In his 1928 Manifesto Antropófago, the Brazilian poet and playwright Oswald de Andrade encouraged Brazilians to appropriate, consume, digest, and assimilate European theories and styles to enhance the Brazilian avant-garde. Oswald's theory of "cultural cannibalism," or Anthropophagy, has since been reinterpreted to serve various purposes in Brazilian art. In the early 1960s Anthropophagy was important to Neo-Concretists, who shifted the focus of the artwork to the viewer's body. The theory was then revived by the Tropicalists for its subversive nature and tactics of appropriation. Anthropophagy was immensely important to the generation of artists who worked during the Brazilian military regime in the 1960s and 1970s, who would use Anthropophagy as a model for appropriating elements of military rule to criticize the government. The themes of the Manifesto Antropófago are often evident in the works of Cildo Meireles, whose art seems to employ Anthropophagy as a conceptual model. In his investigation of the effects of consumerism, sensory perception, and imperialism and colonialism, Meireles employs the elements of appropriation and subversion that are part of an Anthropophagic legacy. Meireles' interest in Anthropophagy culminates in a utopian interpretation of the theory, and a redefinition of its significance in terms of Brazilian identity. / Art History

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This Bachelor's thesis in Art History at Uppsala University is an iconographical and iconological study of six artworks made by Princess Eugénie of Sweden and Norway (1830-1889). These works of art consists of two ink-drawings, two aquarelles and two sculptures. One of the sculptures is in porcelaine and the other in terra-cotta.  The iconographical and iconological analysis is made according to Erwin Panofsky's three level-method.

The Venetian veduta or view, became popular in the Settecento when Venice had turned into a regular stop on the Grand Tour. The foreign market’s interest in vedute, prompted Venetian artists to follow in Canaletto’s path. Francesco Guardi (1712-1793) is today famous for such views, and his paintings hang in museums around the world. One of his vedute, Piazza San Marco, Venice, was bought by the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm in 1964. In 1990, however, the Nationalmuseum changed the attribution of the painting. What prompted such a change? This thesis critically discusses the difficulty of attribution and dating of vedute in the Eighteenth century, specifically of paintings by the artist Francesco Guardi. Moreover, it presents and examines the strengths and weaknesses of the different attributional methods based on documentary, stylistic, topographic and technical approach, and with what success scholars have used them to establish a chronology of Francesco Guardi's oeuvre. Due to its well documented history, the painting, Piazza San Marco, Venice, will serve as a case study for the difficulties of attributing and dating Francesco Guard’s vedute, and the thesis will present evidence to Piazza San Marco, Venice,’s authenticity as a Francesco Guardi autograph.

<p> When an object is introduced to a new culture for the first time, how does it transition from the status of a foreign import to a fully integrated object of that culture? Does it ever truly reach this status, or are its foreign origins a part of its identity that are impossible to overlook? What role could the arts of that culture play in adapting a foreign object into part of the culture? I propose to address these questions in specific regard to early modern Japan (1550&ndash;1850) through a black lacquered <i> &omacr;tsuzumi</i> drum decorated with a gold powder motif of intersecting arquebuses and powder horns. While it may seem unlikely that a single piece of lacquerware can comment on the larger issues of cultural accommodation and appropriation, careful analysis reveals the way in which adopted firearms, introduced by Portuguese sailors in 1543, shed light on this issue. </p><p> While the arquebus&rsquo;s militaristic and economic influence on Japan has been firmly established, this thesis investigates how the Kobe Museum&rsquo;s <i> &omacr;tsuzumi</i> is a manifestation of the change that firearms underwent from European imports of pure military value to Japanese items of not just military, but also artistic worth. It resulted from an intermingling of Japanese-Portuguese trade, aesthetics of the noble military class, and cultural accommodation between Europeans and Japanese that complicates our understandings of influence and appropriation. To analyze this process of appropriation and accommodation, the first section begins with a historical overview of lacquer in Japan, focusing on the Momoyama period, and the introduction of firearms. The second section will go into the aesthetics of lacquerware, including the importance of narrative symbolism and use in the performing arts with a particular emphasis on the aural and visual aesthetics of the drum. Finally, I will discuss this drum in the global contexts of the early modern era, which takes into account the tension between the decline in popularity of firearms as well as the survival of the drum. Pieced together, these various aspects will help to construct a better understanding of this unique piece&rsquo;s place in the Japanese Christian material culture of early modern Japan.</p>

<p> <i>The Most Fantastic Lie</i> explores the troubled realm of lesbian history through contemporary art practice, visual culture, and activist collectives, arguing the necessity of new strategies toward the construction of marginalized histories in the absence of traditional evidence-based documentation. I identify three overlapping strategies toward the reconstruction of lesbian and queer histories: the documentation and collection of existing material evidence by grassroots archivists and contemporary artists who base their practice in affective relationships to archival objects; the manipulation of found objects, in the tradition of Claude Levi-Strauss&rsquo;s concept of bricolage, to serve as visual placeholders for absent histories; and the fabrication of material evidence by artists working in a mode referred to by Carrie Lambert-Beatty as parafiction: deceptions that have productive power in the creation of new senses of plausibility. These strategies, in addition to providing visual pleasure to those seeking lesbian and queer histories, each mount critiques of institutionalized notions of legitimate history. In shucking the burden of proof and elevating denigrated forms of evidence such as gossip, oral history, and fantasy, artists and collectives are able to construct lesbian histories while simultaneously demonstrating the unstable foundations of historical truths.</p>

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<p> Research on Judy Chicago&rsquo;s <i>The Dinner Party,</i> (1974-79; completed with the assistance of more than 400 volunteers), is abundant and generally focuses on the monumental table of thirty-nine place settings acknowledging the contribution of women throughout Western history. Scholars have examined, praised and criticized the installation from various feminist and formal aesthetic perspectives. By contrast, this thesis considers what has essentially been overlooked until now, Judy Chicago&rsquo;s curatorial framework for the entire <i>The Dinner Party</i> exhibition experience. Using my own interviews with the artist, team members, and contemporary curators, as well as consulting the artist&rsquo;s installation manuals from Harvard University Archives, and examining the reception of the curation, I highlight the essential curatorial features that made <i>The Dinner Party</i> such an international phenomenon. The artist&rsquo;s curatorial elements were research-oriented, inclusive and activist-leaning with interactive, multi-media structures to achieve her feminist message. Considering <i>The Dinner Party</i>&rsquo;s current installation at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, my thesis argues that Chicago&rsquo;s successful yet overlooked methods offer the most proactive, critical and approachable curatorial presentation. The current installation that has been stripped of these curatorial elements, while perhaps institutionally practical, compromises much of the message and feminist intent. This study contributes to the field by focusing on this notable exhibition, providing discourse into Chicago&rsquo;s curating and offering considerations for contemporary curating practice, with the goal of contributing to the growing area of curatorial research focused on feminist artists and curatorial projects.</p>

<p> This dissertation focuses on the artwork of J.B. Murray, an African American artist from Mitchell, Georgia. The goal of this dissertation is to explore J.B. Murray&rsquo;s production of protective scripts and spirit figures. Murray created art works that served as the conduit for spiritual healing or protection between his God, his ancestral energies and the recipients or viewers of his work. </p><p> Protection through writing is both an Islamic and indigenous African tradition. Art Historians, after seeing Murray&rsquo;s work, called it masterful art. It is my contention that Murray possessed knowledge that, unbeknownst to him or his ancestors, was passed along to him by his African ancestors. This knowledge is also seen in the work of other African and African American artists in this dissertation, which shows continuity across a wider group as opposed to just one artist. </p><p> Finally, a parallel is draw with African protector and healer, Serigne Bousso, from Touba, Senegal. Murray&rsquo;s experience of visions and protective and healing work parallels the experience of Serigne Bousso within the last 30 years. This parallel is significant in making the connection between Murray, in Georgia, and the possible West African source for his knowledge of visions and protective signs.</p>