A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Fine Arts by Dissertation / In this study I focus on the creative practice of American artist Tom Joyce and examine how his work can be seen to redefine the traditional craft of blacksmithing. Joyce uses traditional and contemporary blacksmithing techniques to form contemporary sculptures as well as functional items such as custom made architectural and lighting fixtures, vessels, and furniture. He thus brings together fine arts and traditional craft practices in bridging the categories of fine art, craft and design. Through appropriate design, the recycling of selected metal materials and community involvement he creates social awareness around environmental issues as well as highlighting cultural craft practices. The imparting of metalsmithing skills that Joyce has been involved in through teaching groups and individuals by way of apprenticeships and workshops is of particular interest to my own artistic blacksmithing practice. As a maker of forged sculptural works, I have over the last ten years used my work and experience of blacksmithing in facilitating life skills training for South African children and youth, recognizing the value in passing on such skills and experience. The primary aim of my research is to examine how the adoption of a traditional craft practice such as blacksmithing into the realm of fine art may be shown to provide a tool to invigorate sculpture within social and educational contexts. In my research, I draw mainly on writings in the fields of anthropology and craft theory. Texts by anthropologists Tim Ingold, Alfred Gell, Mircea Eliade and Charles M. Keller and Janet Dixon Keller are consulted in my examination of the craft of blacksmithing as an “essential alchemy of art” (Gell in Adamson (ed.), 2010: 464) in which materials and the ideas associated with such materials are used and transformed. Looking at the craft and mythological significance of metalsmithing in relation to Joyce’s creative practice, I go on to consider the potentially transformative experience that the development of metalsmithing craft skills can entail. Writings on contemporary craft by Glenn Adamson, Howard Risatti, Bruce Metcalf and others are brought into my discussion to further elucidate on the value of craft-based work. I finally outline my own creative work produced for this degree in relation to the above.

Thesis (doctoral)--München, 1981.

Munther A. Dahleh, Petros G. Voulgaris, Lena S. Valavani. / Cover title. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 15-16). / Supported by the Army Research Office. DAAL03-86-K-0171 Supported by the NSF. 8810178-ECS Supported by the AFOSR-Elgin A.F.B. F08635-87-K-0031 Supported by the NASA Ames and Langley Research Centers. NASA/NAG-2-297 Supported by a gift from the Boeing Corporation.

The purpose of this thesis has been to define Max Beerbohm's critical literary principles, to evaluate his contribution to aesthetic criticism and thereby to determine his place in the critical tradition. The methods of investigation have been: to study the formative influences on the development of his critical principles and to evaluate the results of their application in Max's essays and dramatic criticisms. From this study it is evident that as a man and as an artist Max was "formed" during the Eighteen-nineties. By nature he was an intellectual dandy who always preferred strong, narrow creative personalities like himself. He was detached, fastidious, witty, and humane, and he was noted for his wisdom and sound common sense, even as a very young man. Under the influence of the Aesthetic Movement at Oxford, Max turned to Walter Pater for ideas on impressionistic criticism, but he preferred Oscar Wilde for style. He felt that personality was the paramount thing in art and that an exact, witty and beautiful style was its finest expression. His early style was mannered, satirical and superficial. However, Max never belonged to the "precious school" of writers, because he was not satisfied with less than a perfect synthesis of matter and manner to produce a unified effect of sheer delight. To this end he employed literary principles he had derived from neoclassical "rules" and aesthetic concepts. When Max became drama critic for the Saturday Review, he used his literary standards to form the basis of his dramatic criticisms. Although these standards related almost exclusively to matters of form and style, Max saw their wider application, because they satisfied his requirements for what a work of art should be. Accordingly, they have been examined under four main headings: the illusion of life, an exact and beautiful style, form and the unified effect, ethics and aesthetics. As a drama critic, Max welcomed the rise of modern realism because it had restored to the theatre the illusion of actual life. However, he did not favour realism for realism's sake or for the sake of social reforms. He believed that art must appeal to the emotions, not to the intellect, and that the impact of the play may arouse either joy or sorrow, but it must be aesthetically satisfying. Max always tried to be fair and flexible in his criticisms but his extreme fastidiousness and his innate sense of detachment imposed serious limitations. For instance, he was too reactionary to appreciate radical experiments in form. Nor could he admire plays in which the ideas were more important than the emotional conflicts of flesh and blood characters. Inevitably, he failed to appreciate Shaw because Max was a nineteenth-century man attempting to apply aesthetic ideals and neoclassical principles to the experimental plays of a progressive, analytical dramatic genius of the twentieth century. Max's value as a critic comes from his important insights in matters of form and style. In his essay on Whistler he revealed the artist in a new light as the author of an exquisite literary style. His essay on Lytton Strachey is also valuable for the careful discrimination Max made between the satirist and the mocker which vindicated Strachey from the charge of malice. However, the fact that his interests were narrow and essentially pertained to small, minor works of art, limits his significance as a critic. Max was an "exquisite" critic of the dying impressionistic tradition, whose critical talents were best suited to minor artists with whom he had some affinity in temperament and style. Consequently, his place is out of the mainstream of the critical tradition. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

This M.A. thesis is a critical study of Chen Jiangong's fiction, chiefly attempting to reveal the process of thematic development in this author's works by way of tracing the hero through non-hero to anti-hero. The first chapter, which is biographical, makes a brief account of Chen's family background, personal experience as well as the unique personality fostered by his ten year career as a coal-miner. The second chapter presents an analysis of the thematic defects of his early fiction, and meanwhile some technical matters are succinctly introduced. The third chapter deals with the stylistic traits -- subject matter, narrative technique and language -- of the three stories which left untouched in the previous chapter due to their different way of representation. In order to show clearly Chen's two styles, a comparison of these three stories with his other early works is frequently made. The fourth chapter is an interpretation of his two mature works "No. 9 Winch Handle Alley" and "Looking for Fun." The centre of attention is mainly concentrated on "the sense of tragicomedy" -- a philosophy of life rather than a mere technique Chen acquired after he disposed of former literary dogmas. The fifth chapter is devoted to a comparative study of his masterpiece "Curlylocks" and how it was influenced by J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye". The aspect of anti-heroism is especially stressed. The sixth chapter is a summary in which Chen's thematic transformation from heroism to anti-heroism is reiterated and his literary achievements are evaluated. / Arts, Faculty of / Asian Studies, Department of / Graduate

This thesis discusses the stylistic development of Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald (1890-1956) as seen in his dated oil paintings. Chapter I outlines FitzGerald's formative years (1890-1919). It attempts to explain how his love of the prairies and interest in art developed. It suggests the dominant influences in his study of art. It includes a stylistic discussion of FitzGerald's earliest works, including his well known, Late Fall, Manitoba (1918). Chapter II attempts to explain why FitzGerald suddenly lightened and brightened his palette. It explores the sources which may have influenced the development of FitzGerald's impressionistic style (1920-October 1921) and it provides a stylistic analysis of two of his impressionistic works, Summer East Kildonan (1920) and Summer Afternoon, The Prairie (1921). Chapter llldiscusses the importance of FitzGerald's first trip to New York, his study at the Art Students' League (December 1921 - May 1922) and his study of the works of European masters at the Metropolitan Museum. It explores the influence his two art instructors, Boardman Robinson and Kenneth Miller may have had on his work. It also suggests the importance of the works of Cezanne to FitzGerald's development. Chapter IV discusses the new directions FitzGerald pursued upon his return from New York. It reveals that FitzGerald's new style of painting, as seen in Potato Patch, Snowflake (1925) was fairly dependent on the external influences he had seen while in New York. This chapter also discusses the importance of FitzGerald's appointment as instructor for the Winnipeg School of Art, to his development of a new more studied style, as seen in Williamson's Garage (1927). Chapter V explores the influences of his second trip to the East (June 1 -July 1, 1930) on his artistic development, through revealing statements drawn from FitzGerald's Diary. Chapter VI reveals FitzGerald's striving towards more personal expressions during the thirties and forties, as seen in three major works from this period, Doc Snider's House (1931), Jar (1938), and Still Life: Two Apples (1940). Chapter VII discusses FitzGerald's gradual move towards abstraction. Suggestions of this direction, are already noted in From an Upstairs Window, Winter (1948). It includes a stylistic analysis of two abstract works, Composition No. 1 (c. 1950-51) and Abstract: Green and Gold (1954). The last major oil, Hat (1955), is discussed in terms of a final statement made by the artist. An attempt is made to determine the essential characteristics of FitzGerald's paintings, which enable them to transcend their regional boundaries and speak to all of Canada. / Arts, Faculty of / Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of / Graduate

Diss. : Philosophie : Zürich : 1984/85. / Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral--Universität Zürich, 1984). Bibliogr.: p. 190-192.

Diss. : Universität Basel : 1989. / Bibliogr. p. 123-126.

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