Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Delaware, 1984. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 405-437).

In this study, we use paintings that canonically and/or visually belong to the Abstract Expressionist movement to study how the brain processes different forms of color and luminance. Subjects viewed 240 unique images in the experiment in a block design. All of the paintings used in the experiment were painted by the artists in color. Half of the 240 images were three styles of painting in their original (saturated) forms, and the other half were desaturated versions of the same paintings. In our analysis, we compared saturated Abstract Expressionist paintings to their desaturated counterparts - both as a group and within the Gesture and Color Field styles. We also compared the desaturated Gesture paintings to their saturated counterparts because many of the Gesture painters created work with little to no color. Through these contrasts, we show that different regions in the brain process color and luminance. Notably, we show that (1) the brain processes color in the Gesture and Color Field paintings differently (2) color is capable of producing significant activation in the amygdala and (3) the color and luminance in the Gesture paintings produce strikingly different patterns of significant activation.

The objective of this creative project is to develop a series of paintings in oil on canvas that focus on the issue of mankind's crumbling relationship with the natural world. The paintings will be produced through a process that begins with an intuitive abstract approach and will later develop layered representational imagery. My technique of painting involves initially choosing and mixing colors without regard to the finished painting, allowing the subconscious to determine the direction that the painting will take. Upon completion of the under painting, I begin creating stencils and layering imagery that provoke thought concerning nature and our place in it. This collection of paintings is representative of the process I have developed through a wide variety of influences, and is a means of communicating my concern for the ever dwindling natural environment and our connection to it. / Department of Art

This essay is a study of Agnes Martin (1912-2004), a Canadian-born and American-based contemporary artist, and her earlier painting practice including, but not limited, to her work Falling Blue of 1963. The exploration of this piece and others frames Martin’s early work as a process of material exploration analogous to weaving and fiber art. This framing is enhanced by the friendship and professional exchange between Martin and artist Lenore Tawney (1907-2007). The textile lens, as explored in this paper, has been undeveloped compared to other approaches to Martin’s early work and practice.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1981. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references. / Jack Tworkov began painting in the 1920s and made his reputation later as an Abstract Expressionist working in a gestural style. At the age of sixty-five Tworkov put that reputation on the line by undergoing a radical transformation in style and, within a few years, emerged as one of the innovative geometric painters of the later 1960s and the 1970s. This dissertation focuses on works from 1955, when Tworkov began to paint wholly idiosyncratic canvases, to 1979, at which time he significantly changed his brushstroke, a stylistic element that functions as a thread throughout this period. Other binding concepts include a continuing attempt to reconcile painterliness and spontaneity with premeditated structure and the combination of choice and chance in generating new ideas and compositions . This dissertation attempts to provide a complete analysis of this specific portion of Tworkov's work, which has never been done, and to avail the reader of a significant collection of artist's statements drawn from a variety of sources including Tworkov's own diary notes, the art historical literature , and personal interviews with the author. The analysis of the works is contextual, within the frame work of Tworkov's career itself, and proceeds stylistically rather than chronologically, identifying, explaining, and pursuing trends in Tworkov's works over an extended period of time. Iconographic analyses are provided where most appropriate and where most illustrative Tworkov's relationship to other artists has been discussed. The work from 1955 to 1979 has been divided into three major segments: Transitional Works, including the Painterly Abstractions and the Fields; the Structural/Geometric Works, subdivided into early geometric canvases, further experiments with geometry, and the Bisections; and the System Works, including both the Knight Moves and the Three-Five-Eight series. / by Lois Fichner-Rathus. / Ph.D.

Historical events captured in an abstract manner have the ability to produce a profound effect on the emotions. The purpose of this research is to create a time-based computer media work, using dialogue from playwright Anne Nelson's The Guys, based on the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, with emphasis on visual imagery, particularly the use of line and color, to enhance the dramatic and emotional content of the piece. The stylistic direction of the thesis work is greatly influenced by selected works of abstract expressionists Robert Motherwell and Franz Kline, whose artwork was shaped by the social backdrop of World War II.

Thesis (Honors)--College of William and Mary, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-54). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1989. / "Selected bibliography": leaves 25-26.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Iowa, 1978. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 370-386).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Department of Art History, December 1999. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.