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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The problem concerning this investigation is determining some of the possibilities of combining painting, architectonic constructions, and shadows produced by the controlled lighting of the structure. Chapter I is a brief history of experimentations in these areas during the twentieth century. This history assists in defining what has been done in the past, and reveals some directions for the future. Chapter II concerns three areas of study 1) the selection of the constructed forms mounted on canvas panels, 2) the lighting experimentations and their results, 3) the use of painted shadows to create an ambiguous pattern. This research concludes that a synthesis of these various art elements is not only possible, but aesthetically pleasing.

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A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for MA by Coursework and Research Report, Johannesburg, 2017 / This research report explores the influences of memory in selected works by two visual artists: South African Kemang Wa Lehulere’s Remembering the Future of a Hole as a Verb 2.1 and Polish artist Ursula von Rydingsvard’s Droga. The report examines the ways in which personal memory can inform creative practice and the surface difficulties such endeavours may present. These works and writings on memory and creative practice inform my own practice, through which I investigate ways of expressing my memories of my grandparents’ carpentry workshop in Sunnydale Eshowe in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. / XL2018

This dissertation analyzes the production of the Concrete and Madí artists, who were active in Argentina in the 1940s and 50s. Concrete and Madí artists proposed, for the first time in this country, the need for an art that was completely different from representational and expressionist art, and they believed that their "inventions," both visual and linguistic, could foster social change. Many aspects of the journal Arturo, published in 1944, and of Concrete and Madí art continue to be a puzzle, such as their relation with past and contemporary artistic and intellectual productions, their relation with the volatile Argentine political climate of the 1940s and 50s, and their ultimate artistic significance. This study interprets the propositions of these artists as responsive to phenomena they experienced in an immediate manner in the time and place in which they lived. The dissertation thus contextualizes Concrete and Madí art in five scenarios: publications by Spanish emigres and Argentine writers which explored the concepts of "automatism" and "invention;" discourses about "Nazism" and "democracy," and about "civilization" and "barbarism" that emerged through literary periodicals of the mid-1940s; political propaganda displayed under the rule of Juan Domingo Perón (1946-1955); the development of modern-looking and functional architecture fostered by Peronist architectural policies; and the artists' dialogues with the ideas of musicians then living in Argentina and Brazil. Ultimately, the dissertation constructs dialogues between specific instances of Argentine cultural and political history of the 1940s and 50s, and a selection of Concrete and Madí works and writings.

Orientador: Jorge Coli / Acompanha no v. 1 1 CD-ROM / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-16T10:33:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Seraphim_MirianN.(MiriamNogueira)_D.pdf: 12638976 bytes, checksum: e9c65ea2af43869cc442737e0ffb85ac (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: O pintor Eliseu d'Angelo Visconti (Salerno, Itália, 1866 - Rio de Janeiro, 1944), apesar de ser precursor do modernismo brasileiro, pioneiro do design no Brasil, e ainda decorador de diversos edifícios importantes do Rio de Janeiro, não tem sua obra conhecida nem valorizada na justa medida, como também grande parte dos artistas brasileiros. A catalogação sistemática da obra de um artista é o procedimento que visa sanar essas faltas e também prevenir e combater a falsificação, que progride na medida em que o mercado de artes plásticas no Brasil é insipiente e o conhecimento do seu objeto é precário. Foi feito, então, um levantamento das pinturas a óleo e de cavalete atribuídas a Visconti, num recorte que exclui toda a sua produção de desenho, pinturas em outras técnicas, projetos para as indústrias artísticas e os grandes painéis decorativos. Para definir o estágio de autenticação de cada pintura e ordená-las cronologicamente, foi realizada uma grande coleta de documentos e críticas publicadas por ocasião das muitas exposições que Visconti participou. Além disso, as características individuais do autor - em termos de cor, fatura, desenho e composição - observadas em suas obras de autoria comprovada, quando estão evidentes em outras pinturas, servem de base para a sua aprovação. Assim, foram destacadas 501 pinturas a óleo, em sua grande maioria comprovadas e aprovadas, num Elenco Cronológico e Iconográfico; acompanhadas de seus dados essenciais e históricos, e de um símbolo de caracterização da obra, que as define em cinco variáveis: autoria, título, imagem, data e coleção. Em separado, são apresentadas mais 115 pinturas, ainda em estudos ou não aprovadas, e acompanhadas dos mesmos elementos. Visconti alcançou uma linguagem plástica pessoal harmonizando elementos de sua formação acadêmica com as tendências do final do século XIX: pré-rafaelismo, impressionismo, simbolismo, artnouveau. Assim, foi inovador e ousado, sem ser contestador ou revoltado / Abstract: The painter Eliseu d'Angelo Visconti (Salerno, Italy, 1866 - Rio de Janeiro, 1944), despite being a precursor of modernism in Brazil, and a pioneer of design in Brazil, and decorator of several important buildings in Rio de Janeiro, his work is neither known nor appreciated in full measure, as happens to most Brazilian artists. The systematic cataloguing of the work of an artist is the procedure that aims to remedy those deficiencies and prevent and combat counterfeiting, which progresses to the extent that the market for visual arts in Brazil is incipient and knowledge of its object is poor. Then it was made a survey of oil paintings attributed to Visconti, a clipping that excludes all of its production design, paintings in other techniques, artistic projects for industries and large decorative panels. To set the stage for authentication of each painting and arrange them chronologically, we performed a large collection of documents and reviews published during the many exhibitions that Visconti participated. In addition, the author's individual characteristics - in terms of color, making, design and composition - seen in his works of authorship verified, once evident in other paintings, are the basis for its approval. Thus, there were 501 outstanding oil paintings, mostly verified and approved, in an Iconographic and Chronological List and, accompanied by their essential data and history; a symbol of characterization of the work, that sets in five variables: author, title, image, date and collection. Separately, more than 115 paintings are displayed, still in studies or non approved and accompanied by the same elements. Visconti reached a personal visual language harmonizing elements of their academic training with the trends of the late nineteenth century: pre-Raphaelitism, impressionism, symbolism, art nouveau. Thus, it was innovative and daring, without being disruptive or revolted / Doutorado / Historia da Arte / Doutor em História

‘Becoming Animal’: Motifs of Hybridity and Liminality in Fairy Tales and Selected Contemporary Artworks serves as a theoretical examination of the concept of the hybrid. My research unpacks the liminal aspect of hybridity, locating the hybrid in the imaginative world of popular fairy tales, folk lore and mythology. In my accompanying MFA exhibition, Becoming(s), I explore these motifs through an installation of mixed-media sculptures which are based on the hybrid creatures that populated the fantasy world of my childhood. The written component of my MFA submission will relate directly to my professional art practise, developing it further and situating it within a relevant context. In my mini-thesis I will consider the liminal in relation to the ‘animal turn’ in contemporary art, with a particular focus on relevant artists working with the motifs of hybridity, such as Nandipha Mntambo, Jane Alexander and Kiki Smith. The ‘animal turn’ is a term used by Kari Weil (2010: 3) to describe a contemporary interest in issues of the nonhuman, and in the ways that the relationship between humans and nonhumans is marked by “difference, otherness and power”. Of key concern to my research will be Giles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s concept of ‘becoming animal’. Rather than describing a transition from one stable state to another, ‘becoming animal’ suggests a radical dissolution of boundaries – not just between species (such as ‘human’ and ‘animal’) but between any essentialising binaries. As such, ‘becoming animal’ suggests a conception of identity as being fluid and mutable, rather than stable and fixed.

Orientador: Mauricius Martins Farina / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Artes / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-27T17:02:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lima_VeraFerreira_M.pdf: 17948557 bytes, checksum: 19c248c3e9867a869c23cd112712c983 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / Resumo: Esta dissertação de mestrado busca identificar a configuração ideal dos espaços expositivos contemporâneos, mais especificamente museus, para exibição das criações artísticas realizadas a partir dos anos 1950. Durante o processo investigativo constatou-se a necessidade de, preliminarmente, conceituar esta tipologia arquitetônica para, na sequência, apresentar suas transformações ao longo dos anos, fruto da constante busca por adequar o continente ao conteúdo e a sociedade. Enfatizando que as produções artísticas foram as causadoras das diversas necessidades de alterações espaciais também foi dedicada uma parte da monografia para apresentação do experimentalismo existente no período de reflexão. Cabe ressaltar que as variações nos suportes artísticos criaram novos desafios para os arquitetos no desenvolvimento dos projetos de museus, além da contaminação do seu imaginário com uma gama de infinitas possibilidades criativas. Para a criação destes espaços, por vezes, devem-se ponderar demandas antagônicas tais como: grandes ou pequenas áreas, claridade ou escuridão, silêncio ou ruído, cores ou neutralidade. Com o propósito de melhor entender estas edificações foram analisadas três instituições que apresentam condições específicas para a exibição de arte contemporânea, destacando-se duas distintas exposições em cada para melhor avaliarmos a conformação dos espaços às atuais demandas / Abstract: This dissertation aims to identify the ideal contemporary exhibition space, specifically museums, for showing contemporary art produced since the 1950s. In the research process, we primarily conceptualize this architectural typology and then presented its historical development related to its adequacy to social and artistic alterations. Considering that exhibition spaces must be adequate to show the wide range of artistic creations we also dedicated a chapter to understand and analyze all that happened in arts universe during the period. It¿s necessary to highlight that artistic developments in addition to being a big challenge to architects design are also a huge inspiration, mainly due to presenting infinity new possibilities. To design these spaces sometimes one must deal with antagonist forces like: amplitude or cosines, clarity or darkness, silence or noise, colorful or neutral. In this dissertation three reckon contemporary art institutions were analyzed highlighting two different shows in each one. The objective was to study the space adequacy to the art it contained / Mestrado / Artes Visuais / Mestra em Artes Visuais