Cette thèse traite de la présence et des usages des arts précolombiens dans les arts décoratifs en France. Le point de départ de la recherche se situe en 1875, avec le premier Congrès des américanistes ; elle s’achève en 1945, avec la fin de la Seconde Guerre mondiale et la mort d’un des principaux artistes du corpus, Jean Puiforcat. Globalement, il s’agit de contribuer à l’histoire des transferts culturels entre le Mexique, le Pérou et la France, en mettant d’abord l’accent sur les liens entre les intérêts diplomatiques et le développement culturel de l’américanisme. À partir de là, le regard se concentre sur l’évolution de la perception française des arts précolombiens au travers de l’analyse des expositions temporaires, du marché de l’art et des revues d’art en France. Cela permet de comprendre comment la réévaluation de ces civilisations a favorisé l’appropriation de motifs précolombiens dans la création décorative en France : de nombreux décorateurs se sont intéressés aux possibilités formelles de ces productions et en ont fait usage selon des modalités hétérogènes mais concomitantes. Ces phénomènes sont multilatéraux : l’analyse des recueils d’ornements précolombiens et de leur théâtralisation par les gouvernements a permis de mettre en lumière des collaborations internationales, notamment celle de la liménienne Elena Izcue avec la styliste Elsa Schiaparelli. Dans l’ensemble, cette thèse se présente comme une étude d’histoire des représentations, centrée sur la diffusion et l’instrumentalisation des arts précolombiens, au Mexique, au Pérou et en France, afin de comprendre leur productivité visuelle et culturelle dans le champ des arts décoratifs en France. / This doctoral dissertation deals with the presence and uses of pre-Columbian arts in decorative arts in France. The research starts in 1875 with the first Congress of Americanists; it ends in 1945, and it ends in 1945 with the conclusion of the Second World War and the death of one of the principal artists of the corpus, Jean Puiforcat. Overall, it seeks to contribute to the history of cultural transfers between Mexico, Peru and France. It begins by focussing on the links between the diplomatic forces at play and the cultural development of Americanism. From there, it concentrates on the evolution of the French perception of pre-Columbian arts through an analysis of temporary exhibitions, the art market and art reviews in France. This analysis makes it possible to understand how the reevaluation of these American civilisations supported the appropriation of pre-Columbian motives in decorative creation in France: many decorators were interested in the formal possibilities of these productions and used them according to heterogeneous but concomitant methods. Such phenomena are multilateral: the analysis of the collections of pre-Columbian ornaments and their dramatizing by governments made it possible to clarify international collaborations, in particular that of the Peruvian artist Elena Izcue with the designer Elsa Schiaparelli. This thesis is presented as a study of history of representations centred on the diffusion and the instrumentalization of pre-Columbian arts in Mexico, Peru and France, in order to understand their visual and cultural productivity in the field of decorative arts in France.

‘The Influence of British Rule on Elite Indian Menswear: The Birth of the Sherwani’ is a study of the influence of politics on fashion and the resulting development of new garments. This research is designed to demonstrate the effect on elite Indian menswear of the two centuries of British rule in India. It is an effort to understand how the flowing garments worn by elite Indian men in the 18th century gradually became more tailored and fitted with the passage of time. The study uses multiple sources to bring to light lesser known facts about Indian menswear, the evolution of different garments and especially of the sherwani. The sherwani is a knee-length upper garment worn by South-Asian men, and is considered to be India’s traditional menswear. My study highlights the factors responsible for the birth of the sherwani and dispels the myth that it was a garment worn by the Mughals. Simultaneously, this study examines the concept and value of ‘tradition’ in cultures. It scrutinises the reasons for the sherwani being labelled as a traditional Indian garment associated with the Mughal era, when in fact it was born towards the end of the 19th century. The study also analyses the role of the sherwani as a garment of distinction in pre- and post-independence India.

Structure architecturée destinée au besoin vital de chauffage, la cheminée était par conséquent l'élément le plus important d'un intérieur. Ainsi obtînt-elle la plus grande des attentions de la part des architectes, qui s'ingénièrent à donner à cet ouvrage utilitaire l'apparence d'un véritable monument de marbre, orné de motifs sculptés ou de bronzes dorés. Cette attention décorative valut parfois à l'ouvrage caminologique le privilège d'accéder au rang d'œuvre d'art.Plus qu'un simple foyer destiné à accueillir le feu, la cheminée était le point focal d'un intérieur. Sa position déterminait aussi bien la composition du décor mural que l'agencement du mobilier. C'est également autour de la cheminée que s'organisaient au quotidien les activités humaines. Cette attraction à la fois visuelle et physiologique incita à associer à la cheminée, pour son usage et pour son agrément, une grande diversité d'objets. Les objets d'art les plus précieux d'une habitation étaient volontiers exhibés sur la tablette de la cheminée, flattant ainsi l'orgueil du propriétaire, qui, au-delà, affirmait, aux yeux de tous, son rang social.Cette étude définie dans son intégralité les caractéristiques de la décoration intérieure de la seconde moitié du XVIIIe siècle, période durant laquelle s'opéra en France le renouveau classique, en partant de la cheminée tout en considérant le décor mural qui l'entourait, le choix des matériaux, des couleurs et des objets, à valeur d'usage et à valeur esthétique, qui lui étaient associés. L'analyse de la cheminée et de son décor permet ainsi de saisir au plus près les goûts et les habitudes ornementales de la société française de la fin de l'Ancien Régime. / As an architectural structure providing heat to satisfy one of man's vital need, the fireplace was the most important element of interior decoration. Then it attracted the attention of architects who strived to give to this useful device the appearance of a true monument in marble, decorated with sculpted motifs or ormolu. As a result of the attention paid to its decoration, the fireplace eventually reached the status of a genuine work of art. More than a mere hearth aimed at setting the fire, it became an essential element of the household. Its central position determined both the arrangement of the panelling and the layout of the furniture. At this point, daily occupations got tied to the fireplace; its physiological and esthetical value led to the necessity of possessing a wide range of objects either useful (to set the fire) or decorative. The most precious ownings of the house were usually exhibited on the marble top, flattering its owner, while affirming his vanity. This PhD is a thorough study of the characteristics of interior decoration during the second half of the 18th c.. In France at the time, there was a major classicism revival, operating through the fireplace and the decoration of the walls around it, including changes in colors and in the range of fireplace-related objects to use or admire. This survey of the fireplace and its decorative context enables us to apprehend french society's tastes and habits at the very end of "Ancien Régime".

This practice-led research aimed to design letterforms for an ancient Thai script known as Khom Thai, to aid learning of the script by today’s Thai population. Khom is a script that was developed in Thailand around the 15th century. It was widely used as the country’s official script for historical documents and records in Pali, Sanskrit, and Thai until 1945. Now, very few members of younger generations can read the script, which poses a major obstacle for preserving the knowledge of Khom Thai and severely limits access to the country’s historical documents and heritage. Although there are some relationships between contemporary Thai letters and Khom Thai letters, the unfamiliar letterforms constitute the largest hurdle for Thai readers learning to read the Khom Thai script. This study’s goal was to resolve this problem by creating three new Khom Thai letterform designs for use as learning materials and writing models for beginners. This study investigated whether Khom Thai letterforms could be redesigned so that modern Thai readers could recognise them more easily. To explore this possibility, three letterform designs, TLK Deva, TLK Brahma and TLK Manussa, were developed. This practice-led research employed mixed methods, including interviews, a questionnaire, and a letter recognition study. The first section of the research discusses the theoretical framework regarding familiarity in enhancing letter recognition. Additionally, analyses on Thai, Khom Thai, and Khmer letterforms were also included in this part. The second section is about the design process resulted in three designs. Among the three, TLK Brahma and TLK Deva maintain a close connection to the proportions and writing style of the traditional script, and could potentially be used as writing models for those learning the script. By contrast, TLK Manussa is adapted to characteristics and proportions of the present-day Thai script and is intended to look more familiar to Thai readers. One potential use of TLK Manussa is as a mnemonic aid for learning Khom Thai characters. Interviews were conducted with Khom Thai palaeographic experts to gather opinions on the designs. A questionnaire was also used with 102 participants to establish which of the three TLK designs had most familiar characteristics for Thai readers. The results showed that TLK Manussa was the most familiar among the three. After further refinement of the designs, the third section describes the data collection procedures. A short-exposure technique was used with 32 participants who already had some knowledge of Khom Thai, to compare letter recognition. This method was used for gathering reader feedback on the designs. In general, the findings did not indicate any significant differences between the three designs regarding the accuracy rate of letter identification. However, certain individual letters that more closely resembled the Thai script received higher scores than did unfamiliar characters. The three TLK designs constitute the primary contribution to knowledge. However, further contributions made by this research are its analyses of Khom Thai characters and its systematic guidelines for developing Khom Thai letterforms, the guidelines will aid future type designers of Khom Thai on letterform design. The study contributes to the field of research in non-Latin type design by endorsing the role of design in enabling contemporary audiences to learn ancient Thai scripts.

The 1940s are undoubtedly the years most neglected by scholars of Italian Futurism. The movement had long supported Fascism, but its vocal endorsement of Mussolini’s regime and its military adventures at this time is widely considered to represent Futurism’s ultimate betrayal of those ‘progressive’, counter-cultural values popularly associated with the avant-garde. For many, the movement’s apparent engagement with the forces of reaction and conservatism is reflected in the work produced by its artists throughout the war years, which is invariably presented in terms of propaganda imagery, characterised by an unchallenging and retrogressive figurative vocabulary. However, this thesis argues that the 1940s cannot be said to reveal a rupture in either the ideological or aesthetic foundations of the movement, and that common assumptions regarding the crude, rhetorical and one-dimensional nature of Futurist painting (and poetry) during this period are not necessarily borne out by the works themselves. The text also examines the movement’s status within the cultural establishment at this time. It challenges the notion that the reverberations within Italy of Nazism’s campaign against modern art during the late 1930s were irrevocably to prejudice the Fascist regime and its institutions against Futurism. Indeed, it is argued that one can no more consider the 1940s a period of decline from the point of view of the movement’s political fortunes than one can from an artistic perspective. Of course, Futurism did not survive the war. However, it is suggested that whilst the cataclysmic events of 1943-44 were to seal its fate, they also served to liberate the imaginations of Marinetti and his followers, reawakening the movement’s original, visionary spirit, and inspiring a final burst of creativity that anticipated ‘the future of Futurism’.

S’appuyant sur la petite structure créée à Pau, en 1862, les Mauméjean, père et fils, réussirent à développer une véritable firme internationale - basée en France (Paris, Hendaye) et en Espagne (Madrid, Barcelone, Saint-Sébastien) - qui, durant près d’un siècle, travailla à l’ornementation d’un nombre considérable d’édifices civils et religieux disséminés dans plus de vingt-cinq pays. Récompensé lors de l’Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes de 1925, leur travail fut pourtant, dès les années 1950, décrié, dévalorisé : pour répondre aux critères de la « noble expression artistique » un maître verrier devait nécessairement produire peu, dans une petite structure, avec de petits moyens. L’incroyable quantité de verrières sorties des ateliers Mauméjean contribua à forger le mythe d’une production sérielle, dépourvue de toute valeur esthétique. Malgré de récents apports, les recherches menées dans le domaine du vitrail semblent profondément marquées par cette traditionnelle opposition entre fabrication à grande échelle et artisanat. S’appuyant sur un large catalogue d’œuvres conservées en France, en Espagne ou aux États-Unis, ainsi que sur l’analyse d’un très riche fonds d’atelier, cette étude se propose d’interroger ces modèles de production, tout en réévaluant l’apport artistique d’une manufacture qui, offrant un remarquable exemple de réussite, participa activement au renouveau des arts industriels franco espagnols. / The Mauméjean family, father and sons, managed to develop a real international firm, from the small business they created in Pau, in 1862. For almost a century, this international firm, based in France (Paris and Hendaye) and Spain (Madrid, Barcelona and Saint-Sébastien), worked on the ornamentation of a significant number of both civil and religious edifices, scattered over more than twenty-five countries. Though their work was rewarded during the 1925 Exhibition of Decorative and Modern Industrial Arts, it was also disparaged and depreciated, as early as the 1950’s. Indeed, to meet the criteria of the “noble artistic expression”, a master glazier had to produce small quantities, in a small structure, and with little resources. The incredible quantity of windows realised by the Maumejeans’ workshop contributed to the creation of the myth of a mass production, devoid of aesthetic value. In spite of new contributions, researches made in the field of stained-glass windows seem to be marked by this traditional opposition between mass production and craft production. Relying on a large catalogue of works kept in France, Spain, or even in the USA, as relying on the analysis of a very extensive workshop collection, this study offers to question these models of production, reappraising the new artistic dimension brought by a manufacture which, giving a remarkable example of success, actively took part in the revival of the Franco-Spanish industrial arts.

From flamenco guitarists to parlour pianists, Matisse’s images of music-making often appear within decorative scenes of gleaming carpets, multi-coloured costumes and lavishly embroidered wall hangings. All of these textiles and more comprised what he called ‘ma bibliothèque de travail’, a working library of inspiration that he maintained throughout his career. ‘I am made up of everything I have seen,’ he remarked, to which he might have added, ‘and heard.’ Practising, performing, listening and concert-going: music, like textiles, was a lifelong pursuit. But his passion for them is not simply of anecdotal significance, nor does it explain their mere co-existence as the subject-matter of his art. Rather, just as music and textiles are interwoven at every stage of his life, so too is their structural and conceptual significance in his work. In a series of case studies, a single textile from his working library is paired with the art it inspired: the kasāya robe and 'The Song of the Nightingale'; the Moghan rug and the Symphonic Interiors; and the Bakuba velours and 'Jazz'. In each case, visual form is found to have musical counterpart, both in the textiles themselves and as represented by Matisse. This opens up new, more imaginative possibilities of interpreting his visual musicality, which is found to be metaphysical, modal and motivic in concept. Finally, these separate strands are drawn together in a single synoptic analysis of the Chapel of the Rosary, the artist’s self-proclaimed masterpiece and ‘total’ work of art. This thesis explores the expansive musical space created by the reduced visual form of textiles. Considered together for the first time, these enduring and inseparable continuities of Matisse’s art – music and textiles – suggest not only a means of unravelling his own visual musicality, but point towards a much-needed methodology for interpreting this notion more broadly.

By the penultimate decade of the nineteenth century, the Dukes of Hamilton, premier peers of Scotland, had amassed a superb collection of fine and decorative art. This outstanding collection was dispersed in two series of sales in 1882 and 1919, and the family’s principal seat, Hamilton Palace, ten miles south of Glasgow, was demolished in the 1920s and ′30s. Many of the most significant items are now in the great museums, galleries and libraries of the world or in important private collections. This study will begin by identifying the causes of the 12th Duke of Hamilton’s financial difficulties and the chain of events leading to the dispersal of the collection, with a comparative analysis on the backgrounds of the earlier enforced sales of Fonthill Abbey (1822), Wanstead House (1822), Strawberry Hill (1842), and Stowe (1848). It will continue with a thorough investigation of selected principal beneficiaries, what they acquired and why. These will include Christopher Beckett Denison; various members of the Rothschild family; William Dodge James; the 5th Earl of Rosebery; Sir Michael Shaw-Stewart; and the 5th Earl of Carysfort. A survey of the records of certain national museums and galleries will establish the involvement of the museum sector in the dispersal of the collection, with a review of these institutions’ acquisitions. Finally, this study will consider the extent to which North American collectors benefited from the sales through the international art trade between 1880 and 1930, culminating in an account of the purchase of the Hamilton Palace interiors by the New York dealers, French & Co., and their subsequent acquisition by the newspaper magnate and collector William Randolph Hearst. This research will add a new perspective to the understanding of the break-up of this renowned collection, and of the loss to Scotland’s material culture and heritage. It will contribute to current scholarship on nineteenth-century house sales and increase current knowledge of the socio-economic causes and effects of such events. The question of who benefited from the Hamilton Palace sales will be a new and original area of research within History of Collecting studies, contributing to a fuller appreciation of British collecting between 1880 and 1930 and of the international art trade and market from 1880 to the present day.

In this article are the results of research of empirical data from two pedagogical experiences using Mathematical Modeling with two groups: one with 28 students from the last period of a course of mathematics teachers, and another with 21 teachers of a course of continuing education. The objectives of the course were: teach Mathematical Modeling, and in sequence, modeling as a method of teaching. The data about the interest for the proposal and the need of the two groups in learning modeling for use in practice was raised from interviews and issues raised and works done by them. Even though the importance of Mathematical Modeling as a method of teaching is not underestimated, some aspects exemplify the difficulties for the participants in changing the concept of teaching and learning: formation of the participants and the need for formation. Key-words: Mathematical Modeling, possibilities and challenges.

During the shift from the rule of Joseph Stalin to that of Nikita Khrushchev, people in the Soviet Union witnessed dramatic political, economic, and social changes, evident even in such private aspects of life as residential home interiors. The major architectural style of Stalin's era, known as Stalin's Empire Style, was characterized by grandeur and rich embellishments. The buildings' interiors were similarly grandiose and ornate. By endorsing this kind of design, Stalin attempted to position himself as an heir of classical traditions, to encourage respect for his regime, and to signal his power. When Nikita Khrushchev became the country's leader shortly after Stalin's death in 1953, he proclaimed that "excessive decorations" were not only unnecessary, but harmful. As a result, the standardized panel buildings produced at his initiative were defined by straight, plain lines, and were devoid of literally any architectural details that were not considered functional. These changes in Soviet architecture were reflected in interior design and furnishings: the minimalist aesthetic became their defining characteristic. The purpose of this study is to gain, through examination of existing literature, new insight into why a transition to a minimalist aesthetic was happening in the 1950s and 1960s in Soviet urban interior design. To achieve this goal, the present thesis analyzes works by contemporary scholars on the subject and examines statements the Soviet government as well as Soviet architects and interior decoration specialists made regarding the state's views on architecture and interiors during the period of 1950-1960. While research has been published that explores some aspects of this stylistic transition, the present work is unique in that it identifies and focuses on three distinct reasons for the change to minimalism in Soviet urban residential interiors under Khrushchev: the deficit of apartment space, reduction of construction costs, and ideological motives.