In the early modern Dutch Republic, plaster casts offered artists a way to overcome limitations of space and time, to reach places distant and ancient, and to present themselves anew. This dissertation constitutes the first comprehensive account of the impact plaster casts had on the artistic practice, intellectual endeavors, and social status of seventeenth-century Dutch artists. Though plaster casts appear in archival documents, in theoretical texts, and most of all in paintings across genres, they have been marginalized in the history of Dutch art, too often explained away as mere studio props or didactic tools. I inquire, instead, into the consequences of Dutch painters’ conscious choice to depict plaster casts after ancient and modern sculpture, at the same time they staked their claims as practitioners of a noble art. Plaster casts linked Dutch painters to antiquity, to the Renaissance, to discerning contemporary collectors, and to one another. These modest objects, full of semantic potential, were incorporated into myriad compositions in which they became signifiers of an artist’s ambitions, humanistic aspirations, and technical virtuosity. Through novel interpretations of paintings in which plaster casts have been taken for granted, I argue that plaster casts lie at the heart of the self-awareness and artistic self-promotion manifested in the seemingly quotidian paintings of the new seventeenth-century genres. This dissertation also sets out to recognize the variety of laborers involved in the production and circulation of the actual plaster casts, though their specific identities remain largely obscured or lost in the historical record. Their absence from the corpus of images of trades and professions emerges in stark contrast to the privileged self-fashioning of Dutch painters, for whom plaster casts functioned as a means to distinguish themselves from other artisans. I take the pictorialized encounter between plaster casts and artists as an opportunity to discern the particularities of that interaction and to explore the liveliness that plaster casts introduced into both the experience of studying casts and the compositions artists populated with them. With an invigorated focus on plaster itself as a material with a protean character and multi-purpose applications, this dissertation contributes to the discourse on Dutch painters’ naer het leven practice through an overdue analysis of the sculptural copies and other bodies in plaster that kept them company.

Thesis (Doctoral)--Universität Göttigen, 1931.

Thesis (Doctoral)--Universität Göttigen, 1931.

Slight revision of Thesis (doctoral), Bonn, 1977. / Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Habilitationsschrift--Hamburg. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [111]-116).

Habilitationsschrift--Hamburg. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [111]-116).

This thesis deals with an investigation of the feasibility of using the multiple-piece plaster mold as a vehicle for teaching the indirect method of sculpture to the adolescent student. It is based upon the assumption that the students involved in the processes described will have had previous experience with the tools, techniques, and materials to be used. The investigation centered around the ability of the students to express themselves through the development of a sculptural form. The teacher's role was to assist the student identifying, expressing, and evaluating his individual goals against those goals established by the teacher. Instructional goals were present, but relegated to being of secondary importance to those goals possessed by the student. My research established the physical possibilities of casting both in aluminum and concrete using the multiple-piece plaster mold. Research procedures centered around the investigations of industrial methods used in forming aluminum castings in plaster molds. My investigation revealed that solid aluminum castings in plaster molds offered exciting artistic possibilities, but that rigid control of the preparation of the molds and the casting process was necessary before aluminum casting could be introduced to the students. Concrete casting was also found to be of use in the secondary class room. Prior to the introduction of casting to the students, a questionnaire was given them to determine their sculptural concepts and their past experience with materials, tools, and techniques. The information gained gave support to the exploration of the casting process. I then formulated a unit of study designed around the student's successfully completing a solid casting in either aluminum or concrete using the multiple-piece plaster mold. This unit was presented as nine separate problems to be solved in the following sequence: designing in clay, constructing an armature, modeling a temporary clay form, forming a multiple-piece plaster mold, drying the mold, casting, chasing, applying a patina, and mounting a completed casting. The project was challenging and broadening for the majority of the students involved. They were able to use past experiences with implements, materials, and processes and incorporate these into this new learning situation. Group solutions were found to be the most useful method in solving problems in each step. Evidence suggests that group learning through association and cooperative problem solving is the most valuable result of this project. Aluminum proved to be the most popular material, but from an instructional standpoint it was found to be a much more demanding and complex material. I found that it was important for the students to have had previous experience in the use of similar materials, tools, and methods to those encountered in this project. Due to the complexity of this project, prior knowledge in sculptural concepts is also clearly indicated as being necessary. I conclude with the recommendation that this unit of study be undertaken by advanced students as a summary project after several years of study.

Thesis -- Departmental honors in Studio Art. / Bibliography: ℓ. 48.

Doctor Scientiae (Odontology) - DSc(Odont) / The primary function of the jaws and teeth in mammals is chewing and swallowing. In man there are additional functions of speech, non-verbal communication and cosmetic appeal. Chewing is a complex operation requiring both adequate skeletal structures, and a well co-ordinated muscle system. There is considerable variation in both these components of chewing within which adequate function appears to be possible, at least for a modern refined diet. For example, the dental arches may not conform to the modal arrangement and teeth may be missing, yet adequate function remains (Slagter et al 1993). There are unfortunately no baseline requirements for an adequate dentition nor the minimal chewing performance necessary to avoid indigestion. A common rule of thumb when replacing missing posterior teeth is that the extent of the prosthesis can be reduced to the premolars without seriously affecting chewing (Kayser, 1984). This arbitrary estimation has not been defined by a minimum area for functioning posterior occlusal surfaces. The same lack of quantifiable measurement is a feature of assessing orthodontic treatment goals and outcomes (Omar, McEwen and Ogston 1987). The clinical rules for correcting malocclusions, usually, have more to do with the restoration of modal tooth, arch and skeletal relationships, than with the restoration of function; if restoration of function is a concern of treatment, it is not measurable in the same way that tooth positions can be assessed on plaster casts or angles measured on a radiograph. Muscle tenderness and limited movement are both features of temporomandibular dysfunction. The boundary between normal subjects, who may have some signs of dysfunction and patients, who may not have distinctly more severe signs cannot always be made (Widmar 1992). By some definitions based on the morphology of the joint structures, even symptomless individuals could be categorised as abnormal. One of the difficulties in assessing functional incapacity of a patient with muscle pain is the absence of the same baseline data needed to assess malocclusion, or the handicap due to reduced occlusal area. It is encouraging to find that a simple test, such as measuring maximum opening, is a useful indicator of treatment progress in temporomandibular dysfunction. This sign, although simple and of limited diagnostic use, reflects the poverty of useful tests for masticatory function.

In children, joint hypermobility (typified by structural instability of joints) manifests clinically as neuro-muscular and musculo-skeletal conditions and conditions associated with development and organization of control of posture and gait (Finkelstein, 1916; Jahss, 1919; Sobel, 1926; Larsson, Mudholkar, Baum and Srivastava, 1995; Murray and Woo, 2001; Hakim and Grahame, 2003; Adib, Davies, Grahame, Woo and Murray, 2005:). The process of control of the relative proportions of joint mobility and stability, whilst maintaining equilibrium in standing posture and gait, is dependent upon the complex interrelationship between skeletal, muscular and neurological function (Massion, 1998; Gurfinkel, Ivanenko, Levik and Babakova, 1995; Shumway-Cook and Woollacott, 1995). The efficiency of this relies upon the integrity of neuro-muscular and musculo-skeletal components (ligaments, muscles, nerves), and the Central Nervous System’s capacity to interpret, process and integrate sensory information from visual, vestibular and proprioceptive sources (Crotts, Thompson, Nahom, Ryan and Newton, 1996; Riemann, Guskiewicz and Shields, 1999; Schmitz and Arnold, 1998) and development and incorporation of this into a representational scheme (postural reference frame) of body orientation with respect to internal and external environments (Gurfinkel et al., 1995; Roll and Roll, 1988). Sensory information from the base of support (feet) makes significant contribution to the development of reference frameworks (Kavounoudias, Roll and Roll, 1998). Problems with the structure and/ or function of any one, or combination of these components or systems, may result in partial loss of equilibrium and, therefore ineffectiveness or significant reduction in the capacity to interact with the environment, which may result in disability and/ or injury (Crotts et al., 1996; Rozzi, Lephart, Sterner and Kuligowski, 1999b). Whilst literature focusing upon clinical associations between joint hypermobility and conditions requiring therapeutic intervention has been abundant (Crego and Ford, 1952; Powell and Cantab, 1983; Dockery, in Jay, 1999; Grahame, 1971; Childs, 1986; Barton, Bird, Lindsay, Newton and Wright, 1995a; Rozzi, et al., 1999b; Kerr, Macmillan, Uttley and Luqmani, 2000; Grahame, 2001), there has been a deficit in controlled studies in which the neuro-muscular and musculo-skeletal characteristics of children with joint hypermobility have been quantified and considered within the context of organization of postural control in standing balance and gait. This was the aim of this project, undertaken as three studies. The major study (Study One) compared the fundamental neuro-muscular and musculo-skeletal characteristics of 15 children with joint hypermobility, and 15 age (8 and 9 years), gender, height and weight matched non-hypermobile controls. Significant differences were identified between previously undiagnosed hypermobile (n=15) and non-hypermobile children (n=15) in passive joint ranges of motion of the lower limbs and lumbar spine, muscle tone of the lower leg and foot, barefoot CoP displacement and in parameters of barefoot gait. Clinically relevant differences were also noted in barefoot single leg balance time. There were no differences between groups in isometric muscle strength in ankle dorsiflexion, knee flexion or extension. The second comparative study investigated foot morphology in non-weight bearing and weight bearing load conditions of the same children with and without joint hypermobility using three dimensional images (plaster casts) of their feet. The preliminary phase of this study evaluated the casting technique against direct measures of foot length, forefoot width, RCSP and forefoot to rearfoot angle. Results indicated accurate representation of elementary foot morphology within the plaster images. The comparative study examined the between and within group differences in measures of foot length and width, and in measures above the support surface (heel inclination angle, forefoot to rearfoot angle, normalized arch height, height of the widest point of the heel) in the two load conditions. Results of measures from plaster images identified that hypermobile children have different barefoot weight bearing foot morphology above the support surface than non-hypermobile children, despite no differences in measures of foot length or width. Based upon the differences in components of control of posture and gait in the hypermobile group, identified in Study One and Study Two, the final study (Study Three), using the same subjects, tested the immediate effect of specifically designed custom-made foot orthoses upon balance and gait of hypermobile children. The design of the orthoses was evaluated against the direct measures and the measures from plaster images of the feet. This ascertained the differences in morphology of the modified casts used to mould the orthoses and the original image of the foot. The orthoses were fitted into standardized running shoes. The effect of the shoe alone was tested upon the non-hypermobile children as the non-therapeutic equivalent condition. Immediate improvement in balance was noted in single leg stance and CoP displacement in the hypermobile group together with significant immediate improvement in the percentage of gait phases and in the percentage of the gait cycle at which maximum plantar flexion of the ankle occurred in gait. The neuro-muscular and musculo-skeletal characteristics of children with joint hypermobility are different from those of non-hypermobile children. The Beighton, Solomon and Soskolne (1973) screening criteria successfully classified joint hypermobility in children. As a result of this study joint hypermobility has been identified as a variable which must be controlled in studies of foot morphology and function in children. The outcomes of this study provide a basis upon which to further explore the association between joint hypermobility and neuro-muscular and musculo-skeletal conditions, and, have relevance for the physical education of children with joint hypermobility, for footwear and orthotic design processes, and, in particular, for clinical identification and treatment of children with joint hypermobility.