Art Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2745
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Item GEORGE WESLEY BELLOWS' WAR LITHOGRAPHS AND PAINTINGS OF 1918(1981-10-19) Wasserman, Krystyna; Johns, Elizabeth; Art; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)This thesis analyzes the sources, subject matter and style of George Bellows' seventeen war lithographs, five paintings and five drawings of 1918. Evidence is advanced to prove that the political developments of the First World War were a decisive factor in the creation of the War Series by Bellows who otherwise had no interest in war themes. The development of Bellows' patriotic feelings, culminating in the creation of war lithographs as a response to the changes of United States policy from one of neutrality to one of full involvement in the European conflict and a state of war with Germany in April 1917, is traced in Bellows' art and political statements. For the purpose of analysis Bellows' lithographs and paintings are divided into: scenes of atrocities depicting crimes committed by the German Army in Belgium in August 1914 as described in the Bryce Report published in the New York Times on May 13, 1915; Bellows' illustrations for the war stories published in magazines in 1918; and scenes inspired by war events and war photographs. Thematic and stylistic comparisons with the works of old masters and contemporary European artists are made. The study concludes that Bellows' war lithographs and paintings are not evaluated by modern critics as enthusiastically as most of his other works. It is suggested that one of the reasons why this is so, is the fact that Bellows who painted usually scenes he had known and seen, never went to war, and thus had to rely on articles, correspondence or photographs rather than on personal observations to determine the subjects of his war lithographs and paintings.Item George Wesley Bellows' War Lithographs and Paintings of 1918(1981) Wasserman, Krystyna; Johns, Elizabeth; Art; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)This thesis analyzes the sources, subject matter and style of George Bellows' seventeen war lithographs, five paintings and five drawings of 1918. Evidence is advanced to prove that the political developments of the First World War were a decisive factor in the creation of the War Series by Bellows who otherwise had no interest in war themes. The development of Bellows' patriotic feelings, culminating in the creation of war lithographs as a response to the changes of United States policy from one of neutrality to one of full involvement in the European conflict and a state of war with Germany in April 1917, is traced in Bellows' art and political statements. For the purpose of analysis Bellows' lithographs and paintings are divided into: scenes of atrocities depicting crimes committed by the German Army in Belgium in August 1914 as described in the Bryce Report published in the New York Times on May 13, 1915; Bellows' illustrations for the war stories published in magazines in 1918; and scenes inspired by war events and war photographs. Thematic and stylistic comparisons with the works of old masters and contemporary European artists are made. The study concludes that Bellows' war lithographs and paintings are not evaluated by modern critics as enthusiastically as most of his other works. It is suggested that one of the reasons why this is so, is the fact that Bellows who painted usually scenes he had known and seen, never went to war, and thus had to rely on articles, correspondence or photographs rather than on personal observations to determine the subjects of his war lithographs and paintings.Item Materials, Metaphors, Mysteries(1995) Dillon, Nancy Ellen; McCarty, John; Art; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)The following thesis does not directly address my work or the process that forms it. Rather, it exposes that which occurs before the making commences. The first section, entitled "Materials," discusses the emotions evoked by working with particular materials and attaches them to a specific instance from my childhood. Section II, "Metaphors," talks about the work of San Francisco based artist Terry Fox and his ability to resist the temptation of attaching personal significance to impersonal objects. The third section, "Mysteries," uses my childhood experiences with mosquito bites to metaphorically discuss the difficulty of ignoring the desire to logically connect my work with the emotions it awakens. As this section concludes the thesis, it makes the point that attempting such a connection is futile, and it is better to proceed in mystery than to search after something that can never be uncovered.Item A Comparison of the Effects of Three Instructional Activities on Elementary Students' Retention of Information(1992) Glaser, Irene C.; McWhinnie, Harold; Art Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of three supplementary instructional activities on young students' retention of information. The study was based on Dewian and Piagetian theory regarding the central role active involvement plays in cognitive development. The three supplementary instructional activities were a verbal review, an art-related activity, and a coloring sheet activity. Subjects were the second grade population (178 students in seven intact classes) of two schools representative of the urban/suburban school district in terms of test scores, racial mix, and student mobility rates. There was a control group and two experimental groups in each school, with an additional control group without pretest, to study pretest effect. A lesson about the American flag and one about deciduous trees was designed to utilize active questioning. After participating in each lesson, students in the first treatment group completed a coloring sheet; the second group, an art-related activity; and the control group, a verbal review. The treatments were designed to supplement regular classroom instruction, not as creative art activities. The study explored possible relationships between students' art-related activities and knowing, a reversal of traditional art education studies of the effect of knowing on students' art work. Multiple-choice and drawing tests were administered as pre and posttests. The ANCOVA procedure was used for data analysis to eliminate the effect of preexisting differences between groups. Flag lesson data analysis revealed no significant differences in information retention according to method, except on the drawing tests. The control groups outperformed the coloring sheet group to a significant extent indicating a negative effect of the rote coloring sheet activity on retention of information. Data analysis from the tree lesson revealed no significant differences between treatment groups. Students' tree schema appears to have played an unexpected but important role. Suggestions are made that will enable future researchers to avoid the problem this researcher encountered, in that the art-related activity group did not have time to complete their drawing activity. On three tests, females outperformed males to a statistically significant degree.