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Subject Area: Art Criticism
Johnson, Diane Chalmers2004 0-7734-6410-7 160 pages
This work describes the concepts of Symbolist art used for this study and presents a sequence of the works and writings of five artists – Washington Allston at the beginning of the century, John La Farge and William Rimmer at mid-century, and George Inness and Albert Pinkham Ryder at the end. These five were selected after a lengthy survey of 19th and early 20th century American art. Although a broader selection might have been made, these particular artists successfully developed, at one point or another in their careers and with more or less clearly defined objectives, highly articulate visual art in the Symbolist mode, as well as writings about their Symbolist intentions (without using the term itself). In many instances, their words, as well as their art, recall those of artists like Paul Gauguin and Vincent Van Gogh, although predating the Europeans by several decades. The Symbolist works of these five Americans are analyzed along side their writings about art, as well as writings by the few major critics who understood their aesthetic intentions at the time, such as James Jackson Jarves, Charles de Kay, and Roger Fry. Not a survey, but rather a highly selective and suggestive study, this book was written with the intent of refining the historical concept of Symbolist Art in general, by extending the view further into American art.
Pope, Cynthia
2023 1-4955-1143-X 280 pages
"Though traditional art has been strong on showcasing aesthetics to imbue pleasantries, modern public art has been breaking trends to push citizens beyond the pleasure of seeing beauty. Contemporary public sculpture, in particular, has been the impetus of provoking questions about community standards, identity, and race relations. A phenomenon involving 'Scaffold', a sculpture by artist Same Durant, became the focal point of contention within Minneapolis, Minnesota recently. With intentions to better understand the power public sculpture has to disrupt community, I [discuss] this controversy touching on racial politics, identity, culture, history and public art." -Cynthia Pope This book was written and presented as a dissertation at Texas Tech University with the title, "Scaffold on Trial: A Case Study of Community Identity Inspired by a Public Sculpture."
Stanton, Bob
2000 0-7734-1250-6 88 pages
Having a deep interest in the visual arts, Stanton sees his poetic work in relation to four of the major art movements of the 20th century: Impressionism, Surrealism, Abstract Art, and Expressionism. Thus, he has prepared four major ‘galleries’ for us to view his word paintings. The first gallery shows us impressionistic portraits, self-portraits, landscapes, and vivid images of various scenes of everyday events and activities. The second gallery is filled with strange and sometimes playful ‘brainscapes’ (as opposed to impressionistic landscapes and seascapes). The third gallery contains abstract mood poetry revealing exotic, unexpected symbols and a variety of musical rhythms. The final gallery is made up completely of dramatic monologues, often employed for satiric purposes.
Choi, Myung
2009 0-7734-3844-0 132 pages
This work examines the presence of the grotesque in fiction, plastic arts, and films, to interpret the postmodern artistic phenomenon. The Reader’s Response Theory is utilized in order to examine the relevance of the grotesque to one of the most important factors of postmodernism: the reader. The study analyzes the evolution of the grotesque and reveals different levels of grotesque imagery and its possible meanings in the works of three authors: Machado de Assis, Camilo José Cela, and Alejandra Pizarnik.
Greene, David B.
2010 0-7734-3713-4 252 pages
This book takes up six sets of works of art that imagine community. These works do not illustrate concepts of community or make community an explicit theme. Nevertheless, the particular techniques and structure of each work project an imagining of community that is unique to the piece. Studying the six sets together opens prospects for re-imagining community and lays the groundwork for re-imagining the relation of arts and society. This book contains twelve color photographs and three black and white photographs.
Mallen, Enrique
2024 1-4955-1289-4 604 pages
"This book describes Picasso's relationship with many of the people who had an impact on his work as he transferred from his native Spain to his permanent residence in France and examines how those individuals might have altered the artist's own identity in this period of discovery." "...Pablo Ruiz Picasso (1881-1973) was an artist with an astonishing range of styles. His career has been divided into numerous periods, often featuring a wide range of techniques simultaneously, under the influence of multiple artists. As Rubin has indicated, Picasso 'casts the very concept of identity into doubt; it is no longer fixed, but mutable. Caught in the flux of the artist's passion for metamorphosis, the images and identities of his real-life subjects continuously dissolve and reform.' This book explores kinds of 'projections' whereby Picasso defined himself through specific artists, dealers, friends, lovers, etc." -Enrique Mallen
Loewen, Gregory V.
2012 0-7734-3929-3 184 pages
Loewen looks at the ways art can preserve the self as an archived project. Does art reflect personal growth and can one’s view on it change over time? Why do people identify with particular works of art and not others? The pertinent question in this book is how art reflects the personal identity of its creator and how responses to works of art can divulge information about the audience as well. Art can also serve to memorialize the changes that the self goes through while living. He also argues that artistic expression provides a forum for our truest selves to become represented.
Keith-Smith, Brian
2024 1-4955-1250-9 242 pages
"This account of aspects of the development of German art from the Renaissance to the 1990s emphasizes recurring themes that have persisted into the twentieth century. Contrast in any German work of art can be explicit in its subject or form, or implicit in the way that a theme is treated. ...Emphasis on contrasts explains perhaps the German 'Gesamtkunstwerk' or total work of art--a phrase that is part of a German Romantic tradition where it is claimed that in every work of art, literature or music, its created should aim at a universal dimension." -Brian Keith-Smith *This book includes 18 color prints.