Call number: LD2668 .T4 1951 L8 / Master of Science

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

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Artists’ books extend the limits of the conventional book. They take liberties with its form, content and configuration; they include subjects that might be considered insignificant, risqué, abstract or obscure. Their print run is too limited for ordinary publishing and marketing procedures. This thesis engages with the artists’ book in terms of its various moods as suggested by the bodily humours of Hippocrates and Galen. It argues that humour (in its embodied sense) takes many forms in the artists’ book: from the angry, the despairing or the melancholic to the comic or the joyful. In building a foundation for this approach to the artists’ book the thesis also connects with crucial moments in the evolution of twentieth century conceptual thought about art. Chapter One introduces the idea of humour as a strategy used by book artists to negotiate an art world in which the aesthetic canon is under scrutiny. Up to this point a characteristic feature of this negotiation has been a search for a consistent definition of artists’ book. My concerns are not so much with a fetishization of the book in a digitally challenging age, but, rather with the focus on the artists’ book’s ironic techniques that are employed to oversee the nature of the form relative to changes in its context, both technological and cultural. In the second chapter, I connect the artists’ book to some of its experimental origins within the literature of humour. I discuss a number of artists’ books that exemplify the sharpness of wit, the use of irony, the depth of melancholy and the place of nonsense among other forms within the spectrum of humorous possibility. The “anatomy” of humour is dissected in the third chapter, according to the way in which it embodies the creative process. The concepts of appropriation and détournement are basic tools, for the collection of subject matter. Every one of the books discussed use “wit” to carve a direct channel to the core of the idea it expresses. The diverse manifestations of irony enable the artists’ book in its various guises to mislead, riddle, surprise and seduce its reader. “Nonsense” keeps rationality honest by arguing a case for a productive form of “uselessness” that reflects upon an art world burdened by the weight of “usefulness” and overproduction. The fourth chapter examines a number of artists’ books and writers who, in various ways tap the rich field of the mundane: here is a source that like a compost heap, nurtures and produces those species of humorous surprise that also rejuvenate. The fifth chapter looks at larger aspects of the world, which shape our consciousness through spectacular images and the media. How these pressures permeate and influence the creative activities of the book artist is mapped in Chapter Six, which examines the shared internal space of the reader and the creator of the artwork. This internal space is the workshop of the book artist. Here the tactics are honed and the dynamics of the exterior world are in effect moulded and shaped into the subject matter and forms of artists’ books. In a culture in which “success” is commensurate with the accumulation of wealth, to be unsuccessful is to belong to an under-class, to be invisible. Chapter Seven makes use of an ironic sense of failure as a strategy to support the main objective of the thesis, which is to test the limits for the possibility of an art practice that continues to thrive as it ducks and weaves its way through and under the radar of contemporary cultural conditions. It argues a case for a fugitive practice that even as it is on the move is congruent, and in its selfreflexivity, accountable for its political and aesthetic stance. There has been a considerable resurgence of interest in the artists’ book since the late twentieth century with an increase in small press publications, the development of significant public and private collections of artists’ books and a growing body of critical commentary on them. Digital technology and desk top publishing have enabled many artists to produce books rapidly, cheaply and with qualities ranging in quality from the photocopy through to slick high-end productions. From the 1970s until the present, however, the commentary on artists’ books has been preoccupied with a search for a definition of the genre. Underpinning this endeavour has been a yearning for “consecration” (in Pierre Bourdieu’s sense) where acceptance would elevate the artists’ book to the same level as the “legitimate” art forms – painting, sculpture, photography and the finely crafted art object. By contrast, this thesis considers the artists’ book as an alternative art form and explores its ability to evade the constraints of consecration, to remain fresh and mischievous in creative and subversive ways / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The term "Psychological ballet" has been used in reference to Antony Tudor's ballets dating from John Martin's January 16, 1940, review of "Lilac Garden" in The New York Times. Until this thesis, the psychological ballet as a genre has been overlooked and left undefined. The Psychological Ballet can be defined by: (1) using Antony Tudor's "Pillar of Fire" as a model example and (2) analyzing the term "psychological ballet" into its two components "Psychological," and "Ballet," respectively. The contribution of drama, with attention to character, is explored. Those dance works which do not fall under the category of Psychological Ballet but are works whose themes "have mental origin or are affected by mental conflicts and/or states" will be defined as Psychogenic Works.

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.

A description of the artistic education and development of the author, Frank Gunter, along with an account of how he conceived of and created several paintings. / "June, 1960." / Typescript. / "Submitted to the Graduate School of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts." / Advisor: Adolf Karl, Professor Directing Paper.

This study proposes a systematic approach for investigators to judge how architecture of a given cultural group can be considered as culturally identifiable. More specifically, it proposes the steps in unveiling the relationships between chosen core elements of cultural distinctness and various design patterns. The suggested sources of core elements are political, social/behavioral, and economic influences on architectural design and approaches to create architectural signs. It is presupposed that a design pattern is considered culturally identifiable when important core elements are communicated via noticeable signs. The communication is perceived from a semiotic analogy of architectural signs, whereby the importance of one core element over the other is identified by the investigator through research into the cultural context under study. A case study on China's architecture is presented to illustrate these steps and test the proposed hypotheses. The steps are so designed that testing the relevance of core elements to architectural signs is essential. Forty-six sample buildings selected from China served as stimulus materials in the case study. These building patterns were rated as different types of signs on the basis of the core elements elicited from China's present-day culture. These buildings also were judged in a survey by forty-four Chinese students and their spouses at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University who represent samples of overseas Chinese laypersons. The findings show that survey results deviated significantly from the semiotic results as laypersons considered traditional architecture most representative of Chinese identity. The semiotic results show that culturally identifiable designs are the hybrid forms of traditional and modern architecture. Most laypersons ignored the relationships between their perception of distinct identity in architecture and core elements of economic meanings and sign-creation approaches. This deviation implies a significant cultural lag in perceiving distinct identity between professionals and laypersons, and led to modification of the presupposed hierarchical importance of core elements. Through the case study and findings, this research illustrates the procedure by which investigators can determine from a specific range of cultural elements the most effective means of communication of identity. It enables the inclusion of core elements of popular culture in comparing various design patterns and in differentiating built forms of one culture from that of others. The study ends with the factors and suggestions that are related to communication of Chinese identity in architecture. / Ph. D.

This thesis is a study of the treatment of mental disability in Canadian literature. Literature reflects the perceptions and practises of the culture of which it is a part. Radical changes have been made in recent years in the thinking about persons with mental handicaps. The issue of whether the changes are reflected in literature prompted the writing of this thesis. Little is known about characters labelled as mentally disabled in non-didactic, Canadian Literature. They are not commonly discussed in the academic journals of Canadian Literature and Education. The purpose of this thesis was to get to know ten of the above characters. The following questions were drawn from issues in the academic literature regarding mental disability. All seven questions were applied to each character in turn. (1) Label? (2) Personal relationships? (3) Thoughts and feelings? (4) Choices? (5) Daily activity? (6) Relationship with service providers? (7) Personal assets and abilities? Short story characters: Benny Parry, "The Time of Death," Munro, 1968; Dolores Boyle, "Dance of the Happy Shades," Munro, 1968; Kelvin, "Circle of Prayer," Munro, 1986; Neddy Baker, "Hello Cheeverland, Goodbye," Findley, 1984; Stella Bragg, "Bragg and Minna," Findley, 1988. Characters from novels: Francis Cornish, "What's Bred in the Bone," Davies, 1985; John-Gustav Skandl, "What the Crow Said," Kroetsch, 1978; Lotte, "Not Wanted on the Voyage," Findley, 1984; Rowena Ross, "The Wars," Findley, 1977; Tehmul Lungraa, "Such a Long Journey," Mistry, 1991. Findings indicated that Canadian literature is not yet reflecting the new movement to develop full personhood. Most characters were limited in the choices they made. A variety of labels were used. Little was said about what the characters think or feel. No characters were married, had children, or a job. Most of the characters had a personal relationship with another character.