http://hdl.handle.net/1903/2214 2013-06-19T11:45:18Z 2013-06-19T11:45:18Z Gent, Madeline Lilia http://hdl.handle.net/1903/13655 2013-02-08T04:05:07Z 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Beyond Nationalism: The Work of Xu Jianbai in Maoist China, 1949 - 1979 Authors: Gent, Madeline Lilia Abstract: Beyond Nationalism: The Work of Xu Jianbai in Maoist China, 1949-1979, examines the life and work of the contemporary Chinese painter Xu Jianbai (1925 - ) as an access point to reconsider Chinese art under the period of Mao Zedong as a more complex and varied narrative than what has been relayed by traditional scholarship. The project considers the biography of the artist, especially her training under Lin Fengmian and in the United States and later persecution, as a key component to understanding her choice of style and subject matter. In the thesis, I argue for a more inclusive history of Chinese painting from this era. Paintings by artists like Xu Jianbai, which one might dismiss as non-representative of art at the time, are actually an entry point into a broader understanding of the divisive and varied culture and politics in China under the dictatorship of Mao Zedong.

2012-01-01T00:00:00Z Gohari, Sybil Elizabeth http://hdl.handle.net/1903/13603 2013-02-08T04:05:41Z 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Through the Looking Glass: Race and Gender in the Reception of Paintings by Helen Frankenthaler, Norman Lewis, Alma Thomas, and Mark Tobey Authors: Gohari, Sybil Elizabeth Abstract: Through an examination of the art world reception of four nonfigurative American artists, this dissertation determines that concerns about race and gender are ever-present, and affected how onlookers interpreted the artists' creations. By focusing on the critical, academic, and market reception of Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011), Norman Lewis (1909-1979), Alma Thomas (1891-1978), and Mark Tobey (1890-1976), I conclude that the malleable components of race and gender, elements connected by difference and relegation, fluctuate in the reception. As such, at times race and gender manifest overtly, while at other times, they play indirect roles in the reception of the artists. Further, my work illuminates the fact that later critics and scholars recycled the terminology and ideas about race and gender included in the early reception. I form a nuanced picture of the lives, careers, and output of these artists, underscoring the subjective and manipulated aspects of reception. This layer of detail distinguishes this dissertation from other studies of these artists. I adopt key methodologies, which enable this close consideration of the fine distinctions in their reception. Feminist analysis, reception theory, and auction market analysis uniquely intersect to create a complicated yet clarified picture of reception as a confluence of manipulation factors. I unravel the concept of "art world," to show that this entity is composed of a variety of subgroups, with diverse opinions. The recognition of these variations enables this nuanced understanding of reception. This aspect of my work, as well, is distinctive, and even has broad applications within the field of art history. Exploring in detail how critics and scholars interpreted and constructed the artists and their output, I present the mechanics of race and gender in the reception of four diverse artists. I underscore the structures of power inherent in the categories of identity, and how hierarchies are used to integrate and relegate artists to the margins. This dissertation shows that even within the scope of nonfigurative art creations, interpreters infuse race and gender into their readings of the objects. My work demonstrates the extent to which identity was a core value for twentieth-century critics and scholars.

2012-01-01T00:00:00Z Choi, Yookyoung http://hdl.handle.net/1903/13600 2013-02-08T03:57:44Z 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Globalization and Ethnic Identity in the Art of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Yong Soon Min, and Nikki S. Lee Authors: Choi, Yookyoung Abstract: This dissertation offers a comparative study of the work of three Korean American women artists: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951-1982), Yong Soon Min (1953-), and Nikki S. Lee (1970-). While the works by these three artists have garnered some critical attention, they have never been the subject of in-depth art historical research. Embracing the artistic media of photography, film, and video in their work these three artists express a common concern about their identities as simultaneously Koreans, Americans, and women. By looking at these artists' work together, this dissertation explores how the three artists negotiate their hybrid cultural identities in a globalized contemporary America. This dissertation also examines the role of photography, film, and video as their major artistic media following the art practice of the 1970s' Conceptualism. Cha's subtle and allusive film and video installation, Exilée (1980), for example, features images associated with the colonial history of her home country along with images and text about trans-pacific passage. Min's work from the 1990s includes photographs of writing on her own body, and images referring to historical events in both Korea and the United States. In her performative series of photographs entitled Projects (1997-2001), Lee disguises herself as a member of various social and cultural groups, trying to assimilate into them. Together, the three artists offer an intensive comparative case study of the ways in which hybrid cultural identity can be figured in the contemporary world. Focusing on the interpretive analysis of selected art works, the dissertation will show the unique intensity of the visual arts as a tool to communicate concepts of cultural identities, while also bringing needed specificity to the theoretical debates on the issues of cultural and ethnic identities.

2012-01-01T00:00:00Z Cadagin, Sarah Mellott http://hdl.handle.net/1903/13585 2013-02-08T03:30:32Z 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Creaturely Vision: Animals and Sacred Meaning in the Chiostro Grande of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, Tuscany Authors: Cadagin, Sarah Mellott Abstract: The 1498-1508 cloister frescoes by Luca Signorelli and Sodoma at the monastery of Monte Oliveto Maggiore outside Siena, Italy, have been noted for their bright colors, ingenious compositions and playful character. Scholars have given little attention, however, to the inclusion of numerous animals into the religious scenes of the life of St. Benedict. This thesis explores the use of those animals and argues through a discussion of the history of animals in Christian theology and Christian art that the cycle's animals have important symbolic, historical and hagiographic purposes that underline and enhance Benedict's role as saint and exemplar for the Monte Oliveto monastic community. It furthermore contends that early modern notions of animals as metaphysical beings capable of supernatural senses and of animals as important signs of moral and theological truths underscore the frescoes and their message. Their inclusion ultimately elevates and intensifies Benedict's saintly efficacy for his order.

2011-01-01T00:00:00Z