Believing that one thing was real only if it corresponded with others, Ray Johnson highlighted the connections between himself and famous artists such as Marcel Duchamp. The ways the two artists thought and how they shaped their lives corresponded like two elements in Johnson's collages. My study of Johnson through the lens of Duchamp allows me to discuss two highly intellectual and creative artists. I address the few direct interactions between Johnson and Duchamp as well as their mutual acquaintances who served as conduits of information, particularly in Johnson's direction. This dissertation focuses on Johnson's creative engagement with Duchamp and begins to explicate the depth and richness of that interchange. Each chapter focuses on several key works by Johnson, ranging from some of his earliest collages to what was perhaps the last work he completed. Through these works I explore the correspondences between the two artists outside of their individual works, with each chapter looking at one major theme including language, the viewer, performance, and identity. I outline the relationship between Duchamp and Johnson, using the selected collages to demonstrate how the synergy of the two artists is manifested in Johnson's work. My work sheds light on the enigmatic Johnson who has only very recently come under critical and historical investigation. By looking at Duchamp from this unique perspective I am also contributing to our understanding of one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. Most artists after Duchamp felt that they worked in his shadow but Johnson's relationship to the elder artist was different. He seems to have understood Duchamp better than almost anyone and therefore was able to selectively choose his inheritance--defining himself alongside and against Duchamp. / text

This interdisciplinary thesis investigates the Action Painting movement using rhetorical theories and models with the intent of producing a higher level of understanding of the paintings and increasing their approachability. A brief history of nonobjective painting, the technique of automatism, and the Action Painting movement is given. Following this, the semiotic character of the visual elements within Action Paintings is discussed and their behavior catalogued through descriptive analysis, using Kenneth Pike's theory of tagmemics. The work culminates in a comparison of painted gestures to conversational implicatures and guidelines are given for establishing meaningful and relevant dialogues with the paintings, presupposing the importance of an intangible context as defined by the reconstruction of authorial intent and anticipated readership. / Department of English

Master of Philosophy / This thesis investigates the work of Morris Louis (1912-1962) in relation to ‘opticality’, a theory developed by the prominent American art critic Clement Greenberg. Between the late 1930s and 1950s, Greenberg developed a comprehensive argument concerning the opticality, or the optical illusion, of abstract painting. This theory influenced common approaches towards Abstract Expressionist painting during the 1940s and 1950s, culminating in Greenberg’s writing on ‘Colourfield’ painting in major texts of the 1960s such as ‘Louis and Noland’ (1960). Through research into the development of Morris Louis’ technique, including several of his major series as well as lesser known works, this thesis argues that our understanding of Louis’ work has been constricted by a narrow perception of the opticality of his 'stain' paintings, and explores Louis' technique in light of alternative interpretations of his work.

Within my thesis I propose to establish the existence of what I call 21st century expressionism. This genre of art is an extension of the movement that began in 20th century post-war America. 21st century expressionists create works that are intended to promote emotional responses within the viewer. “The term ``expressionism'' can be used to describe various art forms but, in its broadest sense, it is used to describe any art that raises subjective feelings above objective observations. Its aim is to reflect the artists’ state of mind rather than the reality of the external world”. Lee Krasner and Tony Smith, represent prime examples of 20th century expressionists and, Etsuko Ishikawa and Beth Cavener Stichter represent artists of 21st century expressionism.

Denna studie syftar till att studera den rörliga bildens historia och relation till måleriet utifrån de två modernistiska konstnärliga rörelserna minimalism och abstrakt expressionism. / This study aims at understanding the history and relation between the moving image and two modernistic art movements, minimalism and abstract expressionism.

Inger Ekdahl was a female painter at the center of Swedish Abstract Expressionism in the fifties. This essay investigates how her art was received in Stockholm and Paris. We conclude that although her type of art dominated the avant-garde in Paris during the late fifties, she was too early for the Swedish avant-garde and did not amass enough support to transform it. The analysis used Actor-Network Theory following Latour.

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The question of the existence of the right art has been solved by many theorists and artists themselves. The first half of the twentieth century was affected by the coming world wars, Nazism and socialism. The establishment of avant-garde was associated with it and new movements tried to confront such society. Along with avant-garde artistic critics appeared, those who more or less influenced artists themselves. Theories of Friedrich Nietzsche, Theodor Adorno, Jean Francois Lyotard, Clement Greenberg and Leo Steinberg are different, but are also consistent with the fundamental thing. That is the desire for a change and accuracy of art. The first two authors think that the right art was already there, but it was destroyed. Others are looking into present and future. In the shadow of modern technologies they try to find something that will be unique and original. These thoughts come to the imagination of unrepresent-able things and abstraction. Abstract Expressionism is a movement, which was originally established in the thirties in the USA. Along with it, the art center moved from Paris to New York. Abstract Expressionists were divided into two groups. One of them, artists such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, has been called action painters. The second group, in which Barnett Newman and...

Bibliography: pages 232-240. / This dissertation argues that abstract art is not ideologically neutral. In spite of many artists' anti-fascist stance early in their careers, the mantle of neutrality was assumed as a reaction to the protracted struggle between the two major ideologies confronting artists living in Europe and the United States of America in the period 1933-1953, namely capitalism and communism. These ideologies were not peripheral to artists lives, but were actively debated by both artists and intellectuals and resulted in the establishment of powerful cultural organisations. The ensuing growth in prestige and influence of left-wing artist's organisations was countered by a campaign which included direct suppression of left-wing artists as well as a form of ideological control. This control was vested in what has been called the specifics of patronage and is reflected in the establishment of the Arts Council in Britain and the private art museums in the United States. Changes in the art market have meant that, together with dealers and critics, these institutions wielded almost complete economic control over artists. The prevailing ideology of liberal humanism, which glorified individualism and defined democracy as a middle ground between the left and the right, favoured the development of a seemingly apolitical abstract art style. Analysis of the demise of the Artists International Association and the American Artist's Congress supports the conclusion that the figurative tradition lost prestige as a result of the stigma attached to Socialist Realism and the idealised realism demanded by National Socialism in Germany. Account is also taken of the attempt by well-positioned and influential commentators to identify all forms of realism with totalitarianism. It is not surprising therefore, that it was commonly believed that to paint in an abstract modern style was to strike a blow against fascism. In the same way that realism was identified with the regimentation of Soviet society, the avant-gardes' abstract experiments came to symbolize democracy. Drawing on the texts of writers, critics, artists and theorists, this dissertation shows that the force of the identification of progressive realism with totalitarianism, prepared the way for acceptance of the idea that freedom of expression epitomised freedom in general. In this way, anti-Stalinism and the post-war liberal philosophy of individual freedom, coupled with a search for 'essences' and the 'universal', directed artists inward to the medium of art as relevant subject-matter. This dissertation argues that this identification was ideologically motivated in respect to the balance of social and political power in America.

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