Thesis (MA(Visual Arts))-University of Pretoria, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 33).

Thesis (Ed.D)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1964. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: William J. Mahoney. Dissertation Committee: Justin Schorr. Includes bibliographical references.

Proefschrift--Utrecht. / "Proeve van de catalogue raisonné, J. Th. Toorop.": p. 234-235. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--Marburg/Lahn. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 405-425).

Thesis--Tübingen. / Vita. Bibliographical references includes in "Anmerkungen": p. 176-208.

Thesis (M A.)--Eastern Illinois University, 1974. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-58).

The corpus of this thesis study consists of a group of monoprints and paintings as well as a written commentary intended as their accompaniment. The investigation of such a topic as Birth and Rebirth has involved a concern with the existence of symbology meaningful to the topic. The term culture can be clarified to mean both the artist in particular as well as culture in a collective sense. The possibilities of the topic semantically would involve an essayist’s approach. This thesis is not a pictorial essay. Birth and Rebirth as terms evoke images which a painter can simply treat as subject matter. It has not been my intention to deal with existing images in a way which would succeed in documenting them in paint. However, for the purposes of the thesis problem, it is absolutely necessary to investigate in terms other than visual. The subject which insistently recurred in my painting, and once perceived there, in my thought, was the archaic cradle of man, the cave. Within this setting the ritual - and the role of the Shaman -suggested the power of the initial confrontation of object by man. The force of this impact is not diminished for the viewer today. The visual impact of the ancient tool or weapon can elicit a strong response from the contemporary viewer, but in ways removed in time from the ancient context. A study of such relics thus resulted in a conception of a primordial frame of reference which enables me to participate as a painter in the origins of our culture. The thesis will investigate the specific imageries of Birth and Rebirth in relation to the heritage and accretions of a culture in relation to the way these cultural symbols are now relative to the needs of this painter and utilized by her. During the activity of painting my state will often parallel that of the child scrutinizing a stick or a stone, experiencing their qualities directly. As an adult, finally I am more aware of the effects of the mediating screen of verbiage. If I can experience painting with the impact of this child, my ability to express in paint will rival the impact made by the timeless artifact. In investigating the relation of symbology to the subject matter the degree to which representationalism was negated in favor of relative abstraction was also important. Subject matter, that is, that which has pretentions toward being highly representational, involves a commitment to correspondence with the phenomenalogical world. As such it has trappings which interfere with its apprehension on abstract terms, a condition necessary to the positing of a freshly meaningful symbol. The ideal freedom which is possible for the relatively abstract painting lies in the multiplicity of meaning thereby possible for the artist and viewer. It is too easy to view the world as an accretion of matter; and think of painting as its imitation in pigment. Therefore a movement toward abstraction is deemed necessary and forms come to symbolize a simple organic state akin to “stick”. Composition was simplified to permit this greater range of interpretation – the spatial content being the inorganic world ground of “stone”. This intention toward abstraction further reinforces the larger context of the primordial and the necessity of a direct apprehension of the artist’s interaction with her painting elements as if to the direct qualities of the proverbial stick and stone.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis aims to examine to what extent the visual representations of ancient Mesopotamia portrayed the royal ideology that was present during the time of their intended display. The iconographic method is used in this study and this allows for a better understanding of the meaning behind the work of art. This method allows the study to better attempt to comprehend the underlying ideology of the work of art. The eight images studied date between three thousand BCE and one thousand BCE and this provides a broad base for the study. By having such a broad base it enables the study to provide a brief understanding of how the ideology adapted over two thousand years. The broad base also enables the study to examine a variety of different gestures that are portrayed on the representations. This thereby provides the reader with a better understanding of why certain gestures were used and how the underlying ideology was communicated through these movements. The study concludes that while the gestures lend a life-like appearance to the representation they do not solely portray an underlying ideological message. Rather, they enhance the already inherent ideological message. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek tot watter mate die visuele voorstellings van Ou Mesopotamië die koninklike ideologie — van die tyd toe hulle uitgestal is — uitgebeeld het. Die ikonografiese metode is in hierdie studie gebruik en maak dit moontlik om 'n beter begrip van die betekenis agter die kunswerk te verkry. Die metode stel die studie in staat om die onderliggende ideologie van die kunswerk beter te verstaan. Die agt bestudeerde beelde dateer tussen drieduisend v.C. en 'n duisend v.C. en bied 'n breë basis vir die studie. So ‘n breë basis stel die studie in staat om te verstaan hoe die ideologie oor meer as twee duisend jaar aangepas is. Die breë basis stel die studie ook in staat om 'n verskeidenheid verskillende gebare wat uitgebeeld word, te ondersoek. Hierdeur verskaf dit die leser met 'n beter begrip waarom sekere gebare gebruik is en hoe die onderliggende ideologie deur middel van hierdie bewegings gekommunikeer is. Die studie kom tot die gevolgtrekking dat terwyl die gebare 'n lewensgetroue voorkoms aan die voorstelling gee, hulle nie uitsluitlik onderliggende ideologiese boodskappe uitbeeld nie. Inteendeel, hulle versterk die reeds onderliggende ideologiese boodskap.

M. Tech. / My research examines how artworks referring to cattle convey symbolic meaning about cultural identity in South Africa, thus contributing to the research niche area of the University of Johannesburg (Visually Embodying Identity in a Post Colonial Environment). I track shifts in traditional ethnic and cultural boundaries which shaped South Africa, by comparing selected examples of historic and contemporary art and artefacts which embody cultural values. This provides a reading of the dynamic process of changing identities in South Africa with emphasis on the process of creolisation being particularly identifiable in the work of chosen artists Peter Mthombeni and Joachim Schönfeldt. In my practical research I attempt to reflect different South African identities, from colonialist, essentialised identities to the newer identities of a post-apartheid, democratic, 21st century multicultural society. My practical research which focuses on dynamic shifts in identity results in an installation of a ‘herd’ of ceramic cattle heads in an outdoor public area, namely the entrance to the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Johannesburg.