No description available.

The Venetian veduta or view, became popular in the Settecento when Venice had turned into a regular stop on the Grand Tour. The foreign market’s interest in vedute, prompted Venetian artists to follow in Canaletto’s path. Francesco Guardi (1712-1793) is today famous for such views, and his paintings hang in museums around the world. One of his vedute, Piazza San Marco, Venice, was bought by the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm in 1964. In 1990, however, the Nationalmuseum changed the attribution of the painting. What prompted such a change? This thesis critically discusses the difficulty of attribution and dating of vedute in the Eighteenth century, specifically of paintings by the artist Francesco Guardi. Moreover, it presents and examines the strengths and weaknesses of the different attributional methods based on documentary, stylistic, topographic and technical approach, and with what success scholars have used them to establish a chronology of Francesco Guardi's oeuvre. Due to its well documented history, the painting, Piazza San Marco, Venice, will serve as a case study for the difficulties of attributing and dating Francesco Guard’s vedute, and the thesis will present evidence to Piazza San Marco, Venice,’s authenticity as a Francesco Guardi autograph.

<p> When an object is introduced to a new culture for the first time, how does it transition from the status of a foreign import to a fully integrated object of that culture? Does it ever truly reach this status, or are its foreign origins a part of its identity that are impossible to overlook? What role could the arts of that culture play in adapting a foreign object into part of the culture? I propose to address these questions in specific regard to early modern Japan (1550&ndash;1850) through a black lacquered <i> &omacr;tsuzumi</i> drum decorated with a gold powder motif of intersecting arquebuses and powder horns. While it may seem unlikely that a single piece of lacquerware can comment on the larger issues of cultural accommodation and appropriation, careful analysis reveals the way in which adopted firearms, introduced by Portuguese sailors in 1543, shed light on this issue. </p><p> While the arquebus&rsquo;s militaristic and economic influence on Japan has been firmly established, this thesis investigates how the Kobe Museum&rsquo;s <i> &omacr;tsuzumi</i> is a manifestation of the change that firearms underwent from European imports of pure military value to Japanese items of not just military, but also artistic worth. It resulted from an intermingling of Japanese-Portuguese trade, aesthetics of the noble military class, and cultural accommodation between Europeans and Japanese that complicates our understandings of influence and appropriation. To analyze this process of appropriation and accommodation, the first section begins with a historical overview of lacquer in Japan, focusing on the Momoyama period, and the introduction of firearms. The second section will go into the aesthetics of lacquerware, including the importance of narrative symbolism and use in the performing arts with a particular emphasis on the aural and visual aesthetics of the drum. Finally, I will discuss this drum in the global contexts of the early modern era, which takes into account the tension between the decline in popularity of firearms as well as the survival of the drum. Pieced together, these various aspects will help to construct a better understanding of this unique piece&rsquo;s place in the Japanese Christian material culture of early modern Japan.</p>

No description available.

<p> Research on Judy Chicago&rsquo;s <i>The Dinner Party,</i> (1974-79; completed with the assistance of more than 400 volunteers), is abundant and generally focuses on the monumental table of thirty-nine place settings acknowledging the contribution of women throughout Western history. Scholars have examined, praised and criticized the installation from various feminist and formal aesthetic perspectives. By contrast, this thesis considers what has essentially been overlooked until now, Judy Chicago&rsquo;s curatorial framework for the entire <i>The Dinner Party</i> exhibition experience. Using my own interviews with the artist, team members, and contemporary curators, as well as consulting the artist&rsquo;s installation manuals from Harvard University Archives, and examining the reception of the curation, I highlight the essential curatorial features that made <i>The Dinner Party</i> such an international phenomenon. The artist&rsquo;s curatorial elements were research-oriented, inclusive and activist-leaning with interactive, multi-media structures to achieve her feminist message. Considering <i>The Dinner Party</i>&rsquo;s current installation at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, my thesis argues that Chicago&rsquo;s successful yet overlooked methods offer the most proactive, critical and approachable curatorial presentation. The current installation that has been stripped of these curatorial elements, while perhaps institutionally practical, compromises much of the message and feminist intent. This study contributes to the field by focusing on this notable exhibition, providing discourse into Chicago&rsquo;s curating and offering considerations for contemporary curating practice, with the goal of contributing to the growing area of curatorial research focused on feminist artists and curatorial projects.</p>

<p> This dissertation focuses on the artwork of J.B. Murray, an African American artist from Mitchell, Georgia. The goal of this dissertation is to explore J.B. Murray&rsquo;s production of protective scripts and spirit figures. Murray created art works that served as the conduit for spiritual healing or protection between his God, his ancestral energies and the recipients or viewers of his work. </p><p> Protection through writing is both an Islamic and indigenous African tradition. Art Historians, after seeing Murray&rsquo;s work, called it masterful art. It is my contention that Murray possessed knowledge that, unbeknownst to him or his ancestors, was passed along to him by his African ancestors. This knowledge is also seen in the work of other African and African American artists in this dissertation, which shows continuity across a wider group as opposed to just one artist. </p><p> Finally, a parallel is draw with African protector and healer, Serigne Bousso, from Touba, Senegal. Murray&rsquo;s experience of visions and protective and healing work parallels the experience of Serigne Bousso within the last 30 years. This parallel is significant in making the connection between Murray, in Georgia, and the possible West African source for his knowledge of visions and protective signs.</p>

<p> Lynd Ward, an American Expressionist artist, and &ldquo;father of the graphic novel,&rdquo; helped shape the conventions of contemporary artists&rsquo; books. His legacy has influenced the direction beyond the graphic novel in areas such as the use of Expressionism and printmaking in the artists&rsquo; book, breaking graphic conventions, and using the artists&rsquo; book to convey a socio-political commentary. This paper will explain his influence and legacy by comparing his work to four contemporary artists&rsquo; books. Ward&rsquo;s work, however, has only recently been recognized as a significant influence on graphic novels and has yet to be fully acknowledged as an influence on American artists&rsquo; books.</p>

<p> During the 18th century, the novel was criticized for a lack of representation of reality and in turn a public distrust of fiction was established. The epistolary form addressed these issues by presenting a narrative that was bound by a real-life structure that allowed for the illusion of reality and authenticity. Today, this distrust of fiction is nonexistent but the epistolary form is still present and a frequently used literary device, providing the real-life structure for an escape from reality. However, while commercial fiction has embraced the form and moved past the historical justification of the epistolary novel, most artists&rsquo; books have not. This paper will prove how the artist book has struggled to move past the historical epistolary form and what lessons it can take from the world of contemporary commercial fiction.</p>

The high degree of correlation existing between the subject matter visually depicted on Early Dynastic Egyptian objects and the year-names represented hieroglyphically on the Palermo Stone--an historical annal from the Fifth Dynasty--suggests that much Early Dynastic imagery was meant to serve as a dating device, a kind of pictorial year-name, based on the important event or events that occurred within the year. The selection of the historic events referred to in these year-names appears to be based on their compatibility with certain festivals associated with the king. These festivals express the theoretical model of kingship and therefore can be used to reconstruct the king's primary roles and responsibilities during the Early Dynastic Period. Such duties include the unification, protection and expansion of the king's realm--both Earthly and Cosmic; the insuring of the irrigation and fertility of the land; the foundation and dedication of important buildings and temples; and the reaffirmation and magical rejuvenation of his primeval powers as expressed in such festivals as the Sed.

The early medieval abbey church of Conques, located in a treacherous mountain region of southern France, received few visitors until the relics of the virgin martyr Ste. Foy were brought there. Among her abilities, Ste. Foy was credited with the power to provide protection from capture and to free prisoners. The themes of bondage and liberation are found throughout the church in the sculpture, grillwork and especially in the Liber miraculorum. This paper argues that the repetitive imagery of chains and release from bondage had a twofold function which increased the wealth and power of the monks at Conques. First, the images evoked the power of the Ste. Foy to absolve and release one from the bonds of sin through pilgrimage and donation to this church, and second, the images referred to Ste. Foy's renowned power to provide protection and free prisoners, powers especially attractive to those involved in the Reconquista in Spain.