Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2006, Comparative Arts (Fine Arts)

This study, utilizing Michel Foucault's theory from which to interpret visual abnormality in art, analyzes the reasons why the Nazis believed visual dysfunction and mental illness were the operative forces behind modern art. In Munich, Germany in 1937 the National Socialist party, fearing that German culture was slowly degenerating into madness, sponsored two art events largely for the purposes of contrast. At the largely monolithic Great German Art Exhibition the Nazis hastened to forward their own aesthetic vision by displaying art works representing human forms in the language of classicism. The Degenerate Art Exhibition (held a day later) showcased early twentieth-century German avant-garde paintings, which, the Nazis claimed, were the products of abnormal vision and mental illness. The importance of visual perception in art is first detected in the period Foucault identifies as the Classical episteme, a period that regards man's capacity for representation as the primary tool for ordering knowledge about the world. The roots of this way of thinking about representation go back to the fifteenth-century theorist Leonbattista Alberti, who established rules in art for the normal and healthy perception of nature. Such rules, including linear perspective and an emphasis on line, continued to be supported after the advent of what Foucault calls the Modern episteme, which began roughly around the late eighteenth century. The Modern episteme still regarded man's knowledge of the world as fundamentally representational, but, in addition, saw man's representational capacities as an object of knowledge. This line of thought contributed to Immanuel Kant's theory of knowledge, in particular his view on how the subjective awareness of beauty opens up for the subjects solidarity with others in judging beauty, that is, a judgment of taste's claim to universality. Kant's aesthetics thus becomes a space where a consensus about the visual perception of art is now possible. This ty (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Charles Buchanan (Advisor) Subjects:

MA, Kent State University, 2012, College of the Arts / School of Art

Beginning in the late nineteenth century, Germany expanded its boundaries to Africa though colonization. Although short-lived, lasting only until World War I, colonization led to new ideas in German Expressionist art. Members of groups Die Brucke and Der Blaue Reiter copied objects of African origin in their work, including statuary and masks. Most artists were exposed to African culture and imagery when they visited numerous German ethnographic museums and performances. To the Brucke, native peoples represented the immediacy, authenticity, and direct closeness to the natural world that the artists hoped to achieve. Germans of the early twentieth century were presented with reminders of colonization through picture postcards and advertisements. This imagery often featured racist caricatures and exaggerated depictions of African culture. Nevertheless, Die Brucke members were less scathing in their depictions of Africans. While most were silent on the issues of colonization, Emil Nolde was vocal in opposing it. When colonization ended, groups such as Die Brucke were part of Germany's art historical past, but works featuring blacks were not. Hannah Hoch's Dadaist photomontages satirized the ongoing fears of white women engaging in relationships with black men. The dissolution of the colonies led to other changes: tribal works were no longer novelties, ethnographic shows disappeared, and many German Expressionist works were seized or destroyed by the Nazis. The surviving imagery, however, is a lasting testimony to Germany's cultural exchange with Africa as the twentieth century began.

Committee: Carol Salus (Advisor) Subjects: Art History; History

Bachelor of Science of Media Arts and Studies (BSC), Ohio University, 2017, Media Arts and Studies

MOLOCH is a game about internal struggles between passive content consent and critical views in systems where digging deeper can lead to darker truths. A top-down 3D game with simple directional movement puzzles, MOLOCH places us behind a desk as a shift manager in a dystopian company. Throughout the game, the player will be confronted with the binary of efficiency vs morality. The game encourages us to increasingly hurry our managed workers, but is the company's goal and corporate approval worth the amoral work we force? Are we ok with the system's tactics aimed at keeping us complacent? MOLOCH takes inspiration from Fritz Lang's 1927 film Metropolis and from the German Expressionism art movement at-large. Increasing anxiety over the networked world's discordant relationships between humanity and the physical world and the rise of social inauthenticity and near endemic individual alienation highlight the intentions of MOLOCH (Klaas, 2016). Adapting a rich history of prior art is critical to the tonal and thematic success of MOLOCH. David Freeman, designer and writer, states that one of the keys to creating a rich world is through adding history (Freeman, 2003). Adding backstory to MOLOCH through ancillary materials, and injecting the sentiments of Metropolis facilitates a rich history. The precise adaptation necessary for analytical success spans visual and audial assets as well; without proper signifiers the tone of the game will be lost due to a lack of thematic cohesion. This aspect will be accomplished through continual examination and inspiration of prior art.

Committee: Novak Beth (Advisor) Subjects: Communication; Film Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2011, Art History and Museum Studies

In 1905 four architecture students in Dresden formed an artists' communal group known as Die Brucke, or the Bridge. These progressive-minded artists were united by a vision of fusing their German artistic heritage with contemporary visual trends. The six members principally associated with the Brucke—Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Hermann Max Pechstein, Otto Mueller, and Emil Nolde—demonstrated a preference for expressive compositions, technical innovations within the mediums of painting, sculpture, and printmaking, and the desire to unify art and life. In time, the Brucke's prolific graphic contributions became the hallmark on which their artistic renown was built in Germany. Brucke members actively sought recognition abroad with the help of art dealers, museum professionals, and private collectors. Their American reception, however, was stymied by historical circumstances, including two World Wars, Adolf Hitler's denouncement of the artists as “degenerate,” American partiality for French art, and strained U.S. socio-political relations with Germany. Despite these challenges, significant institutional collections of the Brucke artists' graphic work dating from both their time as a cohesive artist group to their subsequent individual careers after the dissolution of the group in 1913, were formed in the United States. This study examines the formation of three of the most important of these at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. These museums were selected not only for their notable collections of Brucke prints, but also due to their significant locations, interesting demographics, and history of patronage. The Museum of Modern Art amassed most of their Brucke prints through the wealthy patronage of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and choices of curator Alfred H. Barr, Jr., both of whom relied on the expertise of a number of Jewish emigre dealers living in New (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Ellen G. Landau PhD (Advisor); Anne L. Helmreich PhD (Committee Member); Jane Glaubinger PhD (Committee Member); Kenneth F. Ledford PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Art History