In 1967, the Vancouver Art Gallery held an exhibition entitled Arts of the Raven: Masterworks by the Northwest Coast Indian in celebration of Canada’s centennial. The following thesis discusses the way in which the curators of the Arts of the Raven exhibit constructed the Northwest Coast “Indian-Master” artist as a strategy that figured into a larger, shifting cultural field. The intention of the exhibit organizers was to contribute to the shift from ethnology to art. While this shift can be dated to the turn of the century, this thesis deals primarily with the period from 1958-1967, a decade described by the preeminent First Nations’ political leader, George Manuel, as the time of “the rediscovery of the Indian”. How the formation of an Indian-master artist (and his masterworks) intervened in art historical practice, and dovetailed with the meaning that the affix “Indian” carried in the public sphere, is considered. In the 1960s, this meaning was fostered, in part, through a reassessment of Canada’s history in preparation for the centennial. This event drew attention to the historical relationship between Canada and aboriginal peoples through public criticism of the government by public interest groups, Indian organizations, and civil rights and anti-poverty movements. The category of mastery, which functions as a sign of class, taste and prestige in European art canons, “included” the Indian under the rubric of white male genius. Yet the Indian as a sign of upward mobility was incommensurable with the Native reality in Canada at the time. In other words, the exhibit produced an abstract equality that eclipsed the concrete inequality most First Nations peoples were actually experiencing. This thesis concludes by arguing that the Arts of the Raven exhibit came to serve the important purpose of creating a space for the “unique individual-Indian” from which collective political First Nations voices would speak.

In 1967, the Vancouver Art Gallery held an exhibition entitled Arts of the Raven: Masterworks by the Northwest Coast Indian in celebration of Canada’s centennial. The following thesis discusses the way in which the curators of the Arts of the Raven exhibit constructed the Northwest Coast “Indian-Master” artist as a strategy that figured into a larger, shifting cultural field. The intention of the exhibit organizers was to contribute to the shift from ethnology to art. While this shift can be dated to the turn of the century, this thesis deals primarily with the period from 1958-1967, a decade described by the preeminent First Nations’ political leader, George Manuel, as the time of “the rediscovery of the Indian”. How the formation of an Indian-master artist (and his masterworks) intervened in art historical practice, and dovetailed with the meaning that the affix “Indian” carried in the public sphere, is considered. In the 1960s, this meaning was fostered, in part, through a reassessment of Canada’s history in preparation for the centennial. This event drew attention to the historical relationship between Canada and aboriginal peoples through public criticism of the government by public interest groups, Indian organizations, and civil rights and anti-poverty movements. The category of mastery, which functions as a sign of class, taste and prestige in European art canons, “included” the Indian under the rubric of white male genius. Yet the Indian as a sign of upward mobility was incommensurable with the Native reality in Canada at the time. In other words, the exhibit produced an abstract equality that eclipsed the concrete inequality most First Nations peoples were actually experiencing. This thesis concludes by arguing that the Arts of the Raven exhibit came to serve the important purpose of creating a space for the “unique individual-Indian” from which collective political First Nations voices would speak. / Arts, Faculty of / Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of / Graduate

Canadians in recent years have become increasingly aware of their heritage. Entering into a new era of self confidence, they have been looking with greater interest at their past and discovering things of value in this heritage. This paper looks at a part of this past and examines the events from 1886 to 1930 which formed the background, and laid the foundations for Vancouver's later development as a lively and important art centre. This period is largely undocumented, its importance to the contemporary Vancouver art scene usually forgotten. Vancouver from its inception attracted more than its share of persons with education and vision, individuals who saw what the city was to become and who were prepared to give their time and interest to the work of fostering societies and institutions of a cultural nature including the early art societies. The focus here is on these societies and on the slow but continuing growth of art activity in Vancouver, showing the important role that these early groups played in creating an art environment and keeping alive a spirit of artistic endeavour when there was little general interest in the arts in the city. Consideration has been given to the individuals - artists, critics, educators - who were key figures in the genesis and form of artistic expression during the period, as well as to the social and cultural factors which to a large extent determined the direction which the fine arts took in Vancouver in the first quarter of the twentieth century. The emphasis throughout has been on the historical development, the object being to trace the growth of art in Vancouver through the individuals and the societies they formed. Most of the material has been obtained from primary sources, principally from the newspapers of the time, but also from the records of art societies, exhibition catalogues, letters and other documents, and from interviews with individuals who were close to the period. These sources reveal a surprising amount of art activity, they also point up the importance of this activity in establishing a climate of art in Vancouver from which those who followed have gained. The major accomplishments such as the formation of an art school and the founding of an art gallery had a direct bearing on the present and a broader picture of Vancouver art should be possible when the events of the present are set against the background of their historical precedents. / Arts, Faculty of / Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of / Graduate

This corporate strategy for public art proposes a comprehensive yet incremental process to address the most pressing concerns now facing the City of Vancouver in planning for public art. The strategy, including its implementation, is deliberately incremental. The need for flexibility in planning for public art emerged from discussions with public artists, arts administrators and consultants; interviews with authors of recent exemplary public art plans; review of literature and other documentation, including the popular culture; and my personal understanding of public art from the perspective of public art producer, planner and urban designer. The proposals are informed by a review of the evolution of public art, planning and planning for public art. They are proposed within a historical context of public art planning in Vancouver and build upon the inventory and analysis of processes already in place within the civic administration. The strategy recommends upgrading the existing Art in Public Places Subcommittee into a Public Art Commission and the creation of three new advisory bodies, all with strong professional staff support, to ensure broader participation in public art while increasing the breadth of expertise to deal with aesthetic judgements, commemoration, urban design and other public realm issues in Vancouver. It also recommends restructuring the civic administration by dissolving the Board of Parks and Recreation; consolidating the urban realm design functions of the Board of Parks and Recreation, the Engineering Department and the Planning Department into a holistic urban design group; consolidating cultural planning and development functions associated with Community Centres into the Social Planning Department; and creating a new Department of Parks and Recreation responsible primarily for park maintenance and recreation functions. The proposed definition of public art is all-inclusive to encourage rather than limit or inhibit the most creative, innovative possibilities whether permanent or temporary, physical or ephemeral. The entire process is proposed to be open to wide community participation. It welcomes grass-roots initiatives and promotes project development and management by existing Vancouver organisations involved in the production of public art. The inherent flexibility of this incremental strategy allows responsiveness to the community, civic aspirations, and the evolving nature of our understanding of public art. It facilitates the development of a common and evolving vision in Vancouver for a more humane city through the media of public art. By planning through the use of art to make places public, it begins to allow us to recapture the public essence of urban living. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

No description available.

Bertram Charles Binning's depiction of British Columbia coastal scenes in his drawings and paintings of the mid 1940s to the early 1950s present images of sunlit seascapes in recreational settings; they are scenes of leisure and pleasure. The concern for leisure and pleasure was central to the artist's modernism, even after he began painting in a semi-abstract manner around 1948. In this particular construction of modernism, Binning offered pleasure as an antidote to some of the anxieties he observed in postwar culture. Binning also thought that art could contribute to life in a direct way. In the mid to late 1940s, Vancouver saw a series of artistic community projects which explored the possibility of art as a social force; the Art in Living Group, of which Binning was a member, believed that art could have a therapeutic value in relation to housing projects and community planning. In certain ways, the Art in Living Group was a response to rapid changes in the social matrix of Vancouver. Binning's personal artistic practice, however, appears to have existed outside of what was embraced in his participation in those community projects. His essentially personal, self-authenticating expression in the form of drawings may be seen to resist the idealism of his more 'public' production, that is, his own idealism, his demand for an art thoroughly harmonized with the public sphere. Moreover, in this more personal body of work, his choice of leisurely scenes, rendered in a style reminiscent of Matisse, can be seen as far removed from the urban tensions of the time. It also seems to suggest that the leisure-and-pleasure idealism which finds expression in these works was not only class-and gender- specific, but also antithetical to his strong desire to democratize art. Binning's preoccupation with personal expression took a turn when he shifted his concern from representational drawings to semi-abstract paintings. The shift coincided with his career move to the University of British Columbia as a professor of Art History in 1949. From then on, Binning's interest in regional cosmopolitanism became more pronounced in his work. In this sense, it is significant that Binning looked for guidance to Herbert Read's ideas about modern art and art education. At the same time, his reputation expanded beyond the West Coast. In 1954, Binning was chosen to represent Canada at the Venice Biennale. Binning's particular modernism, as represented by this range of work, all of which presents a pastoral version of Utopia , was in some ways profoundly at odds with the social circumstances of the time. Why was the interest in leisure and pleasure significant to his practice? What did it mean to promote this kind of idealism in the local context? And in what ways did it relate to the international art scene — for example, to the work of Matisse or to contemporary concepts of art? My thesis addresses these questions by situating Binning's work both regionally and internationally.

xii, 128 p. : ill. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / Beginning in the early decades of the nineteenth century, British artists became increasingly fascinated by the Alhambra palace complex in Granada, Spain. This thesis examines the prints of three such artists who traveled to Granada, James Cavanah Murphy (1760-1814), John Frederick Lewis (1805-1876) and David Roberts (1796- 1864), in order to shed light on their shifting attitudes and approaches to the Alhambra. A comparison of Murphy's publication of 1815 and the works of Lewis and Roberts, published in the 1830s, will reveal a shift from an attempt to accurately and methodically record Granada's palace complex, to an increasingly subjective and emotionally-based approach. The social and cultural context of Britain and Spain in the early nineteenth century, and the role played by the accompanying text in these publications will also be considered. / Committee in Charge: Dr. Andrew Schulz, Chair; Dr. Kate Mondloch; Dr. Elizabeth Bohls

The Royal Academy exhibition of 1832 opened in London in the midst of a political crisis over the passage of the Great Reform Bill. An analysis of the critical response to four of the leading pictures in the exhibition: A Family Portrait by C.R. Leslie, The Preaching of Knox by David Wilkie, The Destroying Angel by William Etty, and Chiide Harold's Pilgrimage - Italy by J.M.W. Turner, provides evidence that the ongoing political conflict permeated the Academy exhibition. In an atmosphere of increasing tension caused by parliamentary deadlock and street rioting, art critics argued about the pictures' quality and meaning in highly politicized terms. This investigation focuses upon these four pictures and their critical reception, in order to probe the extent to which art and politics were connected at that specific historical moment. Documentary evidence of viewer responses is provided by anonymous reviews of the pictures which were published in ten major London newspapers and journals during the weeks following the opening of the show. The bias of each publication is carefully examined since, during the 1830's, most publications were highly partisan affairs, often receiving direct subsidies from particular interest groups. The analysis of these paintings offers a new perspective on the tensions, alignments, shifts, and ambiguities of British social classes and political parties in 1832. While the reception of Leslie's portrait points out the short-term divisions between Whigs and Tories over the issue of parliamentary reform, that of Wilkie1s history painting demonstrates that despite their differences, these two groups were united by a shared fear of the radical working class. Etty's academic sketch provides an example of how members of the conservative upper class rationalized rejecting the notion of reform, while Turner's landscape reveals how progressive middle-class reformers challenged tradition with a positive assertion of modernity. By examining the response to these pictures, one finds there is no clear separation between political and artistic spheres. / Arts, Faculty of / Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of / Graduate

Bertram Charles Binning's depiction of British Columbia coastal scenes in his drawings and paintings of the mid 1940s to the early 1950s present images of sunlit seascapes in recreational settings; they are scenes of leisure and pleasure. The concern for leisure and pleasure was central to the artist's modernism, even after he began painting in a semi-abstract manner around 1948. In this particular construction of modernism, Binning offered pleasure as an antidote to some of the anxieties he observed in postwar culture. Binning also thought that art could contribute to life in a direct way. In the mid to late 1940s, Vancouver saw a series of artistic community projects which explored the possibility of art as a social force; the Art in Living Group, of which Binning was a member, believed that art could have a therapeutic value in relation to housing projects and community planning. In certain ways, the Art in Living Group was a response to rapid changes in the social matrix of Vancouver. Binning's personal artistic practice, however, appears to have existed outside of what was embraced in his participation in those community projects. His essentially personal, self-authenticating expression in the form of drawings may be seen to resist the idealism of his more 'public' production, that is, his own idealism, his demand for an art thoroughly harmonized with the public sphere. Moreover, in this more personal body of work, his choice of leisurely scenes, rendered in a style reminiscent of Matisse, can be seen as far removed from the urban tensions of the time. It also seems to suggest that the leisure-and-pleasure idealism which finds expression in these works was not only class-and gender- specific, but also antithetical to his strong desire to democratize art. Binning's preoccupation with personal expression took a turn when he shifted his concern from representational drawings to semi-abstract paintings. The shift coincided with his career move to the University of British Columbia as a professor of Art History in 1949. From then on, Binning's interest in regional cosmopolitanism became more pronounced in his work. In this sense, it is significant that Binning looked for guidance to Herbert Read's ideas about modern art and art education. At the same time, his reputation expanded beyond the West Coast. In 1954, Binning was chosen to represent Canada at the Venice Biennale. Binning's particular modernism, as represented by this range of work, all of which presents a pastoral version of Utopia , was in some ways profoundly at odds with the social circumstances of the time. Why was the interest in leisure and pleasure significant to his practice? What did it mean to promote this kind of idealism in the local context? And in what ways did it relate to the international art scene — for example, to the work of Matisse or to contemporary concepts of art? My thesis addresses these questions by situating Binning's work both regionally and internationally. / Arts, Faculty of / Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of / Graduate

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Open University. BLDSC no. DX231423.