[From Introduction]. Time has revealed two distinct tendencies in the history of thought and art in Europe. That development in European culture which began in Ancient Greece is marked by a positive confidence in the relationship of man to his world. Parallel with but in opposition to this development is a separate progression in culture. The continuity of art in Northern Europe appears to be associated with the adherence of Northern man to a negative, fatalistic sense of being - to a spirit which is in conflict with a hostile violent environment. The purposo of this investigation is to determine, through art the nature of this sense of being in Northern Europe. No direct definition would be capable of conveying the fullest meaning of that spirit. lt is a feeling. To understand this morbid fatalism, it is therefore necessary to refer to the pre-Christian religion of the Germanic Barbarians - through which the Northern spirit manifested itself in the form of ragnarök. Ragnarök which can be translated as a moaning obscurity, shadows, twilight, fateful destiny, was a term used by Nordic bards in its broadest sense to describe the end of the world - the inevitable destruction of life.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Contemporary South African artist William Kentridge’s experimentation with the visual strategies of European modernism and nineteenth-century optical devices, particularly the fragmented figure and shadow perception, has been well documented in contemporary cultural discourse. It is, however, something for which he is often criticized. In this dissertation I will demonstrate that Kentridge’s enduring interest in European modernism and the processes of human perception are in fact inextricably linked. I will further argue that the significance of this connection resides in that they are both critical visual strategies for exploring the fragmented nature of a postmodern postcolonial subjectivity in a South African contemporary cultural context. Kentridge’s concern with the subjective nature of the construction of knowledge, of the space between seeing and knowing, memory and reality, is a central motif in his art practice and is understood to be a personal attempt to reconcile his present with the past, South Africa’s colonial history with Western history and modernism with postmodernism. Shaped by theories of altermodernity, neomodern anthropology, and the relationship between the observer and ‘the gaze’ in contemporary discourse, my dissertation will thus also argue that Kentridge’s interrogation of the fragmented nature of human subjectivity could be regarded as being ethnographic and Gothic in nature. His multi-channel video installation, I am not me, the horse is not mine (2008), will provide the key visual text for my argument, for it is in this artwork that the inseparability of these concerns are best exemplified, particularly in his experimentation with fragmentation, the Russian avant-garde and shadows. I conclude this research with a discussion of my own creative work, which is a re-imagining and critical investigation of my maternal grandfather’s archive of late eighteenth-century family silhouette portraits. As such, I interrogate notions of subjectivity, human perception and an ‘altermodern’ anthropological quest through a personal lens, in the context of the broader concerns raised by Kentridge’s work. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die kontemporêre Suid-Afrikaanse kunstenaar William Kentridge se eksperimentering met die visuele strategieë van die Europese modernisme en negentiende-eeuse optiese toestelle, veral die gefragmenteerde figuur en skaduwee persepsie, is goed gedokumenteer in die hedendaagse kulturele debat. Dit is egter ook waarvoor hy dikwels gekritiseer word. In hierdie verhandeling sal ek aantoon dat Kentridge se volgehoue belangstelling in die Europese modernisme en die prossese van menslike waarneming onlosmaaklik aan mekaar verbind is. Ek sal verder aanvoer dat die betekenis van hierdie verband daarin geleë is dat albei krities belangrike visuele strategieë is waardeur die gefragmenteerde aard van 'n post-moderne, post-koloniale subjektiwiteit in ‘n Suid-Afrikaanse kontemporêre kulturele konteks verken kan word. Kentridge se besorgheid oor die subjektiewe aard van die konstruksie van kennis, van die ruimte tussen ‘om te sien’ en ‘om te weet’, herinneringe en die werklikheid, is ‘n sentrale motief in sy kuns. Dit word beskou as 'n persoonlike poging tot versoening tussen sy hede en die verlede, Suid-Afrika se koloniale geskiedenis en die Westerse geskiedenis, en modernisme en post-modernisme. My verhandeling is gebaseer op die teorieë van alter-moderniteit, neo-moderne-antropologie, en die verhouding tussen die waarnemer en ‘die staar na’ in kontemporêre debat. Ek neem dus ook standpunt in dat Kentridge se ontleding van die gefragmenteerde aard van die menslike subjektiwiteit beskou kan word as etnografies en Goties van aard. Sy multi-kanaal video-installasie, I am not me, the horse is not mine (2008), sal die sleutel visuele teks in my beredenering wees, aangesien dit is in hierdie kunswerk is dat die onlosmaaklikheid van hierdie verskynsels die beste beliggaam word, en veral ook in sy eksperimentering met fragmentering, die Russiese avant-garde en skaduwees. Ek sluit die navorsing af met ‘n bespreking van my eie kreatiewe werk, wat ‘n herinterpretasie en kritiese ondersoek van my grootvader aan moederskant se argief van die laat agtiende-eeu se familie silhoeët portrette. As sodanig, sal ek, in die konteks van die breë knelpunte wat in Kentridge se werk voorkom, die begrippe van subjektiwiteit, menslike waarneming en ‘n ‘alter-moderne’ antropologiese strewe deur ‘n persoonlike lens ontleed.

Orientador: Luiz Cesar Marques Filho / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-04T16:32:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rabelo_MarcosMonteiro_M.pdf: 1262563 bytes, checksum: d6310467e3a482305707f317a2a96433 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005 / Resumo: A igreja abacial de Saint-Denis, situada nos arredores de Paris, figura entre os grandes monumentos da Idade Média européia. As fontes medievais abundam em referências à sua proeminência, designando-a como a ¿mãe das igrejas francesas¿. Por muitos séculos, ela foi o núcleo da prestigiosa abadia real, estatuto que a isentava de qualquer dominação feudal ou eclesiástica, estando sujeita apenas ao rei. No que respeita à história da arte, pode-se dizer que o período mais significativo na trajetória da igreja abacial é o da reforma promovida pelo abade Suger, realizada entre 1137 e 1144. Suger promoveu uma reformulação completa na parte ocidental (nártex) e na cabeceira (o coro e a cripta), transformando completamente o antigo edifício, da época carolíngia (século VIII). O nártex foi ampliado e ganhou elementos novos, como a rosácea na fachada, três portais de entrada e as estátuas-coluna, hoje desaparecidas, que flanqueavam o portal central. No coro, a mudança foi ainda mais intensa: a pequena abside carolíngia foi substituída por uma estrutura de grandes dimensões, equipada com sete capelas radiantes. A grande novidade ficava por conta dos vitrais que recobriam as janelas desses oratórios, os quais permitiam à luz do dia espalhar-se por todo o coro, desobstruído das grossas paredes. As mudanças estruturais e a nova concepção do espaço tornavam o edifício bastante distinto, quando comparado às construções românicas da época; a Saint-Denis de Suger é vista pelos estudiosos da arte medieval como um protótipo, onde a arquitetura gótica encontrou sua primeira definição, irradiando-se, nos séculos seguintes, para toda a Europa. Esta dissertação de Mestrado apresenta a tradução de um dos textos capitais para a compreensão das realizações de Suger em Saint-Denis, o De Consecratione Ecclesiae Sancti Dionysii, acompanhado de notas explicativas e dois textos críticos: um sobre o lugar de Suger na historiografia da arte medieval e outro acerca das relações entre teologia e ¿estética¿ no templo edificado pelo abade / Abstract: The abbey church of Saint-Denis, situated at the vicinity of Paris, is one of the most proeminent of the European Middle Ages. Medieval sources have a great number of references to its importance, naming it as the ¿mother of the French churches¿. For many centuries, the abbey church was the core of the prestigious royal abbey, and its status has made it free of any feudal or ecclesiastical domination and only subject to the king himself. To art historians, the most significative moment in the history of the church is the great reform promoted by abbot Suger (1122-1151) during the years 1137-1144. Suger has achieved a complete reformulation in the western sector (the narthex) and the chevet (the choir and the crypt), transforming the old carolingian building (erected at the 8th century). The narthex was enlarged and added of three new portals and statue-columns (disappeared) that flanked the central portal. In the choir, the changes were still more significant: the little carolingian apse was removed and, at its place, a new and great structure was constructed, equipped with seven radiant chappels. But one of the most significant innovations present in Suger¿s new building were the stained glass windows, the great vitraux that let the daylight spread over the choir. One can say that the structural changes and the new conception of the ecclesiatical space gave the church of Suger a new form, quiet different from other romanic sanctuaries of its time. This new building erected under Suger¿s administration is considered by the scholars as the beginning of Gothic architecture, which should spread thereafter all over Europe. This Ms. Dissertation offers a translation (to portuguese) of Suger¿s little book De Consecratione Ecclesiae Sancti Dionysii, with explicative notes and two analytical texts: the former is about the place of Suger at the medieval art historiography and the latter is about the relations between the theology and the ¿aesthetics¿ in the old Saint-Denis abbot¿s temple / Mestrado / Historia da Arte / Mestre em História

My investigation of women artists and their status in society today as a result of the feminist movement, revealed issues which, I felt, were multifaceted. This necessitated an exploration of many aspects in order to arrive at a fairly satisfactory conclusion as to whether the revolt and the aggression on the part of the feminists had borne any fruit, either generally in everyday life, or artistically. It has proved most stimulating and informative. I think that the need to assess oneself as a woman, working within a male-dominated creative environment is a very necessary process and one which has been most beneficial to me. The subsequent research revealed that a radical, thematic change had occured within the feminist movement at the start of the Eighties; a fact of which, till recently, I was largely unaware. What I discovered was that the militant, feminist approach of the Sixties and Seventies had given way to a more realistic involvement brought on partly by the economic recession and the effects as well of earlier feminist movements, leading to a relaxation on the part of the younger generation. The Violence had faded. Hard times curbed the excesses of the movement and took it along the road to practicality. Dovetailed to this and seeming to run concurrently was the phenomenon of the demise of the Modern Art Movement. These changes described were not only artistic and feminist, but cut right across the board. involving all facets of life. To take one as an example. the political with conservatism reinstating itself in America not merely as an alternative but as a worthwhile direction in itself. Other issues included the sociological, historical, biological, and cultural; all closely interwoven and therefore requiring some generalisations at times. Previous to becoming involved with my topic, I had been reacting to pre-conceived ideas laid on me as a student in the Sixties and Seventies - a militant, aggressive approach acquired as a protective shield, to deal with the masculine environment which denigrated in varying degrees mine and fellow female artists work, sometimes overtly, sometimes subconsciously. This discrimination, is usually denied as ever having existed by the men involved. It shows a lack of awareness of what, we, as female art students, were subjected to. This is one of the main reasons why I undertook this subject; partly out of interest and perhaps partly as some sort of catharsis.