Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item The Great House of Benjamin West: Family, Workshop, and National Identity in Late Georgian England(2014) Fox, Abram Jacob; Pressly, William L; Art History and Archaeology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Anglo-American painter Benjamin West (1738-1820) holds a unique position in the history of Western art. Active during the foundational periods of not one, but two, national schools of art to which he could rightfully claim membership, West recognized his inimitable position in the development of English and American art and sought to position himself at the forefront of each nation. This dissertation examines his fluid national and artistic identities over the course of his instructional relationships with his American students, and the shifting personal and professional goals harbored by each party. While scholars have acknowledged the relation of West's pedagogical practice to his identity as an artist, this study presents an organic account of the relationships between teacher and students as an embodiment of West's ongoing and unprecedented attempts at fame, fortune, and legacy. This legacy was central to Benjamin West's identity as an artist. His professional career was dedicated to the self-aggrandizement of his identities as an (exotic) American, a prolific painter of high-minded scenes of history and religion, and the head of a workshop teeming with artists who shared his heritage, though not always his aesthetic inclinations. Over his career he cultivated a reputation as a welcoming instructor, always willing to give advice or lessons to any artist who approached him. This was not solely an act of altruism. Instead, it was the cornerstone of his construction of a proverbial House of West, a workshop-family whose members and their works would reflect back on the genius of the master, just as strongly as his own oeuvre. Through the examination of four case studies of his instruction of American students – that of Charles Willson Peale, Gilbert Stuart, John Trumbull, and a circle of students led by Washington Allston – this study integrates Benjamin West's teaching practice with his career aspirations, positioning his pedagogy within the greater framework of his self-presentation. In doing so, it presents a history painter engrossed in the promulgation of his name throughout history, through his own artistic output and those of his children and students, as the progenitor of American artists working in the European tradition.Item 'A world of trouble': Joseph Wright of Derby in Bath, 1775-1777(2009) Fox, Abram Jacob; Pressly, William; Art History and Archaeology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Between November 1775 and June 1777, Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-1797) spent two social `seasons' in the resort town of Bath. Shortly after returning from two years in Rome, Wright left Derby with his new wife and child in hopes of becoming the premier portrait painter in Bath, filling the void left by Thomas Gainsborough's departure the previous year. Rather than achieving success, Wright found himself ill-equipped for the complex social interactions of his new city and severely wanting for commissions. In light of Wright's professional failure in Bath, particularly contrasted with the artist's highly successful 1768-1771 Liverpool period, the Bath period has become a forgotten episode in critical literature on Wright. This thesis examines Wright's life during those two years, collecting for the first time all of his published Bath works and correspondence and exploring the dramatic effects of the experience on his career.