The question of validity in Vasari's art historical concept
- Authors: Gibb, Barry
- Date: 1983
- Subjects: Vasari, Giorgio, 1511-1574 -- Criticism and interpretation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2465 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008574
- Description: From Introduction: Giorgio Vasari's first and second editions of his 'Lives of the Artists I appeared respectively in 1550 and 1568, just after the great period of Renaissance art in Florence and Rome had ended. As a practising Florentine architect, painter and sculptor who travelled extensively in Italy, sari could write with authority on the development of these arts throughout what he saw ~s the whole Renaissance period in that country, from the l ate 13th to the mid-16th century. Gathering information from all possible sources, his 'Lives' constitute the first comprehensive historical - critical survey of Italian Renaissance art. Much of their value resides in the first hand information they contain concerning the artists (Michelangelo in particular) who were his contemporaries, and in reflecting the aesthetic attitudes prevalent in a peak period in the history of art.
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- Date Issued: 1983
An investigation into nineteenth century book illustration with reference to the movement towards total collaboration in the works of Charles Dickens and his major illustrators
- Authors: Crowe, Richard J J
- Date: 1980
- Subjects: Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870 -- Illustrations Illustrators llustration of books -- Great Britain -- 19th century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2467 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009433
- Description: It is necessary to state clearly at the outset of this essay that the field comprising Book Illustration is extremely complex. This is not difficult to appreciate when one considers that the term "Book Illustration" covers both the highly developed art forms such as are found for example in the Book of Kells; and at the same time such cheap and shallow examples as are found in magazines and books that are churned out for the million. Therefore it becomes necessary to draw a sharp distinction between what could be called "inferior" and "superior" quality of Book Illustration. (a) I see this dividing line being drawn between two fundamentally divergent attitudes: the one involves a purely external and decorative approach which lacks real artistic value; (b) and the other, which is the result of the dynamic collaboration between an author and an artist to produce work founded on deep and rich artistic principles. (c) For the sake of clarity I wish to take this idea of a division a step further, and to suggest that within the "superior" bracket there is also a continuing scale of improvement and bettering, which culminates in an idealised state which could be called "TOTAL COLLABORATION" between an author and an artist.
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- Date Issued: 1980
Baudelaire, nature and the artist in society
- Authors: Howell, Jane
- Date: 1980
- Subjects: Baudelaire, Charles, 1821-1867
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2466 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009432
- Description: From Conclusion: The Artist can regard Baudelaire as a touchstone, as so many of his ideals and maxims are the ideals and maxims of the Artist himself. He teaches us many invaluable secrets of the universe and his lucid rendering of their explanations give us a clear insight into its mystery. He believed that Art was the ‘brainchild’ of Nature’s inspiration and that through its means and ways Natures mysteries will be revealed to us. He fought against all that the modern-day Artist is stiII fighting against. He rebelled against society1s false reasoning and its false morals. He became ‘self-exiled’ so that he could retain his individuality and reasoning. Like the Artist, his most valuable quality was his spontaneity and inspiration, given to him when his spirit moved him. His poems stand complete in themselves and yet all have a mysterious quality binding them. Likewise our paintings must also stand complete, they must be an end in themselves, each with its own singular message and yet a unity must prevaiI throughout. We must strive for that eternal quality that is so obvious in Baudelaire1s work. He can be read today at the distance of a century as if he had written for the present generation, with a knowledge of its problems and interests. His appeal is still vital because he was not fettered by the fashionable opinions and evanescent whims of his own age, and he made no concessions to the spirit of his own time in order to gain popularity.
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- Date Issued: 1980
The visionary artist
- Authors: Lambert, Moira
- Date: 1980
- Subjects: Blake, William, 1757-1827 Blake, William, 1757-1827 -- Symbolism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2441 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006113
- Description: Reading and personal experiences have often drawn my attention to the exceptionally high incidence of despair, "nervous disorder", alcoholism, nihilism and even suicide, among modern artists. I would like in this work to look at the visionary, Blake, against the problem of 'breaking the sound-barrier' and against the background of disastrous attempts at this by modern artists.
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- Date Issued: 1980
Painting and the changing role of art
- Authors: Edwards, Veryan Courtenay
- Date: 1979
- Subjects: Painting Art and society
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2482 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011740
- Description: It is necessary to find out what the role of art is in order to see whether it changes. The role of art can be taken as synonymous with the words, 'function of art'. The role of art and the art work itself are inextricably linked. If we look at the role of art as analogous to a wheel we can look at the argument thus : the wheel exists in order to roll. Its function is to roll. The wheel's function of rolling informs us about its existence. Function and the wheel's existence cannot be separated. The role of art and the art work itself are inextricably tied. Intro. p. 1.
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- Date Issued: 1979
The quality of threat in modern painting
- Authors: Radford, Anne Margaret
- Date: 1979
- Subjects: Painting, Modern -- 20th century
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2453 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007578
- Description: From Introduction: We not only tolerate violence, we put it on the front pages of our newspapers. One-third or one-fourth of our television programmes use it for the amusement of our children. Condone! My dear friends, we love it." -Karl Menninger, psychiatrist. War is one of the most violent of man's past-times, yet many of the atrocities committed are termed heroic deeds. Andre Malraux, one of the leading writer-philosophers of his day, praised the international involvement by so many writers, artists, etc. in the Spanish Civil War as one of the most wonderful deeds of brotherhood in the history of mankind. There is a strange idolatry that is often accorded to violent criminals such as the early American outlaws, and people like Charles Manson, around whom an entire cult has sprung up. The "aggressive machismo" is something that boys and young men strive to achieve in most countries in the Western world. Scientlsts and philosophers have puzzled these paradoxes for centuries, and this effort to unravel the mystery of violence and aggression bears a fateful significant. For the quality of human life and the survival of man are involved. Robbery, rape, riots, vandalism, are all now part of man's existence. Around the world, violence has soared. In London, violent crimes increased by 39 per cent in three years. Even sports events (the soccer fans stage gang wars at most soccer matches nowadays, especially in England,) and entertainment ---books, movies, television--- have become permeated with violence. It has not always been as bad as this, and as art imitates life, life imitates art, and so aggressive paintings, threatening paintings are now commonplace. In this dissertation, I have studied this development of threat in painting. What follows is the course my study has taken.
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- Date Issued: 1979
Aphrodite
- Authors: Lautenbach, Janet
- Date: 1978
- Subjects: Aphrodite (Greek deity) , Idols and images -- Greece , Art, Greek , Aphrodite (Greek deity) in literature
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2448 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006914 , Aphrodite (Greek deity) , Idols and images -- Greece , Art, Greek , Aphrodite (Greek deity) in literature
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- Date Issued: 1978
African art and myth
- Authors: Till, C M
- Date: 1977
- Subjects: Art, African , Art and mythology , Mythology, African
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2494 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013306
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- Date Issued: 1977
Art and power : an investigation into the effect politics, the church and economics have had on the content of a work of art and the development of art in general
- Authors: Heydenrych, Albert B
- Date: 1977
- Subjects: Art and religion , Politics in art , Art and industry , Art and state
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2499 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013390
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- Date Issued: 1977
Death and transcendence in northern European art
- Authors: Pratt, S R
- Date: 1977
- Subjects: Death in art , Art -- Europe, Northern
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2505 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1015230
- Description: [From Introduction]. Time has revealed two distinct tendencies in the history of thought and art in Europe. That development in European culture which began in Ancient Greece is marked by a positive confidence in the relationship of man to his world. Parallel with but in opposition to this development is a separate progression in culture. The continuity of art in Northern Europe appears to be associated with the adherence of Northern man to a negative, fatalistic sense of being - to a spirit which is in conflict with a hostile violent environment. The purposo of this investigation is to determine, through art the nature of this sense of being in Northern Europe. No direct definition would be capable of conveying the fullest meaning of that spirit. lt is a feeling. To understand this morbid fatalism, it is therefore necessary to refer to the pre-Christian religion of the Germanic Barbarians - through which the Northern spirit manifested itself in the form of ragnarök. Ragnarök which can be translated as a moaning obscurity, shadows, twilight, fateful destiny, was a term used by Nordic bards in its broadest sense to describe the end of the world - the inevitable destruction of life.
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- Date Issued: 1977
South African art, the romantic principle and the Grahamstown group
- Authors: Clark, George Phillip Haven
- Date: 1977
- Subjects: Art, South African , Art -- South Africa -- Grahamstown
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2501 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1014638
- Description: The purpose of this essay is to examine the "rumblings in the belly of Leviathan from which we are able to diagnose his disease" (Comfort). Adopting a cyclical idea of art, it aims to point out that South African art has degenerated to a state where the much publicised so-called leaders of art are simply using charm techniques to woo the consent of a society whose metaphysics are derived from twentieth century collective materialism. The South African situation is examined, as is the Romantic principle underlying all genuine artistic activity. It is proposed that the cure lies in a reinstatement of this principle and in a readjustment of the concepts of reality and unreality. Finally, the Grahamstown Group is propounded as an embodiment of the Romantic principle with its implicit concept of artistic reality.
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- Date Issued: 1977
The animal image in art
- Authors: Hall, Elizabeth
- Date: 1977
- Subjects: Animals in art
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2496 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013329
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- Date Issued: 1977
The tightrope walker
- Authors: Dale, Jessie Patricial Dill
- Date: 1977
- Subjects: Art and religion , Art criticism
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2498 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013336
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- Date Issued: 1977
The working method of the modern painter
- Authors: Grant, David
- Date: 1977
- Subjects: Painting, Modern -- 20th century , Painting -- Technique
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2503 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1014984
- Description: [From Introduction]. Prior to 1800 advances made in painting could often be accredited to the advances made in paint technology. Since the beginning of the last century however, paint technology has stabilised, moved into the background and allowed the artist to create with the medium rather than be dictated to by it. This stabilising of art technology has also generated a lack of interest in technique, leading in turn to a number of painting techniques being lost. In some ways we know less today of the oil medium and its correct use than was known to Jan and Hubert Van Eyck and their followers. However, if this lack of concern with technique has produced a large number of valid artistic statements which are unlikely to survive physically, it also means that the hoardes of painters who painted technically perfect paintings with no valid art statement have dwindled as well.
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- Date Issued: 1977
Art and the Odyssey : the exploration into the Homeric poems, in particular the Odyssey, as symbolic of artistic experience
- Authors: Siopis, Penelope
- Date: 1976
- Subjects: Homer. Odyssey , Mythology, Greek, in art , Odysseus (Greek mythology) in art
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2500 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013392
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- Date Issued: 1976
Aspects of the woman in art
- Authors: Loubser, Annette
- Date: 1976
- Subjects: Women in art
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2485 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1012784
- Description: Woman has been depicted in all mediums throughout the ages, although her image and content have always taken on varying interpretations. Beauty has always been epitomized in the human figure - from an inexhaustible longing for perfection. Naturally her feminineaspects and her unconscious awareness of the rythms of nature made her central to the making of myths. She was depended upon as the Earth Mother - the creator and preserver of the species. And her mysteries reverberated throughout the ages. The discovery of the earliest Aurignacian Head (20,000 B.C) [Fig. 2] reiterates this. She is not only woman but also prophetess. Chap. 1, p. 2.
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- Date Issued: 1976
Brian Bradshaw
- Authors: Hogge, Rosemary
- Date: 1976
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:2506 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1016168
- Description: One assumes that Brian Bradshaw's career in art had been decided upon at an early age, but in fact it was not so. After he had attended the Canon Slade Grammar School in Bolton, his father suggested various options, some of them interesting, like becoming a veterinary surgeon, but that was rejected because although the boy liked 'putting things right' he didn't savour 'cutting things up'. For the same reason he couldn't follow the family tradition on his mother's side and become a doctor. Nor was his wish to become a sea-captain treated with any seriousness, although he thinks with nostalgia of life at sea; and he is pleased he didn't take up forestry because, although he loves the land and admires the art of designing the great gardens and parks which surrounded the Georgian and Regency houses of the 18th Century, he is appalled by the artificial mess they're making of the land now. So in that interim period before being conscripted, they suggested at home that he spend a few months at the Bolton Municipal School of Art under the guidance of Mr. John R. Gauld, and so his course was set for the future. He studied there for three years and was successful in obtaining the "drawing" and "pictorial design" certificates of the Ministry of Education, before joining His Majesty's Forces in 1942.
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- Date Issued: 1976
The artist and the technological society: a survey of attitudes in the wake of scientific and industrial revolution
- Authors: Baker, Claerwen Glenys
- Date: 1976
- Subjects: Art and technology Art, Modern -- 20th century -- History
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2472 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1009499
- Description: One of the most frequently repeated questions of our time is what is art? Since we have become conditioned to the idea that ''significant art - a much overworked modern term - belongs to the revolutionary avant-garde, artists carry their search for the new at all costs into the field of non art. P.1
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- Date Issued: 1976
The multiple image in art : a personal response
- Authors: Swift, Anthony J M
- Date: 1976
- Subjects: Art, Modern -- 20th century , Art -- Themes, motives , Art appreciation , Art, Modern -- 20th century -- Philosophy
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2497 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1013330
- Description: The development of this thesis is akin to that of a painting. It is subject to various influences that have evoked ideas and each idea has stimulated other ideas, thus the continuity could have gone beyond the bounds of this work. It is not so much an amalgamation of similar ideas but a development of diverse ideas which have, once composed, a common factor - the Multiple Image. Image refers to some paintings that have been made or part of them, a photograph, a film, a subject visualized in the mind or a complex reforms which is suggestive. Multiple refers to anything that relatively repeats itself, has facsimilies of itself, triptychs, polyptychs or is a conglomeration of ideas in a work of art. Intro., p. 1.
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- Date Issued: 1976
Art and conservation
- Authors: Dent, Hugh R
- Date: 1975
- Subjects: Nature conservation Environmentalism Nature (Aesthetics)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MFA
- Identifier: vital:2479 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011070
- Description: There can be no doubt that population increase and environmental pollution are the world's biggest problems today. These pose serious threats to the quality of life and art. They can only be remedied by an efficient system of birth-control and sound compulsory education, in order to regain spiritual enlightenment. Intro. p. 1.
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- Date Issued: 1975