This thesis sets out to explore the influences on and meaning of early imperial female portrait sculpture and statues of Aphrodisias in Asia Minor. This group is unlike any other. There survives a rich amount of contextual evidence as well as some unique portraits with unusual features. They appeared at a time of social change for women and as the first images of imperial wives and mothers emerged from Rome. Local artists exploited this imagery in the city of Aphrodite, the ultimate mother of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. These portraits have only ever been studied as part of the corpus of statues that includes those of males; as a homogenous group with little new to say. In the home of the most significant mother of the time, I propose that the portraits disproportionately emphasise motherhood and reflect the new-found power enjoyed by some of the earliest empresses. Emerging theories surrounding gender in the ancient world and an art-historical approach have highlighted inconsistencies and inadequacies in former arguments and methodologies dealing with material of this kind. In response, this thesis applies new theories, considering the role of gender with a close examination of iconography and social and political factors to develop an unbiased and objective approach, free from preconceptions and entirely based on the evidence. The stripping away of previous assumptions has necessitated a reassessment of ancient portraits of both sexes which is tackled in Chapter One. After an assessment of the special circumstances of early imperial Aphrodisias in Chapter Two, the thesis then interprets material by grouping portraits apparently influenced by Rome in Chapter Three, and those which seemingly do not in Chapter Four. In each case, I show how each individual portrait expresses its own unique message of sometimes unexpected values.

Until modernity, the word ‘sculpture’ was used to denote mimetic representations of the human form. From modernity on this term was extended to include new and unusual works that often do not share obvious features with traditional sculpture or even with what we know as art. This thesis is placed in the chronological frame of modern art and examines the meaning and truth of modern sculpture and the ways it is to be understood as a work of art. The thesis is separated into three parts. The first and introductory part explores the way modern sculpture has developed and redefined its status and meaning in the history of art from Rodin until Duchamp and the movements of found art and conceptual art. The aim of the first part is to specify the issue of perception and the function of phenomenology in the understanding of modern sculpture. The second and third parts aim to specify the validity of modern sculpture as art, considering particularly Heidegger’s thinking on the nature of art and the truth of art in the postreligious age of modernity. Specifically, the second part examines Heidegger’s position on the meaning of art after the ‘death of art’ and moreover the place of sculpture in modernity focusing on the theme of homelessness in Rodin’s and Giacometti’s sculpture. The third part examines more closely the way abstract art and specifically the work of Barnett Newman could be seen as a truth revealing, following Heidegger’s criticism of the metaphysics of symbolic and representational art. The thesis argues that the validity of modern sculpture and generally modern art lies in its acknowledgement or, in Heidegger terms, thinking of the homelessness of the human being in modernity and the destitution of modernity, and hence in its revealing of the aspect of the truth and being that has been forgotten.

This research was a practical investigation into the simultaneous exposure of the interior and exterior of sculptural form. Opaque materials were used to examine the apparent opposition between the terms 'interior' and 'exterior' within a sculptural context. The research was divided into five sections: I first carried out a survey of selected sculpture produced over the last century that had been specifically concerned with interior and exterior. There then followed an introduction to my studio-based work that located my area of research within the context of this survey. The last three sections were in the form of a diary and recorded my studio practice. In the first section of the studio diary small-scale studies, using planar and volumetric materials, were made and resulted in establishing a taxonomy that provided a structure for further investigation. The taxonomy covered six categories, each with sub-categories, such as the moment of transition between the interior and exterior achieved through the manipulation of surface; the influence of implied rotation that investigated the effect of symmetry; and the role of stratification and correlation, which introduced space into the studies and sculptures. I concluded from the first section of the studio diary that the division of interior and exterior was almost exclusively concerned with 'edge' or 'comer', but became more ambiguous when a continuous surface was introduced. In the next section of the studio diary radiography provided an opportunity to see hidden information and simultaneous views that could not normally be seen within an opaque form. The two-dimensional radiograph revealed a continuation of line from exterior to interior, which I extended into three-dimensions resulting in line becoming surface. In the final section of the research the transition between interior and exterior became ambiguous as a result of using a curved continuous surface. Combining the investigations into the significance of surface, space and symmetry resulted in full-scale sculptures in which the exposure of the interior and the exterior of the forms were in equilibrium and simultaneous.

The research explores Donald Judd's concept of Specific Objects, and how the notion of singular qualities, so essential to the concept, can be extended through the practice of sculpture. According to Judd, unity can only be achieved in sculpture when its form is specific and has only one quality. There must therefore be no apparent parts, no hierarchy and, therefore no relationships of parts. In addition, Specific Objects rejects illusion. The sculptor Robert Morris further defined singular qualities as those which predominantly distinguish 'good form', thereby positioning it within the syntax of Gestalt psychology. Significant though Judd's sculptures are, few seem to conform to his definition of Specific Objects because through his use of orthogonal geometry and contrast of materials, many of his sculptures do indeed appear not only to be composed of parts, but actually rely on the relationships between the parts. In addition, the contrast of opaque and transparent surfaces, inevitably leads to illusion. Rather than follow Judd's use of orthogonal geometries from parts of differing materials and colours, this research has investigated the potential of circular geometry to create form of sculptural significance within Judd's strict definition of Specific Objects. Key to this research has been what Rosalind Krauss described as the deflection of geometry, of which there are two types: one is based on actual variations in physical geometry and the second results from the illusory qualities of materials and surface finishes. The studio investigations sought to ascertain to what extent the 'deflection of geometry'can expand, but equally as importantly, maintain the viability of Judd's concept. In other words, the challenge was to extend the possible range of geometries that posses the singular qualities associated with Specific Objects; and in so doing provide an alternative response to the dilemma posed by the concept; how to make unified forms with variation and sculptural significance. The studio investigations were project based. Each project was directed by its aims and the resulting studies evaluated through criteria in which unity and singular qualities were fundamental. A reductive approach to studio investigation led to two forms that conclude the research. The unified geometry of the first is elliptical, although visual tension derives from the rotation of the internal ellipse relative to its external counterpart, whereas the second form contains the implied division of an internal figure of eight derivative within an elliptical exterior. Both forms were cast in translucent resins to combine illusory and physical deflections of their geometry. By so doing, they expand Judd's concept, by demonstrating the potential for implied duality and perceived variance to exist within a singular, unified, and specific form.

This thesis examines a group of terracotta sculptures attributed to an artist known as the Master of the Unruly Children. The name was coined by Wilhelm von Bode, on the occasion of his first grouping seven works in Berlin and London. Due to the distinctive characteristics of his work, this personality has become a mainstay of scholarship in Renaissance sculpture. Chapter One examines the historiography in connoisseurship from the late nineteenth century to the present and explores the idea of the scholarly “construction” of artistic identity. Repeated attempts to establish historical identities for our Master have resulted in the unique characteristics of our corpus remaining undefined, and the context in which the sculptures were produced inadequately established. Chapter Two surveys the Florentine tradition and highlights a practice of copying that is evident in the corpus and indicative of common workshop production. New classifications into which the corpus (Appendix I) is divided are proposed. Despite the singularity of subject matter associated with our Master an analysis of the iconography of the sculptures has never been carried out. Chapter three connects the works of our Master to St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the humanist revival of antiquity, debates on the Church, notions of Charity, and the politics of Florence.

This thesis investigates seventeenth-century Venetian funerary monuments as representing the Republic’s celebrative imagery. Going beyond the traditional interpretation of these monuments as a display of funerary memory, a series of case studies provided in six chapters examines them as rhetorical devices which celebrated Venice and instilled subtle forms of its republican propaganda. Chapter One focuses on early seventeenth-century ducal monuments and the republican ethos, scrutinising their function as ideological instruments which asserted the grandeur of Venice through their celebration of the doges. Chapter Two analyses the architectural and visual sources of the monument to Doge Giovanni Pesaro, a crucial model for later funerary monuments, focusing on the interaction between sculpture, architecture and the viewer. The comparative reading of contemporary panegyric poems of the Pesaro monument demonstrates how it was perceived as a living presence which was capable of eliciting the involvement of the viewer and gaining his or her persuasion. Monuments to the Venetian captains Caterino Cornaro and Antonio Barbaro are investigated in Chapter Three as significant examples which embody the notion of sacrifice as an act of both civic and religious piety. This forms the basis of the fabrication of the Venetian identity of the newly ennobled families and merchants through the memorials on the façades of San Moisè and Santa Maria dei Derelitti which are analysed in Chapter Four. Chapters Five and Six explore Antonio Gaspari’s project proposals for Doge Francesco Morosini and the Valier family, which remained unexecuted. Inspired by Roman Baroque architecture, Gaspari enhanced the aggrandisement of the ducal families to a quasi-imperialist state. Nevertheless, the actual Valier monument devised by Andrea Tirali remained an indirect celebration of Venice through the celebration of the doge’s achievements. The six chapters thus demonstrate how funerary monuments create a public imagery which complements the so-called “myth of Venice”.

This research project has explored the relationship between sound and sculpture, looking particularly at how sound can become sculptural. A sound sculpture is defined in this project as a sound-only entity, which explicitly extends sound’s physical and spatial aspects to take on the role of a physical, visual sculpture. In this research, this is achieved by the use of otoacoustic emissions. There is a lack of music and sound art material that actively intends to utilise the creative potential of otoacoustic emissions. This portfolio of works explores the bodily sensation of otoacoustic emissions and importantly, the agency the audience/listener has on changing their own perception and experience of the sound through their movement choices around an installation space. This novel application of otoacoustic emissions is what the author terms ‘otokinetic shaping’. This goes beyond that of the visual sculptural paradigm by introducing an element of audience participation and control. The pieces are created in a manner in which they are a collaboration between the artist and the audience, with the audience having more creative control than the artist on the work’s sound, structure and duration. The works also examine creative themes such as minimalism and indeterminacy controlled by computer algorithms as a method of extending the already limited decisions made in the creative and compositional process by the artist.

This study is an investigation of stylistic and iconographic innovation in English tomb sculpture from the accession of King Henry VIII through the first half of the sixteenth century, a period during which Tudor society and Tudor art were in transition as a result of greater interaction with continental Europe. The form of the tomb was moulded by contemporary cultural, temporal and spiritual innovations, as well as by the force of artistic personalities and the directives of patrons. Conversely, tomb sculpture is an inherently conservative art, and old traditions and practices were resistant to innovation. The early chapters examine different means of change as illustrated by a particular group of tombs. The most direct innovations were introduced by the royal tombs by Pietro Torrigiano in Westminster Abbey. The function of Italian merchants in England as intermediaries between Italian artists and English patrons is considered. Italian artists also introduced terracotta to England. A group of terracotta tombs in East Anglia, previously attributed by tradition to Italian artists, is re-examined. A less direct initiation of iconographic and stylistic innovation occurred through English artists' use of foreign patterns. The synthesis of such two-dimensional imagery by English sculptors is examined in certain tombs in Hampshire and Sussex. The influence of the Florentine royal tombs on English tomb sculpture in the latter half of the period is illustrated by alabaster tombs from an English workshop and by three other important tombs. The abandoned Italian project for the tomb of Henry VIII is studied in the context of the religious, political and economic changes that contributed to the breakdown of a supportive environment for Italian artists in England. Finally, the relevance of religious Injunctions and iconoclasm to the evolution of English tomb sculpture by the middle of the century is considered.

This practice-based research project is about the location of the self within aesthetic experience: how can a response to an object put forward for aesthetic appraisal lead to an awareness of the physical and embodied cognitive self The study centres on sculpture and our experience of it. It begins by considering how an aesthetic experience can act as a framing mechanism though which an awareness of the physical and cognitive self can be realised. By drawing upon several established philosophical and scientific ideas surrounding aesthetic experience, and through actual fine art practice, making sculptural objects which knowingly seek to trigger certain responses, the study will examine possible constituent factors within the experiential moment. In terms of theoretical and scientific contributions to the issue, the study considers the possible roles of proprioception and affordance, mirror neurons and embodied consciousness. The studio works involved have the characteristics, broadly, of skeletal mechanical devices, in metal, wood and other materials, stripped down to a functional minimum. The final phase of the project involves a motion capture experiment which sought to support the practical and theoretical work undertaken with a detailed account of viewer movement and body position in relation to the sculptural object, and thus offer analytical data regarding certain aspects of the aesthetic experience. The data collected has then been used as the basis for new studio work to further examine the relation between viewer and object.

This project explores the representation of the Holocaust in three museums: Yad Vashem in Jerusalem; the Imperial War Museum in London; and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oswiecim, Poland. It uses the so-called Auschwitz Album, a collection of photographs taken in Birkenau in May 1944, as a case-study. Employing the concept of mythology in the Barthesian sense of a ‘language in which we speak’, it examines the ways in which the Holocaust is more and more a prism through which other things are viewed; a language in which other things are spoken of. Chapters 1 and 2 lay the groundwork for the results of fieldwork described in chapters 3-5. Chapter 1 is concerned with the photographs themselves. Describing the structure and content of the collection, it demonstrates the degree to which the interpretation of photographs is complicated by what the viewer brings to them. While photographs might appear to transmit information, this chapter suggests that they are better understood as reflective objects. Chapter 2 interrogates the assumptions of five “classic” accounts of the Holocaust by Raul Hilberg, Helmut Krausnick, Lucy Dawidowicz, Martin Gilbert and Saul Friedländer, in light of a proposed ‘Holocaust metanarrative’. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 engage with the particular museums on their own terms, posing questions about how they interact with the societies they are found in. Each museum, these chapters argue, raises a set of questions about the host nation’s relationship with the past. Chapter 6 looks at the specific display strategies employed by the museums to display the Auschwitz Album, considers how this relates to the broader institutional and national agendas as explored in Chapters 3-5. An epilogue takes the basic conclusion of this section – that all memory is local, and that debate about meaning is likely to be the continuing legacy – and asks if there is an alternative language in which to speak of the Holocaust.