Inaug.-Diss.--Strassburg. / "Ein Teil einer groesseren Abhandlung, die unter dem Titel "Ikonographie des Todes, I. Teil" in den "Studien über christliche Denkmäler" ... erscheint."

Thesis--University of Pennsylvania. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves xxii-xxx).

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1996. / Typescript. Bibliography: leaf 28.

[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.

Partial dissertation in compliance with the requirements for the Master's Degree in Technology: Fine Art, Durban University of Technology, 2004. / This dissertation investigates how death as a subject matter in the work of contemporary artists living in European, American, and South African societies, relates to attitudes towards death in those societies. It examines how attitudes towards death have changed over the centuries, and how death is perceived in these societies today. It examines how the treatment of death in art today. differs from other periods because of these attitudes. Chapter One, Section One examines three major shifts in attitudes towards death In Western history, as outlined by Philippe Aries, a leading writer in the field. Chapter One, Section Two looks at death as a subject matter in Western art history, from ancient Greece to the mid-twentieth century. Categories discussed include funerary art, religious art, art and medicine, death personified, historical and analytical, personal, political art, and death and consumerism. Chapter Two, Section One examines attitudes towards death in contemporary Westernized societies, focusing on the medicalization of death, funeral rituals and disposal practices, and attitudes towards death in South Africa, specifically within the cultural framework of white, English-speaking South Africans. Chapter Two, Section Two examines death as a subject matter in the work of selected contemporary artists in America, Europe, and South Africa, and how it relates to attitudes towards death in those societies. Artists examined are Damien Hirst, Christian Boltanski, Joel-Peter Witkin, Andres Serrano, Donna Sharrett, Gerhard Richter, and Jo Ractliffe. The paper concludes by outlining the main arguments of the research and conclusions reached. / M

No description available.

This paper focuses on the evolution of the theme the Triumph of Death, the representation of the personification of death and the dead in the late Middle Ages. The first part of this thesis represents different points of view of art historians and historians concerning the death and the afterlife. There follows a short description and analysis of the cultural environment especially regarding literature which closely relates to the visual art and the representation of death. The last part describes three themes of death and the most important representations in frescoes, panels, bas-reliefs of the Triumph of Death evincing the main idea and the underlying structure and composition. Two different ways of representation can be distinguished: the Triumph of Death in the shape of the apocalyptic rider as appearing in the Revelation of Saint John the Evangelist and the Triumph of Death based on Petrarch's poem the Trionfi.

The topic of my research project is: 'An investigation of the eroticisation of death and dying in contemporary visual art cinematic practices'. In essence it involves an investigation of what may motivate an artist in desiring to find beauty in what is most fearful. The aims of the research are: i) broadly - to contribute to critical understandings concerning the place and importance of this topic within 'alternative popular cultures' - or 'sub-cultures' - as manifested particularly within contemporary visual art practice but also in music, film, television and some forms of performance; and ii), to develop a body of creative works capable of making a strong personal contribution to contemporary visual arts culture, through video, photography, performance and installation.

Thesis (M.A.I.S.)--Oregon State University, 1997. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-73). Also available online.

Inaug.-Diss. - Munich.