Andy Warhol, one of the most famous American artists in history, achieved an extraordinary level of commercial and merchandizing success both during his lifetime and posthumously. Utilizing contemporary advertising theory, the emotional and psychological appeal of the artist to the art world and the general public is revealed.

Attempting to make sense of the oeuvre of Prud’hon in 1876, Edmond de Goncourt in his Catalogue Raisonné de Prud’hon contrasts Prud’hon’s paintings with the predominant art of David and his students. He describes Prud’hon as an isolated romantic artist, full of elegance, going against the virile masculine academic traditions of his day. Goncourt sees in Prud’hon the epitome of an erotic classicism, which he considers unique for his time. I seek to demonstrate that Prud’hon’s embrace of classicism reflects and propels a variety of contexts from the literary, aesthetic, philosophical, and cultural developments of his time. The significance of poignant upheaval and the political change from the ancien regime through the Revolution and the Empire had a considerable impact on the various moments examined in my dissertation. I use selected examples from his works and those of his contemporaries to serve as case studies to reveal key moments in the development of his oeuvre. Prud’hon’s oeuvre is vast, but my dissertation will highlight case studies from 1770-1815. I have analyzed central concepts of this period’s aesthetic and philosophical ideals, especially the philosophic treatises by French Enlightenment thinkers such as Rousseau and Diderot, and by classicists like Winckelmann and Quatremère de Quincy. Prud’hon’s transformations were also clearly impacted by the historical reality of the French Revolution and Empire.

During World War I, art produced in the United States shaped various opinions about the nation's role in global affairs, whether that art supported isolation or intervention. The U.S. government called on its artists to rally public support, and for the first time in its history, the military officially commissioned eight men, most of whom were classically-trained artists who worked as illustrators, to go to the front lines on its behalf. The AEF 8, as the official artists are commonly called, created approximately 500 artworks illustrating all aspects of the First World War, which were used in the popular press and exhibitions in an attempt to connect Americans "over here" with the efforts of the soldiers "over there." By uncovering the Army's dilemma of how to visually depict a controversial war, how the military used these images, and how the public responded to them, a new understanding of early twentieth century American art comes to light, linking the conflicting approaches of pictorial representation in early American modernism. By the spring of 1918, the eight illustrators landed in Europe and began their service as captains in the Army Engineer Corps. These men--William Aylward (1875-1956), Walter Jack Duncan (1881-1941), Harvey Dunn (1884-1952), George Harding (1882-1959), Wallace Morgan (1873-1948), Ernest Peixotto (1869-1940), J. André Smith (1880-1959), and Harry Townsend (1879-1941)--had unique access to locales and opportunities during the Great War. Back home, the U.S. government rallied other artists and effectively utilized their images, either in poster, print advertisement, film, or photographic form, to elicit support for the war. The Army hoped the official combat artworks would do the same, as well as become a visual and historical record of the war. This recognition of illustration's ability to persuade--and document--coincides with the rise of advertising, illustrated books and periodicals, and new printing technologies that occurred at the fin de siècle and into the 1910s. Most illustrators received decent wages for their work, and a few reached a level of popularity that garnered them significant salaries. Yet, many in the "high art" world considered the work of commercial artists and illustrators as less significant than that in the fine arts and, furthermore, denigrated the status of the professional fine artist. However, the skills of an illustrator--to be thorough yet quick, efficient yet detailed, and truthful yet artistic--were suited perfectly for combat art production, and the occupational limitations or criticisms of being a commercial artist seemed moot in the minds of those who commissioned the AEF 8. Considering the amount of time, effort, and funding the War Department extended to the creation of this new corps of combat artists, one must question what became of the art, what its purpose was, and if it fulfilled the mission stipulated by the Army, the patron for these eight artists. The Army desired that the art reveal the hard work and hardships of the common soldier to the American public, thus eliciting support for the war. One way citizens interfaced with the art was through magazines, journals, and books. Another more public form of interaction occurred in the museum setting. The analysis of these platforms presents a broader understanding--both historical and cultural--of the ways in which the official World War I art accomplished or failed in its mission to connect with the American public.

This dissertation explores interchanges and connections between Rome and Egypt that occurred during the four decades immediately following Egypt’s annexation into the Roman Empire in 30 B.C.E. The dissertation focuses on five temple precincts that were expanded under the first Roman emperor, Augustus (27 B.C.E.–14 C.E.), who as new ruler of Egypt, continued the venerable practice of building cult temples. In order to gauge the level of imperial support and analyze how local and imperial precedents were combined at temple sites, the dissertation compares the built space at sacred sites in three regions. The comparison reveals programmatic emphasis on areas where public worship occurred over inaccessible areas reserved for the gods, and that the combination of local and imperial elements strengthened cultic connections to each region’s center. Five chapters demonstrate temples in the Augustan period were created to encourage continued public use and worship by forming space where public veneration could be carried out, and by integrating pharaonic and imperial elements appropriate for the temple precincts’ transcultural local and visiting audience. This analysis indicates that temples in Augustan Egypt, like those in other areas of the Roman world, were tied to the existing traditions of the local community, engaged with new imperial elements, and were designed to encourage public involvement and continued use. Through encouragement by Augustus and his advisors, religion and culture mediated change as Egypt was annexed as a Roman province.

The St. Johns Bridge is a 1,207 foot span suspension bridge crossing the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, connecting the Portland communities of St. Johns and Linnton on the eastern and western banks, respectively. Commissioned in 1928, the bridge was completed in 1931, with much fanfare in the local community. The two neighborhoods are some distance from downtown Portland, and the bridge brought prestige to an otherwise nondescript locale. It was designed by the New York-based firm of Steinman & Robinson. David Barnard Steinman (1886-1960) acted as the public face for the firm, however, and the design of the bridge has traditionally been ascribed to him in the literature. Steinman was one of the most prominent bridge engineers of the twentieth century, and is recognized today, as he was even within his lifetime, as such. It was a position which he worked fervently to attain. Steinman wrote extensively concerning the St. Johns Bridge and spoke of it as his own; his extensive use of the St. Johns Bridge as an example of aesthetics in bridge engineering is related to the early twentieth-century debate between engineers and architects regarding the role of each in bridge design. As an engineer who sought, without the aid of the architect, to build bridges which were objects of beauty, he asserted the role of the engineer as artist. The predisposition toward the engineered machine aesthetic in the intellectual climate of the avant-garde in the early twentieth century enabled Steinman to style himself as such an artist--even though the St. Johns Bridge, which he frequently employed in this regard, was not a work of functionalist aesthetics. While the architectural avant-garde was borrowing from the engineer for artistic rejuvenation, Steinman was in an advantageous position to argue for the engineer-artist, thereby casting the engineer as an individual sui generis, equal to and without need of the architect.

An examination of the iconography (primarily ceiling fresco) in the library hall in the German monastery of Schussenried. Thesis deals with the historical context surrounding the creation of this space and how the depicted scenes reflect both the influences of the Counter Reformation and Enlightenment.

During the late Middle Ages, Iberian Christian and Jewish patrons commissioned intriguing monuments that incorporate Islamic-derived features. Determining possible reasons for the patronage of this architecture, commonly referred to as Mudejar architecture, has the potential to provide important insights into the complex, multi-cultural society that produced it, yet studies on its patronage have been limited in number and scope. Most of the early Spanish scholarship on Mudejar architecture focuses on formal issues and simply attributes its patronage to economic factors, an admiring fascination with the exotic, or a desire to subjugate Islamic culture. More recent scholarship has shifted to examining the motivations of patrons in specific case studies; however, many of these case studies are still framed within the overarching theory that Mudejar architecture was the result of a common architectural heritage among Christians, Jews, and Muslims. The reasons for Mudejar patronage cannot be confined to a single broad theory, but instead individual projects and patrons must be studied within their specific contexts and then compared to one another to provide a more accurate understanding of Mudejarismo. This dissertation traces the development of Mudejar architecture in Seville from the time of the city's conquest by Christian forces in 1248 to the early sixteenth century, just after the expulsion of Muslims and Jews from the Kingdom of Castile, in order to demonstrate the changing nature of Mudejar patronage in the city and how it relates to the relations among Christian, Jews, and Muslims. In establishing the chronology and the patronage of Seville's Mudejar monuments through a close analysis of their formal elements, three distinct phases in their construction become apparent: 1) the approximately fifty years following the city's conquest; 2) a period between the earthquake of 1356 and the initial construction of the Gothic cathedral in the 1430's; and 3) the remainder of the fifteenth century through the first years of the sixteenth century. Prevalent features of Mudejar architecture during each of these phases are considered within the socio-political climate of the time as evidenced in primary sources. While economic, social, and demographic factors contributed to the construction of Mudejar architecture in Seville, its patronage was largely the result of the changing political agendas of the city's ruling elite. Shortly after the city's Castilian conquest, Alfonso X favored Gothic over Mudejar features because of his goals of asserting the new Christian authority in a city still threatened by Muslim forces and creating for himself a cosmopolitan imperial image. By the mid-fourteenth century, when Christian hegemony was no longer a concern, Mudejar forms signified the absolute power desired by Pedro I and his rebellious half-brother Enrique II. The construction of Seville's enormous Gothic cathedral throughout much of the fifteenth century in addition to the patronage of the Catholic Monarchs and the rise of the Renaissance largely ended Mudejar patronage in the city with the exception of centrally-planned chapels and elaborate wooden roofs, which by this time had become a source of local pride. Thus, no general theory can encompass all of the reasons for Mudejar patronage in late medieval Seville, which were varied and continually in flux.

My study of Edgar Degas provides an arena for the examination of how artistic production can elucidate the complexities of cultural diversity, particularly through the evolution of artistic identity through overlapping cultural influences. Previous scholarship on Degas has been mainly Francophile in orientation, while my work focuses on the parameters of artistic reciprocity between Degas and nineteenth-century Italian art, artists and critics. Degas spent the majority of his formative years (July 1856-April 1860) traveling and studying in Italy, with extended periods in Rome, Naples and Florence. He actively sketched after the Italian Renaissance masters, participated in life drawing sessions at the Villa Medici, and partook in artistic exchange through friendships established in the social atmosphere of cafés. Familial bonds, through blood and marriage, to Naples and Florence provided Degas with additional ties to the peninsula. His camaraderie with Italian artists and critics did not end upon his return to Paris. Rather, these Italian artists became a vital part of Degas' social circle, with whom he travelled, dined, and participated in a variety of artistic exchanges. These exchanges fundamentally impacted Degas' oeuvre, as well as those of the Italians. Exploring Degas' connections with the art community of Italy allows a reevaluation of the traditional understanding of Degas as a French artist. It focuses attention on the impact that Italian aesthetics had on the formation of Degas' style which has been historically understood as tied to Parisian modernism. Degas provides a unique opportunity to study the impact of multicultural influences arising from his attention to the artistic methodology of the French Academy, his Italian lineage and his role as a French tourist and artist in Italy. Finding the structure of the École too constrictive and instead preferring to forge a parallel route to Academicism, Degas traveled to the peninsula outside of the sphere of the French Academy. He relied on a shared language, culture and familial connections to remain abroad longer and travel more extensively than many of his contemporaries. As a result Degas is much more rooted in the Italian culture than any of his French contemporaries. The many dimensions and experiences of Degas' Italian sojourn affected the burgeoning career of an artist who intended to join the ranks of the history painters, and instead found himself a critical observer of contemporary life. What I elucidate in this dissertation is how deeply rooted Degas is in the language, cultures and history of Italy. These unbreakable ties, the many aspects of the Italian cultures in which he feels at home are absorbed and brought back to Paris and into his oeuvre. This study seeks to demonstrate that Degas was neither wholly French nor Italian (or for that matter, American), rather his multiple dimensions make for an international, truly cosmopolitan artist in the second half of the nineteenth century. Furthermore, I engage and explore the social and artistic relationships of a group of artists who were acutely aware of the pressures of nationalism and the boundaries of nations, but while conceding to these realities, did not want to be limited by such demarcations. This reading of the evidence allows for a more meaningful investigation of the modalities of the formation of artistic identity and dialogue in the nineteenth century.

The Royal Palace of Dahomey, which stands in varied states of decay and restoration in Abomey, Benin, has been subject to change and manipulation throughout its history (c. 1645-present). This dissertation focuses on its transformations during the French colonial and post-colonial periods and investigates how the palace functions as a site for religious ceremonies, a center for political struggle, and a symbol of non-European identity. It documents what physical transformations the palace complex underwent in relation to its changing roles, explores the ethics of external political forces, and investigates what influence the palace and royal history have had on contemporary identity and domestic architecture.

In the first chapter I will discuss Renoir's involvement with the Goncourt brothers and his close interest in the themes of the Rococo. I will show how his connection with the Rococo surpasses superficial imitation and brings Renoir into direct dialogue with eighteenth-century ideas and motifs. In the second chapter I will explore the ideas about women that arose in the eighteenth century as seen in the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and how Renoir puts them to use in his paintings of his wife, Aline. I will discuss Renoir's dialogue with Rousseau's natural roles for women, especially the practice of breastfeeding. In the last chapter, we will look at Renoir's career as an Impressionist in Paris and his interaction with the fashion of the day. During the rise of haute couture in Paris, emerging fashion was embraced most famously by Baudelaire, who despised the idealization of nature. Here we will look at Renoir's retort to Baudelaire's ideas. I seek to show that naturalism, as understood by Rousseau, is present in various ways throughout Renoir's Impressionist period, even as financial reasons constrained the artist to represent the busy city life of Paris. In summation this thesis will analyze Renoir's depictions of women, his love of eighteenth century artists, and the ideal of the natural woman he would return to throughout his career. I seek to demonstrate that Renoir was not superficially engaged with the Rococo Revival; rather, we shall see how deeply Renoir is in debt to Rousseau's ideas and Rococo aesthetics.