Thesis (M.F.A.)--Georgia State University, 2009. / Title from file title page. Mark Burleson, committee chair; Susan Richmond, Constance Thalken, committee members. Description based on contents viewed June 12, 2009. Includes bibliographical references.

En 1966, le Black Power Movement, qui influence de nombreux mouvements sociaux de libération, signale un changement de paradigme dans l’activisme aux États-Unis désigné par la terminologie de « politiques de l’identité ». Si, en affirmant la nécessité d’une analyse politique des discriminations, celles-ci en appellent à de profonds changements dans la société, elles imprègnent aussi les arts visuels et génèrent des mutations importantes quant à la définition de l’art et au rôle de l’artiste aux États-Unis. En s’emparant des politiques de l’identité, les artistes incorporent leurs engagements dans leurs pratiques, créent des formes d’expression originales et remettent en cause la validité du canon. Par une étude de cas sur la Californie entre 1966 et 1990, combinée à une approche chronologique et comparative, ce travail de recherche explore les rencontres entre les arts visuels et les politiques de l’identité, et plus largement la relation entre art et politique dans un contexte culturel moins exploré que la scène artistique de New York, afin d’analyser en quoi elles s’avèrent essentielles pour saisir les pratiques artistiques postérieures et les discours sur les identités. Cette thèse en histoire de l’art, pour laquelle les études culturelles et les théories féministes ont constitué des apports fondamentaux, propose ainsi d’établir des convergences artistiques autour de thématiques liées à des problématiques centrales des politiques de l’identité et, dans le même temps, à souligner de nouvelles approches dans le domaine de l’art, de la politique et de la théorie / In 1966, the Black Power Movement, which influenced numerous other social liberation movements, signaled a paradigm shift in American activism designated by the term “identity politics.” By affirming the necessity for a political analysis of discrimination, identity politics called for profound changes in society, which also influenced the visual arts, resulting in important changes regarding the definition of art and the role of the artist in American society. By drawing on this new politics of identity, these artists incorporated activism into practice, creating original forms of expression and challenging the validity of the canon. This research project explores the encounters between visual arts and identity politics, as well as the broader relationship between art and politics, through a chronological and comparative case study of California from 1966 to 1990—a cultural context much less studied than the New York scene—in order to determine its importance for later artistic practices and discourses on identity. This thesis in Art History, to which cultural studies and feminism have made fundamental contributions, therefore proposes to establish artistic convergences around themes linked to the central premises of identity politics while at the same time highlighting new approaches in the fields of art, politics and theory

O interesse desta tese reside na persistência da questão da \"arte brasileira\" na crítica de Frederico Morais (Belo Horizonte, 1936) em três períodos distintos de sua produção, os quais nomeio, de acordo com o comportamento de seu discurso: \"Contestação\" (1966-1973), \"Dúvidas\" (1974-1984) e \"Conciliação\" (1985-2012). Parte-se do fato de que a formulação de um debate em torno da definição do que seria uma \"arte brasileira\" surgiu ainda no século XIX - embora já tivesse se delineado em termos literários no século anterior - e foi se transformando com o passar do tempo, mantendo-se vivo, porque ainda em discussão, durante o século seguinte. Nesse contexto, procurou-se identificar, na produção de Frederico Morais, a sobrevivência da questão do nacional e, ainda, mostrar de que maneira ele se utiliza de uma prática constante de revisão da história - por meio de textos publicados na imprensa, mas também manuais, cronologias e \"enciclopédias\" - para manter essa discussão em pauta. No Capítulo 1 (\"Contestação\") analiso o primeiro período de sua crítica de arte, caracterizado pela adoção de um discurso assertivo e militante, em defesa de uma \"arte brasileira\" como um espaço privilegiado para a experimentação e a resistência. Nessa época, ele apoia incondicionalmente a \"vanguarda brasileira\", movimento que, segundo o autor, estaria sediado no Rio de Janeiro, expandindose a partir da antiga capital para o restante do país. No Capítulo 2 (\"Dúvidas\") trato de sua fase de transição, em que se revela certo desencanto com a situação da vanguarda no Brasil. No Capítulo 3 (\"Conciliação\") abordo o segundo período do crítico, quando se consolida o processo em que Frederico Morais abdica da defesa do \"novo\" enquanto principal saída para a \"arte brasileira\", passando a revisar tanto suas posições como parte significativa da história da arte brasileira. Nesse percurso, seus vai adotando posturas mais conciliatórias, menos intransigentes para o que entende como possibilidades de uma produção artística de caráter brasileiro. Esta tese procurou demonstrar que é possível encontrar ecos do desejo por uma arte nacional em críticas, ensaios e artigos que atravessam as três fases do percurso de Morais. Buscou ainda apontar as contradições e fragilidades que surgiram entre duas posturas distintas do crítico em relação à produção artística do período no país: uma, a escolha pelo que seria \"genuinamente nacional\", aproximando-se de algo que singularizasse a arte produzida no Brasil em relação àquela que se apresentava assertivamente como internacional; outra, colocandose contra o risco do isolamento, do atraso e do descompasso em relação ao mundo, adotava a opção por se deixar levar pelas correntes artísticas que vinham dos Estados Unidos e Europa. / The interest of this thesis lies in the persistence of the question of Brazilian art in the criticism produced by Frederico Morais (Belo Horizonte, 1936) in three distinct periods of his production, which I have named, according to the behavior of his discourse, as \"Contestation\" (1966-1973), \"Doubts\" (1974-1984) and \"Conciliation\" (1985-2012). The starting point resides in the debate formulated around the definition of what Brazilian art is, which emerged in the nineteenth century -- although it had already been delineated in literary terms in the previous century --, a debate that changed over time, kept alive in discussion throughout the following century. In this context, the thesis aims to identify the survival of this question of the national in Morais\' production. It also proposes to show -- through texts published in the press, but also in chronologies, manuals and \"encyclopedias\" -- how he makes constant use of historical revision to keep the discussion relative to Brazilian art on the agenda of public debate. In Chapter 1, I analyze his first period, characterized by the assertive and militant discourse adopted in defense of Brazilian art as a privileged space for experimentation, resistance and, above all, for the avant-garde. In his view, this movement was based in Rio de Janeiro, expanding from the former capital to the rest of the country. In Chapter 2, I deal with his transitional period, which reveals a certain disenchantment with the situation of the avant-garde in Brazilian art. In Chapter 3, I address the critic\'s second period, which consolidates the process in which Morais abdicates the defense of the \"new\" as the principal \"way ahead\" for Brazilian art, and comes to revise not only his positions, but a significant part of the history of the Brazilian art as well. Over the course of time, Morais gradually adopts positions that are less intransigent and more conciliatory regarding what he understands as possibilities for an artistic production with Brazilian character. This thesis has attempted to demonstrate the possibility of finding echoes of this desire for a national art in criticism, essays and articles that intersect the three phases in the trajectory of Frederico Morais. It has also sought to indicate the contradictions and fragilities that emerged between two distinct stances adopted by the critic in relation to the period\'s artistic production: the option for what could be considered \"genuinely national\", making advances in the direction of something that would singularize it in relation to an art that presents itself assertively as international; or the option to counter the danger of isolation, backwardness and being out-of-step with the world, by choosing to be carried along by the artistic currents imported from the United States and Europe.

O interesse desta tese reside na persistência da questão da \"arte brasileira\" na crítica de Frederico Morais (Belo Horizonte, 1936) em três períodos distintos de sua produção, os quais nomeio, de acordo com o comportamento de seu discurso: \"Contestação\" (1966-1973), \"Dúvidas\" (1974-1984) e \"Conciliação\" (1985-2012). Parte-se do fato de que a formulação de um debate em torno da definição do que seria uma \"arte brasileira\" surgiu ainda no século XIX - embora já tivesse se delineado em termos literários no século anterior - e foi se transformando com o passar do tempo, mantendo-se vivo, porque ainda em discussão, durante o século seguinte. Nesse contexto, procurou-se identificar, na produção de Frederico Morais, a sobrevivência da questão do nacional e, ainda, mostrar de que maneira ele se utiliza de uma prática constante de revisão da história - por meio de textos publicados na imprensa, mas também manuais, cronologias e \"enciclopédias\" - para manter essa discussão em pauta. No Capítulo 1 (\"Contestação\") analiso o primeiro período de sua crítica de arte, caracterizado pela adoção de um discurso assertivo e militante, em defesa de uma \"arte brasileira\" como um espaço privilegiado para a experimentação e a resistência. Nessa época, ele apoia incondicionalmente a \"vanguarda brasileira\", movimento que, segundo o autor, estaria sediado no Rio de Janeiro, expandindose a partir da antiga capital para o restante do país. No Capítulo 2 (\"Dúvidas\") trato de sua fase de transição, em que se revela certo desencanto com a situação da vanguarda no Brasil. No Capítulo 3 (\"Conciliação\") abordo o segundo período do crítico, quando se consolida o processo em que Frederico Morais abdica da defesa do \"novo\" enquanto principal saída para a \"arte brasileira\", passando a revisar tanto suas posições como parte significativa da história da arte brasileira. Nesse percurso, seus vai adotando posturas mais conciliatórias, menos intransigentes para o que entende como possibilidades de uma produção artística de caráter brasileiro. Esta tese procurou demonstrar que é possível encontrar ecos do desejo por uma arte nacional em críticas, ensaios e artigos que atravessam as três fases do percurso de Morais. Buscou ainda apontar as contradições e fragilidades que surgiram entre duas posturas distintas do crítico em relação à produção artística do período no país: uma, a escolha pelo que seria \"genuinamente nacional\", aproximando-se de algo que singularizasse a arte produzida no Brasil em relação àquela que se apresentava assertivamente como internacional; outra, colocandose contra o risco do isolamento, do atraso e do descompasso em relação ao mundo, adotava a opção por se deixar levar pelas correntes artísticas que vinham dos Estados Unidos e Europa. / The interest of this thesis lies in the persistence of the question of Brazilian art in the criticism produced by Frederico Morais (Belo Horizonte, 1936) in three distinct periods of his production, which I have named, according to the behavior of his discourse, as \"Contestation\" (1966-1973), \"Doubts\" (1974-1984) and \"Conciliation\" (1985-2012). The starting point resides in the debate formulated around the definition of what Brazilian art is, which emerged in the nineteenth century -- although it had already been delineated in literary terms in the previous century --, a debate that changed over time, kept alive in discussion throughout the following century. In this context, the thesis aims to identify the survival of this question of the national in Morais\' production. It also proposes to show -- through texts published in the press, but also in chronologies, manuals and \"encyclopedias\" -- how he makes constant use of historical revision to keep the discussion relative to Brazilian art on the agenda of public debate. In Chapter 1, I analyze his first period, characterized by the assertive and militant discourse adopted in defense of Brazilian art as a privileged space for experimentation, resistance and, above all, for the avant-garde. In his view, this movement was based in Rio de Janeiro, expanding from the former capital to the rest of the country. In Chapter 2, I deal with his transitional period, which reveals a certain disenchantment with the situation of the avant-garde in Brazilian art. In Chapter 3, I address the critic\'s second period, which consolidates the process in which Morais abdicates the defense of the \"new\" as the principal \"way ahead\" for Brazilian art, and comes to revise not only his positions, but a significant part of the history of the Brazilian art as well. Over the course of time, Morais gradually adopts positions that are less intransigent and more conciliatory regarding what he understands as possibilities for an artistic production with Brazilian character. This thesis has attempted to demonstrate the possibility of finding echoes of this desire for a national art in criticism, essays and articles that intersect the three phases in the trajectory of Frederico Morais. It has also sought to indicate the contradictions and fragilities that emerged between two distinct stances adopted by the critic in relation to the period\'s artistic production: the option for what could be considered \"genuinely national\", making advances in the direction of something that would singularize it in relation to an art that presents itself assertively as international; or the option to counter the danger of isolation, backwardness and being out-of-step with the world, by choosing to be carried along by the artistic currents imported from the United States and Europe.

Ana Mendieta was a Cuban-born American artist whose unique body of work incorporated performance, activism, Earth art, installation, and the Afro-Cuban practices of Santería. She began her career at the University of Iowa, were she initially received her degree in painting in 1969. It was not until 1972 that Mendieta shifted radically to performance art. Though she was raised Catholic, she developed an interest in the rituals involved with Santería, a culturally predominant Cuban religion, and it deeply influenced her work in her choice of materials and settings. Santería is one of the major faith-based lifestyles of Cuba and is characterized by a synthesis of Afro-Cuban and Catholic characteristics, along with its own unique teachings and rituals. Also a prominent theme in Mendieta’s work was her sense of displacement and her insatiable desire to reconcile her Cuban heritage, which she attempts to resolve, not only through her art, but also during several trips to Cuba. Greater still in its contribution of influence to Mendieta’s work was the ecofeminist movement which amalgamated elements of the feminist and environmental movements; Ecofeminism’s emergence in the United States coincided with the rise of Mendieta’s career during the 1970’s. The movement focused on the correlation between the oppression, degradation, and exploitation of women and the oppression, degradation, and exploitation of the Earth. This thesis examines the life of Ana Mendieta and analyzes how her works may be viewed in an ecofeminist context. It analyzes how Mendieta’s work acts as a reflection of her cultural, social, and political reality and discusses ways in which characteristics of Santería and ecofeminism as a discourse influenced the imagery and symbolism used in Mendieta’s artwork throughout her brief career. Formal analysis of Mendieta’s artwork and contextual and historical analysis of Mendieta’s life, the ecofeminist discourse, and Afro-Cuban spirituality are explored in this research.