This study explores the dynamic interrelationships between Japanese artists and the state during the Asia-Pacific War (1937-1945). In post-war art historiography, this period has been regarded as a `dark valley' where artists were subjected to total State control. Examination reveals that artists were not mere subordinates to the wartime State, rather there was dynamic interaction. This study challenges the current narrow understanding of the state of culture during the war by portraying artists as active participants in wartime cultural projects and illustrating how their activities shaped important aspects of the wartime cultural landscape. This dissertation is divided into four main sections. Chapter One illustrates Japanese cultural politics during the war and re-examines art policy in general. Chapter Two focuses on art exhibitions supervised by the Ministry of Education, and the consolidation process that took place among practicing artists. Chapter Three deals with one specific art project conducted by the military: the Campaign Record Painting Project. Finally, chapter Four discusses social role and practices of art during the war by focusing on three art projects specifically targeted at the dissemination of art to workers. In the concluding chapter, how wartime debates and projects influenced or were transmitted to the post-war development of art is touched upon. The Asia-Pacific War usually has been treated as a single period, separate from the `democratic' post-war period. This study not only explores the interactions between artists and state authorities, but also clearly demonstrates the significance of the wartime period in considering the post-war artistic climates, and challenges the `single period' treatment

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'Early Modern British Art' was executed between c1880 and c1920, but from 1940 until the later 1970s it was a neglected generic area in the study of Art in the British Isles, directly at odds with many of the prevalent trends in American - European art. Though its constituent works ranged from the inherently representational to the (at least) semi-abstract, such diversity in so short a time-span attracted little research in Britain, and with certain important exceptions the era was generally undervalued by the British art market. This thesis considers the evolution, research, philosophical positioning, and contribution to the history of British art of four exhibitions, Made at the Slade, The Art of Frank Brangwyn, Jewish Artists in an English Context and Life at Arm's Length: Sir Edward Poynter, devised and exhibited by the writer during the period 1979-1995. The critical positioning of the exhibitions and their accompanying catalogues were based on a long-standing familiarity with works of the era, and upon extensive, rolling research using a combination of pre-existing and entirely novel sources. Before 1960, most catalogue essays had been brief and of a narrative / documentary nature. Even when over-arching evaluations of the early Modern British era were presented in exhibition and catalogue format, they were usually repetitious, lacking in analysis, and so broke little new perceptual or historical ground. The four exhibitions confronted this tendency, and in their different ways, their investigations of ideas and practice uncovered and redirected British art histories that demanded greater general awareness and appreciation within the setting of Modernism. The thesis notes the increasing importance and value of exhibition catalogues, during the 1970s and afterwards, as vehicles for the dissemination of new ideas and information in the absence of commentary in book format, whilst setting in context the publication of new books during the 1980s which treated early Modern British art to a level of analytical commentary formerly absent. The thesis introduces the catalogue texts in chronological order, setting out the conceptual background to each exhibition, and evaluating its contemporary impact, and its current value. Made at the Slade was the first commentary to use archival material to begin to unpick the Slade's activities and achievements over so long a period, and to attempt a revaluation of the school's importance from c1880-1925, the period of its greatest fame, until 1960. The exhibition and its catalogue challenged all previous exhibited surveys of early Modern British art, by successfully presenting familiar, unknown and forgotten artists of quality to a new audience. The Art of Frank Brangwyn evolved from an interest in Brangwyn's drawing. It was first intended to be a reassessment, only to become an extensive, objective revaluation of a 'difficult' and marginalised figure, the first since 1924, and the last until 2006. The essay to Jewish Artists in an English Context accompanied an invited exhibition for a conference setting, and seized the opportunity to challenge the inadequacies of sociological and art historical analyses of an era in Britain in which the social integration and assimilation of immigrant Jews was of real importance for Modern art. The final essay, Life at Arm's Length on Sir Edward Poynter, remains the artist's sole career overview since Poynter's obituary. It developed what until then had been a very incomplete understanding of Poynter's varied career, to consider issues that were as pertinent in 1995 as they had been in 1895, including public and establishment reactions to Poynter's treatment of the nude figure, especially that of the female nude, in drawing and painting during the second part of his career; the development of art training, and the place of the Royal Academy in Victorian and Edwardian society.

Sacredness is one of several human concepts which attempt to frame a spontaneous reaction to unknown and mysterious forces. The normal representation of sacredness is through religious imagery and practices. To address such an ideology needs an understanding of the essential concept of sacredness and a specific sense of its expression. The writer is a professional photographer, digital theorist, and also a Roman Catholic concerned with modern expressions of religious faith. The internet is one of the most effective methods of facilitating the depiction of human life today and I am interested in expressing forms of sacredness through a website and in addressing the difficulties this entails. I have analysed the methods and concepts used for the representation of sacredness through various media, and intend to make an appropriate example as an educational resource, making creative use of new media and photography. The primary aim of this research is to present case studies of numerous elements of sacredness, through a study of the Bulguksa Buddhist Temple, based on the website which I have built (http: //bulguksa. pe. kr) and my own photographs. It is intended it will become a valuable research example of delivering the artist's intentions through the internet or other media. The body of work of this investigation divides into two parts. The first is two forms of practical artworks which are; a website of Bulguk Temple and a photographic artist's book, entitled `The sacred light in silence'. The second is a written component which is divided into two books. Book 1 consists of theoretical research around the concept of the sacred in religious architecture through the five research questions and includes case studies of historical and contemporary artists and their artworks. Book 2 consists of critical research of my artworks, the website and selected photographs with my original analysis methodology. The four items of the two parts - Book 1, Book 2, the Artist's Book and a CD-rom - are enclosed in a wooden box, designed by me and based on Korean traditional furniture design (for reasons expanded upon in the text). In conclusion: visualising sacredness is dependent upon retaining its meanings and properties during the transformation from three dimensions (real world) to a two dimensional plane of expression. Human emotion manifests itself in response to internal and external stimuli. That is, the spiritual essence of sacredness can be fully evoked by the combination of human feeling and reverence, and the magnification of the sacred, by means of external visual media. This thesis explores the nature of sacredness and its visualisation through photography and the website. vii

Selwyn Image was active in many fields as poet, painter, writer, designer and educationalist; both independently, and in association with a large number of those varied organizations which flourished at the turn of the century. As an Oxford undergraduate he was encouraged by Ruskin, the newly appointed Slade Professor, and after an unhappy, interlude as a cleric, formed the Century Guild with Mackmurdo in 1882/3. Guild theory was inspired by Ruskin and by Morris: . but its productions. are unique, and of particular significance in the development of English art nouveau. Image's contribution (and also his independent commissions for glass, embroidery, book decoration and posters), are fully as remarkable in this context as those of his colleagues, although considerably less well known. This thesis seeks to establish an exact chronology for his productions; to publish an extensive range of previously uncollected designs and associated material; and to analyse their relevance in the light of Image's participation in the art movements of his time

Since the beginning of the 20th century, contemporary art has been saturated with references to the everyday and there are a mass of available views addressing the subject by profound social thinkers such as Henri Lefebvre, Michel de Certeau and Agnes Heller. Towards the end of the 20th century and at the beginning of the newmillennium, scholars and writers such as Helen Westgeest, Alexandra Munroe, Arthur C. Danto, Jacquelynn Baas and Mary Jane Jacob began researching the relationship between Western art and Zen. Among these views, an Eastern perspective is lacking, particularly in relation to Zen Buddhist practice of the everyday. The aim of this research is to make a comparative study of the mind of the everyday in contemporary fine art and Zen Buddhist practice, including in art-making from the beginning of the 20th century to recent contemporary fine art practice and understanding, from the West and the East, as represented within, and integral to, my art practice. This research emerged from my personal experience and discoveries as an artist working from a Buddhist background. It adopts reflective qualitative research methods and theory grounded in practice and observed experiences. The core of the research is my studio practice with the theoretical framework operating in the intersection of personal and social perspectives. I situated this enquiry within my own cultural background, the context of Zen Buddhism and its teachings. It developed an enhanced understanding of the everyday in contemporary fine art and Zen Buddhist practice in new and original ways, through bringing forward and integrating the physical and theoretical components of my studio practice.The everyday in my studio practice refers to things we encounter day-in and day-out that we are unlikely to give a second thought, like background noise, we hear it but hardly pay any attention to it. The thesis explored the understanding of Beginner's Mind, the spirit of attentiveness, the idea of the circle, art and meditation, it-is-ness, the relativity of things, "nothingness" and the entanglement of art and life as they revolve around my studio practice, all of which have a connection with Zen Buddhist practice of the everyday. This research serves as both territory expansion and to provide new sources for the `art world' and Zen Buddhists, offering a more balanced understanding of the concepts of the everyday in contemporary fine art and Zen Buddhist practice. Extended study may also be made in connection with psychoanalysis, and the cultural significance of food, cooking and eating in the Far East.

This thesis offers a history of conceptual art as a vehicle for politicised action that goes beyond ideas of institutional critique and identity politics. It articulates a series of `figures' that relate to Vaclav Havel's essay `An Anatomy of Reticence' through close readings of the practices of five artists, from Poland, Hungary, and former Czechoslovakia. Taking as its basis an expanded definition of conceptual art that incorporates action-based practice, the thesis compares disinterestedness, fidelity, ambivalence, doubt, and neutrality as critical positions adopted by artists in relating to late socialist realities. A pursuit of truth that shares a great deal with that outlined in the writings of Alain Badiou on the Event emerges as key to drawing out the traffic between these practices. The introduction stakes out the methodological territory and outlines the current state of research in the field. Chapter One reads Tadeusz Kantor's Theatre of Events as a subversion of the Western trope of the happening, with reference to Mikhail Bakhtin's definition of Carnival. Chapter Two explores how Jerzy Beres's Manifestations can be read as a form of fidelity to the Event of Duchamp's readymade strategy. Chapter Three analyses the collision of affirmation and negation in the ambivalent figure of irony, through the Joy and Zero actions of Endre Tot. Chapter Four is concerned with doubt in the work of Julius Koller, as against his paradoxical investment in the idea of the U. F. O. The final chapter considers in detail the minimal actions of Jiii Kovanda, and seeks to go beyond the conceptual binaries that emerged in the preceding chapters, by a discussion of Roland Barthes' definition of the Neutral. The conclusion proposes that the trope of Neutral was in many respects the paradigmatic `figure of reticence' for the unofficial actions carried out in the timeframe of the thesis, which spans the period from 1965, when happenings took over from Fluxus in the region, to 1989, when Communism in East-Central Europe, and the Cold War, ended.

The present thesis examines Hogarth's commentators of the Georgian era. It commences with an examination of the writings on Hogarth which appear during his lifetime and ends with the discussion of the essays of Lamb and Hazlitt published at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The aim is to investigate how the Hogarthian erudition is born and developed and to show the importance and decisive role of Georgian commentators in the development of Hogarthian studies. It presents the undiminished interest in Hogarth and his important place in English culture. This thesis analyzes how the preoccupation with Hogarth's subject and artistic merit is developed. It also examines how each period discovers 'its own Hogarth' based on its dominant ideas and needs and how identities and 'patterns' of study regarding Hogarth and his art are created. Additionally, it delineates how the personal ideas and aims of each commentator influence their writings on Hogarth. This thesis shows that Hogarthian erudition is a long and unbreakable progress in which every generation of commentators contributes building on or contradicting the discoveries of the previous ones. Finally, it hopes to aid modern scholarship to come into contact with forgotten interpretations and ideas which can provide inspiration for new ways of reading and understanding of Hogarth's works. The first chapter presents the identities which the writings appearing during Hogarth's lifetime bestow on the artist. The second chapter discusses the moralistic book of the Reverend John Trusler. The third chapter analyzes the unfavourable approaches of the two eminent connoisseurs William Gilpin and Horace Walpole. The fourth chapter deals with the era of the classical scholars and of 'Hogarthomania' by presenting the writings of John Nichols, John Ireland and Samuel Ireland along with lesser-known commentators such as Thomas Cook, Thomas Clerk and Samuel Felton. Finally, the fifth and last chapter analyzes the important writings of Lamb and Hazlitt and shows their wholehearted acceptance of Hogarth both for the importance of his subjects and his aesthetic merit.

This thesis employs the model of textile culture to illuminate the artistic interaction between Japan and Great Britain as well as the economic, cultural, political and gender issues underpinning this interaction between the years of 1862 and 1900. The chapters move beyond a stylistic study of Japanese and Anglo- Japanese textiles by considering them in relation to a variety of contexts and artistic processes, including international exhibitions; museum, educational and private collections; the domestic interior; travel; their representation in British painting and their inspiration in British textile design and manufacture. When possible, case studies of designers and artists who not only appropriated Japanese elements in their work, but also visited Japan, are called upon to determine the extent to which such an experience inspired their work as opposed to the degree to which these visitors imposed their preconceived ideas on Japanese art, people and culture, and compare travellers' reception of Japan to perceptions of Japan commonly held in Victorian Britain. A number of theories strongly inform this thesis, including material and visual culture, consumption, postcolonial, and gender theories. In considering the role of Japanese and Anglo-Japanese textiles in Victorian British art, design and industry, the first chapter looks at the exhibition and reception of Japanese textiles and clothing at the international exhibitions, beginning with the London 1862 Exhibition, and asks how these events shaped British perceptions of Japanese national identity and contributed to the feminisation of its culture. The second chapter demonstrates how these perceptions informed the representation of Japanese textiles and kimono in British painting as well as how these textiles stylistically inspired painting. The third chapter contrasts the ways in which Japanese textiles provided ideas for new designs to the ways in which designers produced Anlgo-Japanese patterns fitting Victorian consumers' ideas of Japan. The fourth chapter enhances this discussion by comparing the production of Anglo-Japanese textiles for the luxury to those affordable to middle class consumers. This chapter considers the role of textile manufacturing firms in disseminating interest in the Japanese style. The final chapter discusses how female consumers employed Japanese and Anglo-Japanese textiles in the decoration of the domestic interior and argues that when women and Japan became further involved in the masculine- or European-dominated world of commerce, women through their consumption and Japan through its production, the artistic value of Japanese decorative art and women's taste was depreciated

Lee Miller (1907-1977) was an American-born Surrealist and war photographer who became the apprentice of Man Ray in Paris and later one of the few women war correspondents to cover the Second World War from the frontline. Her in-depth knowledge and understanding of art enabled her to produce intriguing representations of Europe at war that embraced and adapted the principles and methods of Surrealism. This thesis examines how Miller's war photographs can be interpreted as visual juxtapositions of Surrealist devices and socio-historical reportage-or as examples of "surreal documentary". The methodology includes close analysis of specific photographs, a generally chronological study with a thematic focus, and comparisons with other photographers, documentary artists, and Surrealists, such as Margaret Bourke-White, Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, George Rodger, Cecil Beaton, Bill Brandt, Henry Moore and Man Ray. In particular, Miller's photographs are explored using Andre Breton's theory of "convulsive beauty" and engaging with historical and cultural contexts. Chapter One analyses a selection of Miller's wartime fashion photographs taken for Vogue magazine and images from her book Wrens in Camera (1945). Miller suggests a connection between art and war by capturing scenes with her camera reminiscent of Surrealist works by Rene Magritte, Henry Moore and Man Ray and uses her knowledge of Surrealism to provide an insightful commentary on the roles of women in fashion and war. Chapter Two explores Miller's photographs of the Blitz that were published in Ernestine Carter's wartime publication Grim Glory: Pictures of Britain Under Fire (1941). This collection of photographs illustrates Miller's aestheticised reportage, or surreal documentary, displaying a creative interpretation of a broken city ravished by war. Not only do the photographs depict the chaos and destruction of Britain during the Blitz, they also reveal Surrealism's love for quirky or evocative juxtapositions while creating an artistic visual representation of a temporary surreal world of fallen statues and broken typewriters. In Chapter Three, Miller's war images are analysed within the context of Breton's theory of convulsive beauty, his idea that anything can be deemed beautiful, even the most disturbing or horrific of subjects, if convulsed, or willingly transformed, into their apparent opposite. In many of Miller's war photographs, particularly those taken at the Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps, the disturbing nature of the subject illustrates the concept of convulsive beauty when Miller uses creative composition and form to transform the subject into an artistic representation of the horrors of war. The Epilogue concludes this thesis by considering the continuing value of Miller's war photographs and establishing how her photographs can be interpreted not only as examples of surreal documentary but also as "modern memorials"- important photographic documents that can be considered as aesthetically and historically-significant representations of war. The analysis of Miller's photographs in these four chapters establishes how Miller, as a female, Surrealist photographer, was able to use her knowledge and understanding of art and art movements to juxtapose the concepts of the artistic (Surrealism) and the documentary (historical record) to create intriguing images of war through degrees of "wonder and horror".