I consider the experiences of past generations of women in my family and my relationship to them. This body of work began with Bessie, a portrait of my father's mother. I painted it after attending her funeral. I did not have a meaningful relationship with either of my grandmothers. This led me to consider my right to portray them. My need to admit my incomplete memory and avoid the objectification of my subjects caused me to question my perspective. I wanted to memorialize these women to avoid their erasure. Through the progressive abstraction of these women's figures, I chase an honest representation of my understanding.

Before the most recent feminist movement began, the accomplishments of women, when recognized in their own time, had been all but lost to the past. Women had no record of their own achievements to expand upon, and were considered professionals only if their title were wife or mother. In the early 1970s, however, a number of women courageously stepped up to the challenge of rewriting Western history, and additionally demanded the acknowledgement of women who were contributing to society in the present. Now, after years of rigorous research and diligent lobbying on the part of the feminists, students can find the names of accomplished women in their school textbooks, read an array of literature on women's achievements at the library, or even take courses in women's studies at local colleges and universities. The Last Supper, one of the most reproduced images in W estem history, has been a preferred target for feminist artists because the famous male, Caucasian cast serves as a metaphor for the exclusion of women and individuals of color from positions of power over the centuries. However, thanks to three unique renderings of The Last Supper by feminist artists, Mary Beth Edelson, Judy Chicago, and Renee Cox, marginalized populations have been invited to table of history for the first time in two thousand years. Furthermore, these highly controversial artworks have challenged traditional gender roles and the omission of women's achievements from historical records, while forcing viewers to consider the often-disregarded issues of sexual discrimination and racism. This study was designed to demonstrate the importance of feminist art in creating a more balanced view of history, while highlighting three specific artworks that provide a candid chronicle of women's struggles for representation and equality in society. Although these three pieces are often overlooked in academic texts and survey courses, undoubtedly, they would be an asset to any course or text that surveys the history of art and Western culture.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1992. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 42).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / The dissertation covers the period when genre painting reached its height in Nineteenth Century America. In the true sense of its artistic meaning, the genre painter records everyday scenes from life in a non-historical, impersonal manner. This was the time characterized by the rise of the common man; the moment when Jeffersonian principles were furthered by the President of the people, Andrew Jackson. Now many American artists became less interested in formal portraiture and historical anecdote and more concerned in observing and recording, first hand, the everyday nuances of life around them. The greatest emphasis in the dissertation centers around various rural areas in America. William Sidney Mount paints bucolic Long Island farmers and negroes, while George Caleb Bingham depicts in paint and pen the rugged Missouri flatboatmen and frontier politicians. Homespun flavor of New England is found in George Henry Durrie's detailed snow scenes, with small figures lost within nature's expanse. Winslow Homer portrays farm life in Upper New York State, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Maple sugar camps in Fryeburg, Maine and cranberry harvests in Nantucket comprise Eastmen Johnson's repertoire. Lastly, the romantic and mysterious genre of John Quidor reveals an artistic parallel to the writings of Washington Irving and his Knickerbocker Catskill gentry. The urban scene seemed to warrant to a lesser degree the nostalgic point of view of rural life. "City" painters at this time were fewer in number since city patrons preferred portraiture and historical painting to the recording of urban scenery. Nevertheless, a few genre recorders did emerge and viewed man as a contrived "vehicle" caught in the routine ways of the city. Richard Caton Woodville portrayed Baltimore bourgeois life with its oyster eaters and sailor weddings. In Pittsburgh, David Gilmor Blythe painted in dark tones scenes of horse markets, cobblers' shops and satirized the law courts and clergy. The final chapter of the dissertation discusses a select group of artist-explorers who observed the American Indian in his own environment. These brave men who sometimes ventured alone or accompanied government troops or fur trading companies were social commentators on the plight of America's persecuted aboriginals. George Catlin, the founder of the first Wild West Show, explored and sketched unknown tribes in the Upper Missouri-Mississippi and Southwest regions of our country. Hidden Indian encampments, forced migrations and theatric fur trade rendezvous were depicted by Alfred Jacob Miller; the soldier-painter Seth Eastman recorded candidly the life and habits of Indians in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The dissertation attempts to unite these eleven genre painters into a single volume, whereby the reader may have a clearer view of America's Golden Age of Genre Painting between 1830 and 1880 and compare their iconographical and stylistic similarities and differences. TO substantiate the above material, the dissertation includes aspects of history, politics, sociology and European artistic styles that were influential in forming the temperament, ideals and philosophies of these genre recorders. In conclusion, the author has tried to show how the American genre painter illuminated with reason, humor and frank realism the rugged American spirit upon which our country rests. He portrayed in the most photographic, yet individualistic and selective manner, the true roots of our nation - roots that dig deep into the rich and fertile soil that uncovers the strength, vigor and good-humor that constitute the American way. In a separate volume, the photostat illustrations supplement the text.

The thesis is in the form of a commentary on the development of meaning and content within work done for the Department of Art Graduate Program.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1984. / "8506032." Includes bibliographical references (p. 229-246).

Thesim-Facultati litterarum Parisiensi. / Bibliographie, p. [127]-129.

Inaug.-diss.--Halle-Wittenberg. / Lebenslauf.

Inaug.-dis.-Breslau. / Lebenslauf.

Thesis (MVisualArts)--University of South Australia, 2005.