This dissertation studies the critical reception of Hilma af Klint trough three exhibitions: Spiritual in Art – Abstract Painting 1890-1985 (Los Angeles, 1986), Secret Pictures by Hilma af Klint, (Helsinki, 1988) and Hilma af Klint – A Pioneer of Abstraction (Stockholm, 2013), addressing the crucial prominent figures and voices in the discursive field around af Klint. The aim is carried out through the Critical Discourse Analysis by Norman Fairclough, coupled with Pierre Bourdieu's concept of the cultural field and habitus. Judith Butler's theory of gender performance completes the theoretical framework by addressing issues of gender in both af Klint's practice as well as in the analysed critical reviews. The thesis examines how the discourses about af Klint changed during different periods of time in the 1980s and the 2010s. The central hypothesis is that this case study can be used as an example to see how the art field presents women artists as a marginal phenomenon instead of including them in the general art historical canon. But the reception of af Klint cannot be fully understood through the lens of gender; thus, e.g. the closeness to the occult is considered both as a leading mechanism in the artistic practice, creating interest towards af Klint, and as an identity which pushes her to the marginal. The results of this study lead to a better understanding of critical articles' role in the cultural phenomena's narrative creation.

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As far as the writer could find in her reading no one has ever written a finished study of this phase of Music, Art, and Literature. Of course, there are hints of it here and there in many books, but in no one in particular was a detailed study given. Paul Landormy’s book, A History of Music, seemed to carry the heart of the subject, however, in an extremely miniature style. When we think of French music, our minds are generally centered in Paris, for it is here that the greatest organizations have been sponsored, and the important musical ideas have been developed, representing France as a whole. In 1870 no one had a lighter heritage than French musicians; for the past had been forgotten, and such a thing as real musical education did not exist. The musical weakness of that time was a very curious thing, and has given many people the impression that France has never been a musical nation. Historically speaking, nothing could be more wrong. Certainly there are races more gifted than others; but often the seeming differences of races are really the difference of time; anda nation appears great or little in its art according to the particular period of its history we consider. Perhaps the impression that France was not a musical nation was incurred by the fact that for nearly a century before Debussy’s time. French music had practically no national character. Naturally, Claude Debussy did not complete the task of nationalizing French music alone. This nationalization was a surging of ideas that had been forming for thirty years or more before his time, and to which the greatest musical intellects had contributed. However, none has attacked the problem of a truly French musical spirit with more outstanding proofs and a more clear-visioned conscience than Debussy.

This study aims to highlight the art critic Stig Johansson's position during two historical moments: 1962-63 and 1972. The theoretical and methodological framework is mainly derived from Pierre Bourdieu’s understanding of the art field and the art critic's role and mission within that specific field. Art criticism is an important text source for expanded knowledge of how the discussion of contemporary art has been conducted. In the first chapter of the thesis, I describe some of the investments that preceded Johansson’s role as art critic. These efforts are to be regarded as field-specific as they were preparing Johansson with the kind of social capital that won recognition in the art field. In the second part of the essay, I distinguish between the art critical genre and mission. Instead of limiting the study to art reviews, which is usually associated with the genre of art criticism, the thesis also include material such as debate articles and notices. The study of these different text types contribute to an increased understanding of how art criticism practice actually worked, and what was to be included in such practices during these historical periods. The third chapter is based on an empirical study and focus on three selected themes: the new, the political and the art critic role. The fourth part consists of a text analysis based on Malcolm Gee’s strategies for persuasion in art criticism. A presentation and discussion of the art critical material, and hence the position Johansson takes, contributes to an increased understanding of the negotiations that characterized the art field during the periods in question. The thesis contributes to a nuanced perspective on the production of meaning through problematizing positions and values in the Swedish art field during two important historical moments.

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The aim of this study is to analyse the contemporary art critical reception of Siri Derkert’s Ristningar i naturbetong (translates to Engravings in natural concrete) (1965) at the metro station of Östermalmstorg in central Stockholm, and further contextualising the reception within the art debate of modern and public art in 1960’s Sweden. Using linguist Norman Fairclough’s three step-discourse analysis as both methodological and theoretical starting points, combined with art historian Wolfgang Kemp's reception aesthetics, archived newspaper articles, principally from the year 1965, are read and analysed in the study. Aided by a thematic division of the analysis through the themes expression, content, material and permanence some broad conclusions can be made. The results of the study conclude the reception of Derkert’s public work of art as generally positive. There is a consensus in the view of Ristningar i naturbetong in its originality, expressivity, modernity and, in regards to material and technique, experimentality. The artwork’s musical elements, political statements and use of the Norwegian natural concrete, are to a high extent represented in the analyzed articles. In several places the language connotes religious themes in its comparisons of Derkert’s artwork to churches and cathedrals, an element in the reception that is interpreted as a way to enhance the future understanding and potential of the work of art.

This paper seeks to further explore stages an artist moves through that can be applied to teaching art, and helping students understand how to access their creativity. This project involves observation and an auto-ethnographic approach in order to best determine stages artists naturally move through when creating art. In order to most effectively suggest a teachable creative process for secondary art students, this paper will further explore cognitive and disciplinary categories in art education by applying principles and stages to a curricular guide (or lesson plans) for secondary art educators. Topics and studies of design thinking, creative inquiry, studio habits, creative processes, the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP, 2008), and National Core Art Standards will be reviewed and expanded upon in this paper. Using these inputs, a series of 4 recursive, creative stages were observed and applied to teaching art at the secondary (6th-12th grade) levels.