Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Art, African – Western influences'
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1
Petty, Nancy. "African Art in Western Museums: Issues and Perspectives." Honors in the Major Thesis, University of Central Florida, 2006. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETH/id/992.
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This item is only available in print in the UCF Libraries. If this is your Honors Thesis, you can help us make it available online for use by researchers around the world by following the instructions on the distribution consent form at http://library.ucf.edu/Systems/DigitalInitiatives/DigitalCollections/InternetDistributionConsentAgreementForm.pdf You may also contact the project coordinator, Kerri Bottorff, at kerri.bottorff@ucf.edu for more information.Bachelors
Arts and Sciences
Art History
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Hockley, Allen F. "Harunobu : an Ukiyo-e artist who experimented with Western- style art." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/28070.
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From the beginning of serious art historical study of Japanese woodblock prints or Ukiyo-e, the artist Suzuki Harunobu (1725-1770) has been accorded a prominent position in the development of that art form primarily because of his role in the creation of the first full colour prints. This, and his particular conception of feminine beauty which he chose to illustrate most often as the main subject of his art, made him the dominant artist of his generation. The popularity he achieved during his lifetime was monumental, but he met with a premature and untimely death. Shortly after his death Shiba Kōkan (1747-1818), a young artist just beginning his career, made forgeries of Harunobu's prints and later admitted to doing so in his autobiography. Based on Kōkan's confession, there developed among art historians and connoisseurs, a long running, at times heated and, as yet, unresolved debate focussed upon determining which of Harunobu's prints are in fact forgeries.
Because Kōkan eventually acquired fame as an artist who experimented with styles and techniques newly imported to Japan from Europe, Harunobu's prints that contain linear perspective, one such Western technique, have traditionally and without question been designated as forgeries. To this author, making such an attribution based on this criterion seems somewhat illogical. Why would Kōkan introduce something foreign to Harunobu's style into prints he intended to pass off as Harunobu's originals? The simplest resolution to this quandary is to assume that Harunobu must have also been experimenting with imported European styles.
Based on this premise, this thesis introduces literary and visual evidence linking Harunobu to a number of sources of European-style art. Much of this evidence was uncovered through a re-examination of Harunobu's prints and literary accounts of his life in accordance with the social and artistic context in which he worked. The prints and the documents which this thesis discusses have long been known to art historians. They simply needed to be reworked to support this premise.
This thesis does, however, introduce one print from the collection of the Oregon Art Institute which seems to have been overlooked by other scholars. It provides a clear example of Harunobu's Western-style art and through visual analysis of it, its sources can be identified among the Western-style megane-e of Maruyama ōkyo ( 1733-1795).
The concluding section of this thesis examines the consequences
of this evidence. Two of the so-called forgeries are reattributed to Harunobu and his prints as a whole are recast within the tradition of Western-style art in Japan.Arts, Faculty of
Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of
Graduate
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Mannering, Hildegard Kirsten. "European stylistic influence on early twentieth century South African painters." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002207.
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South African artists, d i ssatisfied with the staid environment in local circles, felt the need to travel abroad for fresh stimulation. This need allowed for a historical investigation into the results, beneficial or otherwise, of the influence of European modernism on early twentieth century South African painters. Because of the numerous practising artists in South Africa at the time, it was found necessary to give cohesion to the artists discussed and, therefore the most pertinent were grouped into artistic movements. Thus, H.Naude, R . G. Goodman and H.S. Caldecott are discussed in conjunction with Impressionism. B. Everard, R. Everard-Haden and J.H. Pierneef are compared to the post-Impressionists and finally, I.Stern and M. Laubser are equated with the Fauves and Expressionists. To ascertain the true effect of European stylistic influence, a comparative analysis of work executed before European visits and upon the artists' return was imperative. Simultaneously, as part of the analysis, reference was also made to any work executed by these artists while in Europe. European movements of the period are also reviewed, enabling precise grouping and better understanding of t he styles adopted by the chosen group of early twentieth century South African artists. Some attention is given to the impact these artists had on South African art upon their return, as this confirms the degree of European influence and facilitates the classification of styles adopted by the selected group. In conclusion, to establish the extent to which European art was influential, a brief synopsis shows the changes in local groups, once these artists had re-established themselves in South Africa.
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Ely, Bonita. "Change and continuity the influences of Taoist philosophy and cultural practices on contemporary art practice /." View thesis (Appendix 3 available at UWS Library for private study and research purposes only), 2009. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/40805.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Sydney, 2009.A thesis presented to the University of Western Sydney, College of Arts, School of Communications Arts, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Includes bibliographies. Thesis front, chapters, appendices 1, 2 also available online at: http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/40805.
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Malan, Petronel. "Alexander Johnson's Ni' Concerto (1994) - Concerto no. 1 for Piano and Orchestra: a Discussion of Influences from Africa, Eastern and Western Europe." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2001. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2839/.
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In the new generation of artists emerging in South Africa, Alexander Johnson is considered the most prolific young composer of his day. In a recent review in the Pretoria News, Johnson has been praised by eminent critic Paul Boekkooi as a composer who has “an ear for the exotic and knows exactly how to bring it off....” He continued by noting that his music is “mentally engrossing, pleasurable to the senses and seems refreshingly free from dogmatic formulas." Johnson writes for musicians and the general public to equal satisfaction. His accessible compositions and catching use of melodic
materials have made his writings very popular both in South Africa and abroad. During his residency in Belgrade in 1993-94, Johnson met Croatian pianist Dorian Leljak. Impressed with Johnson's compositional ideas and output, Leljak commissioned a work from Johnson for piano and orchestra. The result was the Ni Concerto, which Johnson completed in April 1994. The world premiere took place on June 23, 1994 with the Ni Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Anatoli Nowiestski with Dorian Leljak as soloist. The Ni Concerto received its South African premiere in 1995 during a
simultaneous celebration for “Europe Day” and the new democracy of the Republic of South Africa. The Delegation of the European Commission of South Africa sponsored the celebration, which took place in the Aula Auditorium on the campus of the University of Pretoria. The performers included the Artium Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Dutch-born Prof. Henk Temmingh and Johnson himself as piano soloist.
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Ka, Zenzile Mawande. "Decolonizing visualities: changing cultural paradigms, freeing ourselves from Western-centric epistemes." Master's thesis, Faculty of Humanities, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/30909.
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In this study, I hope to challenge the absolute belief in academia, which assumes that the perception of reality or visualities; in terms of culture, nature, truth and so on, by definition should be understood according to the Western philosophical character and genealogy as developed from a positivist paradigm. It seems to me, that the dominant methodological frameworks as I know them now, tacitly follow this scientific, quantitative, material, mechanical, positivist paradigm that draws from Western philosophical development and positions, pervasively held as the only basis for knowledge production. In turn, this philosophical position delegitimises any other epistemologies or methodological frameworks from elsewhere. In many cases, the methods of teaching and assessing subscribe, impose and perpetuate these same protocols as the only recognised epistemological and methodological approaches for critical inquiry inside tertiary educational institutions. By far, fine art as a discipline has inherited this epistemological position. To define this field in the context of decolonisation (meaning the undoing of colonisation), it requires us to look beyond disciplinary knowledge. This research is primarily an epistemological critique; and does not simply seek to “Africanise” the study of art, but to condemn the pervasive institutionalised cultural dominance. To frame my discourse, I have adopted an anti-colonial perspective, and a qualitative method to help define this phenomenon through a wide range of techniques. These include grounded theory; propositional logic; case study, narrative inquiry and auto-ethnography as possible tool for collecting, coding and analysing of data.
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Ely, Bonita. "Change and continuity : the influences of Taoist philosophy and cultural practices on contemporary art practice." Thesis, View thesis (Appendix 3 available at UWS Library for private study and research purposes only), 2009. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/40805.
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The aim of this thesis is to identify in contemporary art practices the inflections that have either direct, or indirect origins in Taoism, the conceptual source of China’s principle indigenous, cultural practices. The thesis argues that the increasingly cross cultural qualities of contemporary art practice owe much to the West’s exposure to Taoism’s non-absolutist, non-humanist tropes, a cultural borrowing that has received slight attention despite its increasingly pervasive presence. This critical analysis is structured by Deleuze and Guattari’s theory of the rhizome as a metaphor for cultural influences that are pluralist permeations, rather than a linear hierachy. The thesis tracks discourse between the West and China from early contact to the present, tracing manifold aspects of Taoism’s modes of visual representation in Western art. Chinese gardens, Chinoiserie, calligraphy, and their coalescence in Chinese painting, are analysed to locate Taoist precepts familiar to the West, principally citing the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu, Taoism’s founder. Here Taoist philosophy, as synthesised in Western thought, is proven to be a source of identifiable innovations in contemporary art practice. For example, spatial articulation as a dominant element of expression in installation art is traced to Western artists’ exposure to the conceptualised spatiality of Sinocised artefacts. Taoist precepts are analysed in the Chinese tradition of improvising upon calligraphic characters as a key factor.This model is deployed using the skills set of studio-based research, to identify the experimental nature and degree of improvisation in Western artists’ adaptations of Taoist methods in innovative painting, then sculpture. Investigations of artworks are structured upon correlations between Deleuze’s theories of representation and Taoist theories of creativity. A thematic connection with Taoism located in contemporary art, namely, notions of continuity and change, assists this detailed unravelling of creative processes, aesthetics, metonymy and meaning derived from Taoism in global, contemporary art.
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Schoeman, Ben. "The piano works of Stefans Grové (1922-2014) : a study of stylistic influences, technical elements and canon formation in South African art music." Thesis, City, University of London, 2016. http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/16579/.
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Stefans Grové (1922-2014) is widely regarded as one of South Africa’s most distinguished composers of art music. He was one of the most prolific contributors to the country’s piano literature, having written large-scale cycles as well as several miniatures for the instrument. This thesis engages with his more widely-performed oeuvre, as well as earlier works that are forgotten or not currently in the public domain. A number of his piano works composed towards the end of his life are discussed here for the first time in an academic context. The two main premises explored in this thesis are the composer’s stylistic development and his approach to elements of piano technique and performance. His pianistic oeuvre is divided into style periods, and the seminal structural tools that recur throughout his creative career are evaluated. A study of the composer’s engagement with indigenous Southern African musical and cultural elements forms a substantial part of the second and fourth chapters of this thesis. The realisation of technical elements in Grové’s piano music for concert performers as well as less advanced players is discussed in the third chapter, with reference to the formulations on the didactics of piano playing by pedagogues such as Heinrich Neuhaus, Béla Bartók, József Gát and Geőrgy Sándor. Aspects of finger technique, articulation and pedalling are the main points of investigation. In the outer chapters, Grové is placed within the historical context of piano tuition in South Africa and his position within the national canon of art music is considered and contextualised.
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Chuang, Yu-Cheng. "Cross-currents in the work of Yu-Cheng Chuang : an examination of the Chinese principle of Jingjie and Western idea of the picturesque as parallel influences on site-specificity in land art." Thesis, Goldsmiths College (University of London), 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.408342.
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This combined studio practice/text thesis analyses links among the Chinese concept of jingjie, the archetypal patterns of sacred places, the picturesque movement in European aesthetics, and site-specificity in 1960s Land Art. In addition to examining site-specificity and the theoretical aspects of my studio practice, I explore the relationship between my ethnicity and my work in the context of contemporary Chinese and Taiwanese art environments. Guided by the principle that "practice and theory inform each other," I restate the significance of jingjie in contemporary art, especially its connection with the physical and psychological patterns found in archetypal "sacred places." Jingjie was fundamental to the spatial fluidity found in Chinese landscape arts, especially garden design. After demonstrating how Chinese gardens influenced English landscape garden principles and the 18th-century European picturesque movement, I argue that similar East-West connections served as direct and indirect influences on the site-specific work of middle and late 20th-century Land Art artists. I then describe how picturesque depictions of the relationship between man and nature influenced 19th-century landscape architecture in North America and 20th-century Land Art throughout the West. Finally, jingjie and Chinese gardens are used to explore archetypal sacred place patterns and their influences on the Western tradition of the picturesque. These parallel East-West connections served as the foundation for later interest in site-specificity, and were essential in establishing a historical context for understanding cross-cultural currents and their influences on Land Art artists. Using jingjie as my focus, I examine aspects of contemporary art that are not usually addressed by art critics, and reconsider the relevance of the Western picturesque tradition through a reciprocal model of cultural influences.
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Hughes, Camryn E. "Postmodern Blackness: Writing Melanin Against a White Backdrop." Ohio University Honors Tutorial College / OhioLINK, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1619188755992646.
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Schneider, Leann G. "Capturing Otherness on Canvas: 16th - 18th century European Representation of Amerindians and Africans." Kent State University / OhioLINK, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1437430892.
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Torrubia, Rafael. "Culture from the midnight hour : a critical reassessment of the black power movement in twentieth century America." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/1884.
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The thesis seeks to develop a more sophisticated view of the black power movement in twentieth century America by analysing the movement’s cultural legacy. The rise, maturation and decline of black power as a political force had a significant impact on American culture, black and white, yet to be substantively analysed. The thesis argues that while the black power movement was not exclusively cultural it was essentially cultural. It was a revolt in and of culture that was manifested in a variety of forms, with black and white culture providing an index to the black and white world view. This independent black culture base provided cohesion to a movement otherwise severely lacking focus and structural support for the movement’s political and economic endeavours. Each chapter in the PhD acts as a step toward understanding black power as an adaptive cultural term which served to connect and illuminate the differing ideological orientations of movement supporters and explores the implications of this. In this manner, it becomes possible to conceptualise the black power movement as something beyond a cacophony of voices which achieved few tangible gains for African-Americans and to move the discussion beyond traditional historiographical perspectives which focus upon the politics and violence of the movement. Viewing the movement from a cultural perspective places language, folk culture, film, sport, religion and the literary and performing arts in a central historical context which served to spread black power philosophy further than political invective. By demonstrating how culture served to broaden the appeal and facilitate the acceptance of black power tenets it is possible to argue that the use of cultural forms of advocation to advance black power ideologies contributed significantly to making the movement a lasting influence in American culture – one whose impact could be discerned long after its exclusively political agenda had disintegrated.
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Van, der Hoven Wikus. "Invictus : Orchestral Prelude in 3 movements by Noel Stockton : analytical discussion of the synthesis of the basic elements of music in a third stream composition." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/23621.
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This study aims to describe how the basic elements of music are synthesised and manipulated to create a composition in the musical style called Third stream music. This is done through a comprehensive description of the background of this musical style and a detailed analysis of a case study Third stream work, Invictus: Orchestral Prelude in 3 Movements, by the South African composer Noel Stockton and commissioned by the South African Music Rights rganisation. CopyrightDissertation (MMus)--University of Pretoria, 2010.
Music
unrestricted
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Ricquier, Birgit. "Porridge deconstructed: a comparative linguistic approach to the history of staple starch food preparations in Bantuphone Africa." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/209508.
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Despite the current interest in food studies, little is known about the culinary history of Central and Southern Africa. Using the methods of historical-comparative linguistics, this dissertation provides the first insights into the culinary traditions of early Bantu speech communities. The dissertation focuses on the history of staple starch food preparations, more specifically, the history of porridge and the integration of cassava into Kongo culinary traditions.Doctorat en Langues et lettres
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished
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Ayres, Sara Craig. "Hidden histories and multiple meanings : the Richard Dennett collection at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter." Thesis, University of Plymouth, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/1039.
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Ethnographic collections in western museums such as the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) carry many meanings, but by definition, they represent an intercultural encounter. This history of this encounter is often lost, overlooked, or obscured, and yet it has bearing on how the objects in the collection have been interpreted and understood. This thesis uncovers the hidden history of one particular collection in the RAMM and examines the multiple meanings that have been attributed to the objects in the collection over time. The Richard Dennett Collection was made in Africa in the years when European powers began to colonise the Congo basin. Richard Edward Dennett (1857-1921) worked as a trader in the Lower Congo between 1879 and 1902. The collection was accessioned by the RAMM in 1889. The research contextualises the collection by making a close analysis of primary source material which was produced by the collector and by his contemporaries, and includes publications, correspondence, photographs and illustrations which have been studied in museums and archives in Europe and North America. Dennett was personally involved with key events in the colonial history of this part of Africa but he also studied the indigenous BaKongo community, recording his observations about their political and material culture. As a result he became involved in the institutions of anthropology and folklore in Britain which were attempting to explain, classify and interpret such cultures. Through examining Dennett’s history this research has been able to explore the Congo context, the indigenous society, and those European institutions which collected and interpreted BaKongo collections. The research has added considerably to the museum’s knowledge about this collection and its collector, and the study responds to the practical imperative implicit in a Collaborative Doctoral Project, by proposing a small temporary exhibition in the RAMM to explore these histories and meanings. In making this proposal the research considers the current curatorial debate concerning responsible approaches to colonial collections, and assesses some of the strategies that are being employed in museums today.
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BEREAU, Stéphanie. "Modalités de valorisation de l'art africain en occident dans la deuxième moitié du XXe siècle : étude critique des conditions historiques de réception et de valorisation del'art africain en occindent, dans les musées d'histoire naturelle." Doctoral thesis, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/6911.
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Defence date: 27 November 2006Examining Board: Prof. Pascaline Winand, Institut Universitaire Européen, Florence (Superviseur) ; Prof. Bogumil Jewsiewicki, Université Laval, Québec (Co-directeur) ; Prof. Antonella Romano, Institut Universitaire Européen, Florence ; Prof. Laurick Zerbini, Université Lumière Lyon 2, Lyon
PDF of thesis uploaded from the Library digitised archive of EUI PhD theses completed between 2013 and 2017
En 1905, après une après-midi de peinture plutôt éprouvante sous la chaleur de la campagne parisienne, Maurice de Vlaminck s’arrête pour se rafraîchir dans un bistro d’Argenteuil. Sur le bar qui lui fait face, perdus entre les bouteilles d’alcool, trois objets africains attirent son attention : deux pièces Yoruba du Dahomey et une pièce de Côte-d’Ivoire. En échange d’une tournée générale, le propriétaire accepte de les lui céder. C’est en les montrant à un ami de son père venu visiter son atelier en mars 1906, qu’il obtiendra de ce dernier deux autres statues africaines, ainsi qu’un masque blanchâtre assez quelconque, qui pourtant fascina son alter ego fauviste, le peintre André Derain, dès qu’il le vit. Pressé par des soucis financiers, Vlaminck repoussera une première offre d’achat de son ami pour mieux accepter celle qu’il lui fit quelques jours plus tard. Début avril 1906, pour 50 francs, Derain était entré en possession de son célèbre masque Fang1 et l’accrochait aux murs de son atelier de la rue Tourlaque.
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Duan, Lian. "Western Influences on Contemporary Chinese Art Education: Two Case Studies of Responses from Chinese Academics and College Students to Modern Western Art Theory." Thesis, 2012. http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/973749/4/Duan_PhD_S2012.pdf.
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This study examines the question of how 20th-century Western art theory has influenced contemporary Chinese art education at the college level, focusing specifically on the problems of misreading, namely, mistranslation and misinterpretation. For this purpose, I offer two case studies: an analysis of my interviews with some Chinese academics, including art theorists and translators, and an analysis of Chinese college students’ essays responding to my lectures on visual culture.
The two case studies shed light on some basic questions: (1) What are the misreadings due to the cultural differences between China and the West? (2) Why and how have these misreadings happened? (3) Are there purposeful misreadings? (4) If yes, why and how? (5) And what is the possible significance of such misreadings to Chinese and Western art education?
Answering the above questions, two types of misreadings are identified. One is unintentional, such as mistranslation due to language and cultural barriers, while the other one is intentional or purposeful manipulation. In the two case studies, I examine the purposeful misreading of Western art theory, and demonstrate that it is the Chinese way to localize Western art theory for Chinese use. This claim is supported by the findings from my analyses of the interviews and Chinese students’ essays.
In this dissertation I suggest that the problem of purposeful misreading of modern Western art theory is caused by the traditional Chinese culture of respect for senior academics and the contemporary Chinese practice of localizing Western theory. The ingrained culture of respect for senior academics makes it difficult for junior academics to question and challenge the works of their superiors. Additionally, the Chinese academics tend to appropriate Western concepts and theories by making them accommodate Chinese values and the grand narrative of Chinese culture.
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"Illuminating Silent Voices: An African-American Contribution to the Percussion Literature in the Western Art Music Tradition." Doctoral diss., 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.14958.
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abstract: Illuminating Silent Voices: An African-American Contribution to the Percussion Literature in the Western Art Music Tradition will discuss how Raymond Ridley's original composition, FyrStar (2009), is comparable to other pre-existing percussion works in the literature. Selected compositions for comparison included Darius Milhaud's Concerto for Marimba, Vibraphone and Orchestra, Op. 278 (1949); David Friedman's and Dave Samuels's Carousel (1985); Raymond Helble's Duo Concertante for Vibraphone and Marimba, Op. 54 (2009); Tera de Marez Oyens's Octopus: for Bass Clarinet and one Percussionist (marimba/vibraphone) (1982). In the course of this document, the author will discuss the uniqueness of FyrStar's instrumentation of nine single reed instruments--E-flat clarinet, B-flat clarinet, alto clarinet, bass clarinet, B-flat contrabass clarinet, B-flat soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, and B-flat baritone saxophone, juxtaposing this unique instrumentation to the symbolic relationship between the ensemble, marimba, and vibraphone.Dissertation/Thesis
FyrStar (2009) Live Recording (DMA Recital)
FyrStar (2009) Full Score
D.M.A. Music 2012
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Parsuram, Sirola. "The mirror as device : a study of the mirror motif in select examples of South African and western artworks." Thesis, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/3494.
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"Die betekenis van die Ècole de Paris vir die Suid-Afrikaanse kunsontwikkeling met spesiale verwysing na André Lhote." Thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10210/14024.
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Arthur, Duncan Malcolm. "Liberation through Salvation: the Medieval Western European and South African experiences (1860 to 1994) compared through a selection of religious iconography." Diss., 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/1722.
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The medieval period (approximately 800 to 1300 AD) in Western Europe is noted for its rich tradition in religious Roman Catholic iconography. Frequently the only art works to be produced in the period, or to have survived, are religious icons of the period reflecting the dominant nature of the feudal structure of society and the oppressive circumstances that led to their execution. The works can be seen as a means of escape, although in an afterlife, or they might also be interpreted as a protest against the oppressive nature of the condition of the artist. The "rigidity" of a medieval existence and the utilisation of religious art as a means of expressing unhappiness with that existence may, as it is argued here, be interpreted as a means of protest. Rigid and oppressive political structures are not isolated to any particular historical period. South Africa too was an oppressive society where the material and political advancement of the majority of the population was stifled through discriminatory legislation and similar means making meaningful protest difficult, if not dangerous. This dissertation argues that religious art too became a means of protest in a manner intended to reflect the religious viewpoints of the artist but with political intentions and subtext. Similar themes in modern South African iconography (from approximately 1850 to 1994) and medieval prototypes are therefore discernible.History
M.A. (History)
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Farina, Alexa Jane. "Cross cultural influences in the work of Ian Garrett and Magdalene Odundo." Thesis, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/3059.
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This thesis explores the ceramic work ofIan Garrett and Magdalene Odundo, in order to examine the manner in which two artists of opposite identity in terms of race, gender and global location, come to create art which is visually, technically and conceptually similar. It is the intention ofthis study to focus primarily on the cross-cultural aspect of the two artist's work. However, it has been necessary to include biographical and technical
information as this information gives a more complete understanding ofthe cross-cultural issues involved. Most ofthe information for this study has been gained through interviewing the artists. Copies oftwo interviews with Ian Garrett are appended at the back ofthis thesis. The interviews were conducted with Garrett in Cape Town. The first interview took place in
1998 and the second interview was conducted in the year 2000.
Aweek was spent with Magdalene Odundo in Surrey, England, during May 2000. In this
time similar questions to those asked ofIan Garrett in October 2000 where put to
Odundo. The interview was, however, conducted in a conversational form and was not
recorded as Odundo finds recording an interview has the potential to be a limiting factor,
preferring her work to remain open-ended.
This thesis discusses the broader implications ofGarrett and Odundo's art. The study
makes an attempt to situate their work globally, suggesting not only that their work plays an active role in narrowing the boundaries which exist between African art and western
art, but that it also plays a part in closing down the distinctions which continue to exist
between art and craft. Finally, the thesis suggests that Garrett's and Odundo's art can be
seen as a symbol of current cultural conditions and global affairs.Thesis (M.A.)- University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.
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Tan, Chang 1978. "Playing cards with Cézanne : how the contemporary artists of China copy and recreate." 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2152/18363.
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My dissertation investigates the concepts and techniques of “copying” and appropriation in contemporary Chinese art, which, despite its phenomenal growth, has seldom been credited as original. Critics either condemn the Chinese artists’ willingness to appropriate from others as a lack of individuality, or declare it as a peculiarly “Chinese” quality. This paper, instead, argues that the Chinese artists deliberately adopt such “copying” as a visual strategy, in order to reexamine the traditions they “borrowed”, to reflect on their own cultural status in the modern world, and to challenge the conventional concept of originality--namely, to show that originality is not created by irreducible individuality or mystified inspiration, but by the author’s choice as well as manipulation of contexts. This strategy, I argue, is essential to the proper evaluation and interpretation of contemporary Chinese artworks. The first two chapters of my dissertation focus on laying out the context from which this art grows. I review how the ideas, styles and institutional structures of western modern art were imitated, questioned and redefined by the Chinese artists, from 1978 to the present; I then examine the conceptual complexity of originality and “copying” in the theories of modernism, postmodernism, postcolonialism and in traditional Chinese art. The next two chapters focus on, respectively, calligraphy and photography in contemporary Chinese art, both of which contain the paradox between originality and “copying” in their very nature. The works of four artists, Xu Bing, Qiu Zhijie, Hong Hao and Zhao Bandi, are discussed in details. Xu's site-specific reproduction of “pseudo characters” manage to engage its targeted audiences, psychologically and physically; Qiu's obsessive yet futile copying of a canon of calligraphy returns the act of writing to its essence--a physical pursuit of one's spiritual state of being; Hong's photographic emulation of an ancient masterpiece suggests that painting may excel photography in its ability to portray a grand cityscape; Zhao’s simulacrum of pop culture paradigms enables him to evade political censorship, and to have an substantial yet ironic impact in a broader public sphere. Each of these works has made a unique contribution to the redefinition of artistic originality.text
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"口岸文化: 從廣東的外銷藝術探討近代中西文化的相互觀照." 2012. http://library.cuhk.edu.hk/record=b5909418.
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劉鳳霞."2012年8月".
"2012 nian 8 yue".
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 183-201).
Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.
Abstract in Chinese and English.
Liu Fengxia.
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Maphangwa, Shonisani. "From colonial to post-colonial : shifts in cultural meaning in Dutch lace and Shweshwe fabric." Thesis, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10210/4516.
Full textAbstract:
M.Tech.In this research, I examine whether cultural meanings embedded in original sixteenth to eighteenth century Dutch lace and Shweshwe fabric, as examples of colonial forms, are transformed through selected processes. With reference to Dutch lace from Holland, I analyse how the form changes within colonial and post-colonial contexts, but propose that the cultural meanings of the lace remain similar in both contexts. With reference to Shweshwe fabric, I argue that the form stays the same within both colonial and post-colonial contexts, but that its cultural meaning changes as a result of how patterns printed on it are named and identified in a post-colonial context. In this research, I use the term ‘cultural meaning’ to refer to certain signifiers of culture. I propose that factors such as value, class, aspiration, desire and consumption are embedded in or make cultural meaning. My central argument proposes that crocheted doilies, and plastic tablecloths and placemats might be seen as post-colonial versions of Dutch lace. These post-colonial versions of Dutch lace are adopted and adapted by female homemakers in Naledi Ext. 2 to suit certain decorative tastes, values, aspirations and act as markers of class. This adoption and adaptation of the original colonial form, shifts the cultural meanings imbued within it, but not necessarily the associated consumptive meanings. Whilst the primary focus of the theoretical research is Dutch lace and its proposed post-colonial counterparts, I also examine examples of original Shweshwe fabric and how meanings of motifs found on this fabric have been transformed by the modern Mosotho to reflect notions of value and aspiration, whilst the actual motifs appear to be unchanged. In my practical work, I use Dutch lace, crocheted doilies, and plastic tablecloths and placemats, as well as Shweshwe fabric as visual references in the production of large to small scale paintings. In these, I explore how, through painterly alteration and transformation, shifts can occur in the meanings of patterns derived from these culturally-loaded sources.
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Hollows, Emma. "Kofifi/Covfefe: How the Costumes of "Sophiatown" Bring 1950s South Africa to Western Massachusetts in 2020." 2020. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/933.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis paper reflects upon the costume design process taken by Emma Hollows to produce a realist production of the Junction Avenue Theatre Company’s musical Sophiatown at the Augusta Savage Gallery at the University of Massachusetts in May 2020. Sophiatown follows a household forcibly removed from their homes by the Native Resettlement Act of 1954 amid apartheid in South Africa. The paper discusses her attempts as a costume designer to strike a balance between replicating history and making artistic changes for theatre, while always striving to create believable characters.
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Sherman, Louisa Elizabeth. "Unmasking the heroes : sources of power in Afrikaner mythologising." Diss., 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/16023.
Full textAbstract:
Unmasking the heroes: sources of power in Afrikaner mythologising is a personal, visual and theoretical exploration of the underlying
sources of power which governed the development of Afrikaner nationalism, particularly the years spanning the late 1980s and the
early 1990s. The practical work, a series of drawings and relief cut-outs, sets out to unmask the beliefs, customs, traditions and
attitudes particular to Afrikaner culture. It does so through the processes of deconstruction and reconstruction of selected mass
mediated images whereby different symbolic paradigms are juxtaposed through the devices of collage and allegory to uncover layers
of meaning. This art-making approach was informed by theoretical and visual research into the tradition of Western mythology,
including related topics such as linguistics, psychology and sociology, Afrikaner history and historiography, and the mechanisms of
contemporary cultural reproduction, particularly the South African mass media and fine arts.History of Art and Fine Arts
M.A. (History of Art and Fine Arts)
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Carstens, Christoffel. "Invloed van televisie op die verwestersingsproses by die Swart adolessent." Thesis, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/16335.
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