Motivations, Gordon Moffett

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Interrelationship Between Pop Art And Advertising, John Edward Pajkos

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Communism On The Art Of Soviet Russia, Wilma Dell Tipsword

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Use Of The Found Object In Dimensional Painting And Its Application To The Elementary, Secondary, And College Art Programs, John Robert Lindstrom

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.