This study is concerned with the change from modernism to postmodernism in visual arts as it occurred in the 1950s and '60s and with the impact of this shift on contemporary academic criticism of art. It particularly analyzes the differing attitudes of artists and critics toward art, which are best demonstrated by artists such as Picasso, Pollock, Davis, Rauschenberg and Warhol, and by the critics such as Greenberg, Huyssen, Graff, Kozloff and Kuspit. The analysis suggests that many influential critics have failed to recognize the new ideas and perspectives that these artists brought into art, and that their response to these new ideas or perspectives has been a mystification or normalization rather than an explanation. Three critical approaches used by these critics are critiqued here: (1) they make no reference to the artists' creative process, assuming that the artists feeling or idea has no impact on his work; (2) they normalize the artists' works and ideas, reaffirming outdated principles and values and refusing to recognize any radical changes made by the artists; (3) they mystify the artists' intentions, imposing their own theories upon the artists as though they were the artists' own. / Offering an alternative approach, this study focuses on the artists' intentions as expressed in their various statements and remarks, and tries to reconstruct their views about art with references from the time and situation in which they lived. It repudiates the theories that identify modernism with formalism and academicism and postmodernism with an attempt to revitalize modernism with a new emphasis on the relationship between art and life. Instead, this dissertation argues that modernism represents a long-established belief in the superior power of art in revealing reality and uplifting society and that postmodernism involves a radical revolt against such a belief. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-03, Section: A, page: 0739. / Major Professor: Karen Laughlin. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.

<p> The goal of this dissertation is to write the theory of organic architecture which Wright himself did not write. This is done through a comparison with GWF Hegel&rsquo;s philosophy of art to help position Wright&rsquo;s theory of organic architecture and clarify his architectural aesthetic. Contemporary theories of organicism do not address the aesthetic basis of organic architecture as theorized and practiced by Wright, and the focus of this dissertation will be to fill part of this gap. Wright&rsquo;s organic theory was rooted in nineteenth-century Idealist philosophy where the aim of art is not the imitation of nature but the creation of beautiful objects which invite contemplation and express freedom. Wright perceived this quality in Japanese art and wove it into his organic theory. </p><p> This project is organized into three main categories from which Wright&rsquo;s own works and writings of organic architecture are framed, two of which are affinities of his views and one which, by its contrast, provides additional definition. The second chapter, Foundation, lays the philosophical or metaphysical foundation and is a comparison of Hegel&rsquo;s philosophy of art, including his Romantic stage of architecture, with Wright&rsquo;s own theory. The third chapter, Formalism, relates the affinity between Japanese art and Wright&rsquo;s own designs. Three case studies are here included, showing their correlation. The fourth chapter, Filter, contrasts early twentieth-century Modernist architecture with Wright&rsquo;s own organicism. This provides a greater definition to Wright&rsquo;s organicism as it takes clues from Wright&rsquo;s own sense of discrimination between the contemporary modernism he saw and his own architecture. These three chapters lead to the proposal of a model theory of organic architecture in chapter five which is a structured theory of organic architecture with both historical and contemporary merit. This serves to provide a greater understanding of Wright&rsquo;s form of the organic as an aesthetically based system, both in historic context, and as relevant for contemporary discourse. </p><p>

The thesis is concerned with the use of family imagery in monumental sculpture commissioned from the major London workshops in the mid-eighteenth century. It explores the interaction of the many factors which dictated the way in which the family might be represented in monumental sculpture. The interests of the competing London workshops in producing images which established their fame and increased their profits are studied in conjunction with the interests of the patronage in furthering personal and family reputations. The thesis evaluates the contribution that work upon the social history of the eighteenth century family can make to our understanding of the development of monumental imagery. I investigate the many levels of problems associated with using an art form as a source of "data" in the formulation of social history and the potential of the analysis of artistic images to question, or confirm, the validity of theories of family history. The central objective is to enquire into the reasons why the London market in monumental sculpture thrived and expanded in the first half of the eighteenth century. Much of the analysis is directed at revealing the fundamental reasons which caused patrons to order monuments. Changes in furierary culture are measured in terms of the proportion of monuments commissioned to mark, for instance, the elevation of a family to the peerage, or a bereaved husband's grief for his wife. I conclude that the great majority of monumental sculpture commissioned from London workshops throughout the period was concerned with matters of inheritance and property; marking the end of dynasties, the gratitude of those inheriting land, and the establishment of new families upon country estates. The demand for images marking the transfer of property and the passage of titles and honours is shown to have dominated the sculpture market in the first two decades of the period and, despite a strong cultural reaction against formal dynastic sculpture in the 1740s and 50s, continued to have a commanding role in the success of the London workshops.

The important group of books illuminated for the Bohun family, ca 1340-1400, has not received the close study it warrants. Certain misconceptions have arisen about the dating, localisation and ownership of these manuscripts. By a detailed codicological and stylistic examination of each book, illuminators are charactensed, their artistic development traced and a chronology postulated. Thi analytical method reveals that each manuscript is not necessarily the product of a single campaign, but may have been worked on for successive members of the family. It is only after the various campaigns have thus been determined and a sequence of production formulated that conclusions can be drawn for dating and ownership from documentary evidence. Bohun patronage falls into three distinct phases. The first, in which the English sources of the Bohun style lie, is that of the 1340s, a decade more productive than formerly realised. The activity of these probably Cambridge-based illuminators, however, was curtailed by the Black Death. During the second, more homogeneous phase (Ca 1350- 55 to ca 1385) two illuminators, the 'English Artist' and 'Flemish Hand' (and later a third) worked at Pleshey Castle, Essex, where they produced manuscripts exclusively for the Bohun family. The interaction of the artists of the 'central' workshop is charted; two of these can be identified as Austin friars. The origins of the Flemish Hand are localised in Toumai and Ghent illumination of ca 1330-1350; the 'Lows de Male' manuscripts, which have a direct bearing on his work are here redated. The Italian influence often discerned in the work of the English Bohun illuminator is identified as principally that of NiccolO da Bologna and his school. With the demise or departure of their resident miniaturists the Bohuns ordered their manuscripts in London where illumination was becoming more commercial. The complex interrelationships between the Lytlington Missal workshop and others with which the Edinburgh Psalter-Hours Artist can be associated, covering the third phase of Bohun patronage (Ca 1385-1400), are examined.

The introductory chapter explains terms used throughout this thesis and why this period was chosen for study. The history of the introduction of drawing to the curriculum of Christ's Hospital, the Lens family who were the drawing masters there, and their drawing manuals and teaching methods are the subject of the second chapter. The third deals with the teaching of drawing at private academies, particularly Thomas Weston's in Greenwich, and with his and the Bickham family's activities as drawing masters to the pupils of this academy and the children at the Royal Naval Hospital. William and Sawrey Gilpin at Cheam Preparatory School are examined through the surviving correspondence of the Grimstons of Kilnwick in chapter four. Alexander Cozens's activities as a drawing master occupy the remaining half of the thesis. Chapter five explains how he himself learnt to draw and describes his earliest known employment as a drawing master at Christ's Hospital from 1749 to 1754. Chapter six traces his activities through the 1750's as a private drawing master and as the author of publications intended to assist the artistic invention of amateurs and professionals alike. It also examines his relationship with his son, John Robert Cozens, with Sir George Beaumont at Eton College, and with Henry Stebbing who studied Cozeris's 'blot' method. Chapter seven examines the activities of three of Cozens's private pupils through their surviving work and family papers in order to ascertain the element of original artistic creativity in the landscapes produced under his instruction. The concluding chapter considers why art education gained considerable importance in the education of young gentlemen and gentlewomen during this period, and whether the drawing masters' methods of teaching them changed. Finally, the role of drawing masters as creators and disseminators of artistic theories and their contribution to the development of English landscape watercolour painting are discussed.

<p> Between 1937 and 1943 the Romanian blouse plays a more pivotal role than previously acknowledged in Matisse's development of a pictorial sign language. Its embroidered oak leaf motif eventually evolves into an abstract symbol of <i>&eacute;lan vital</i> that animates the artist's late cutouts. By tracking the Romanian blouse, this thesis offers a counter-narrative to the standard monographic study or formal reading of Matisse&rsquo;s work. We learn the back story of how the blouse becomes a fashion trend set by Queen Marie of Romania who used her celebrity and national dress to promote the welfare of the Romanian people following WWI. We also see how appropriation turns into misappropriation when fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent&rsquo;s 1981 collection inspired by Matisse&rsquo;s images of the blouse introduce a broadly defined ethnic fashion into haute couture.</p><p>

The Aldobrandini Wedding is a Roman wall painting from the time of the Emperor Augustus, discovered about 1605 and named for its original owners. It shows ten figures in an interior. The central figure, all scholars agree, is a veiled bride; therefore the scene involves a wedding. For almost two centuries it was the only well-known example of large-scale ancient painting. The famous fresco' s archaeological history and its influence upon the artists and intellectuals of nearly four centuries--including Rubens, Peiresc, van Dyck, Cortona, Poussin, Winckelmann, Goethe, and David--are traced in this full-length study, the first in the English language, and the first extensive study since 1907. Relevant earlier material is made available and evaluated. The present work also includes all recent scholarship, presents a new interpretation in the context of current classical research--especially in Roman studies--and offers a new iconographic analysis. / The fresco's history became inextricably involved with a famous copy attributed to Poussin, disallowed only in this century. Documentation of this copy is extensively dealt with for the first time, demonstrating that the copy was credited to Poussin by the original owners, the dal Pozzo family. / The scholarly controversy over the interpretation of the fresco is summarized, with a list of the twenty-eight different theories concerning the figures in the scene. A comparative study of the customs of Greek and Roman marriage identifies the fresco's bride as Roman, and involves a significant comparison to the Bacchic marriage in the great frieze of the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii. The two central deities flanking the bride of the Wedding are identified as Bacchus and Ariadne, prototypes of happy marriage; the argument demonstrates the importance of Bacchus/Liber as a god of fertility, increase, and marriage, especially in the Augustan period. This aspect of Bacchus, seldom recognized, is agricultural and procreative, and extends to Ariadne as his wife. The married gods are traced through their imagery, despite name-changes in Roman (Bacchus/Liber/Mutinus-Tutinus and Venus/Libera/Ariadne), in Etruscan (Fufluns and Vesuna/Ariatha), and in Greek culture (Dionysos and Ariadne). Archaic Priapic Dionysos is shown to be Liber Pater, coarsely nicknamed. Ariadne's greatest significance, despite her early involvement with Theseus, was as a bridal figure, and her greatest importance was through her immortalizing marriage to the god. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-03, Section: A, page: 0647. / Major Professor: Nancy Thomson de Grummond. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

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