Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2013, Art

In the Renaissance, the bodies of individuals were understood as guides to their internal identities, which influenced the public understanding of the figure represented in art—be it in terms of politics, personal life, or legacy. The classicizing and religious paintings by Titian (c. 1488/90-1576) show the subject's state of being, at a particular moment in a story, through the use of body language. The body is a vehicle for narrative that demonstrates the sitter's identity, relating the intricacies of the body to both the mind and the story. By exploring the humanist combination of philosophical theories regarding the relationship between the soul and the body, it is clear that Titian used these concepts to elevate the human figures in his narrative paintings. Formal analysis and Renaissance artistic theories by Alberti and others suggest that Renaissance artists operated under the assumption that how their sitters appeared was tantamount to representing their identities. Current scholarship has not yet considered this particular relationship in Titian's works. Analysis of several of Titian's depictions of female subjects— such as Mary Magdalene, Salome, Callisto, and Ariadne—suggests that while Titian fulfilled Alberti's guidelines for figural narrative depictions, he went further, giving the women in his paintings identities and thus agency. In this way, Titian makes it clear that Alberti's emphasis on the role of figures in a painted narrative does not do enough to give figures identity. By representing these females, not only through flesh, but also with identity, Titian creates paintings that act as equalizers for the female gender during the Renaissance.

Committee: Alejandra Gimenez-Berger Dr. (Advisor); Edward Charney Mr. (Advisor); Janice Glowski Dr. (Committee Member); Carmiele Wilkerson Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Art History; Womens Studies

Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, 2014, English

Salome: Reviving the Dark Lady is a rationale for an impending interdisciplinary reimagining of the literary Dark Lady for the early twenty-first century. The work comprises of poetry, dance, and film. This thesis recounts the history of beauty in the Early Modern Period and discusses the historical context of the Dark Lady to provide a frame for the journey of marginalized archetype into the twenty-first century. The choreopoem itself is built upon Salome, the character from Elizabeth Cary's1613 closet drama "The Tragedy of Mariam Fair Queen of Jewry." The choreopoem contains transliterated soliloquies of the princess interspersed through original poems and prose inspired by works of spoken-word artist Andrea Gibson, twentieth-century Afro-Scandinavian author Nella Larsen, and various literary and cultural critics.

Committee: Albino Carrillo (Advisor) Subjects: African American Studies; American Literature; Bible; British and Irish Literature; Comparative Literature; Cultural Anthropology; Dance; European Studies; Experiments; Folklore; Gender; Language Arts; Literature; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Modern History; Religion; Scandinavian Studies; Theater; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2005, Art (Fine Arts)

This dissertation explores the images of the Middle Eastern and North African dancer, also known as raqisah sharqi, almeh, and belly dancer, and the role of Western and Eastern male artists in developing her persona. It argues that Jean-Leon Gerome, Oscar Wilde, and Farid al-Atrash position the dancer according to their own agendas and persuade the viewers to gaze at her to advance their art. Al-Atrash, however, enables the dancer to suggest elements other than her sexuality when she dances to his music. The artworks of these artists are examined through the theory of the gaze, the postcolonial double marginalization of women, and the discourse of Orientalism. The representations of the almeh in Gerome's paintings are also explored via methods of feminist art historians that advocate interpretation through the examination of cultural and political context. This methodology reveals the effect of the Middle East in the development of Gerome's realistic style and exposes his bourgeois inclination, which is similar to Ingres and Delacroix, in portraying nude women and prostitutes. Gerome's almeh complements the representations of Eastern women by other Orientalists. The exotic dancer also attracted Western women, who liked her freedom and at the time were demanding their rights in the early twentieth century. Consequently, these women forced the film industries to cater to their needs. In response, the silent cinema offered them Rudolf Valentino as a sheik to satisfy their emotional and sexual wishes and to restore patriarchal power. Such films portray destructive aspects of Eastern cultures and emphasize Western supremacy. Other films reveal the special circumstances whereby a Western woman is permitted to adopt the Eastern dancer, who represents the femme fatale, as her ideal. The Egyptian cinema imitates Western art and presents the early Eastern dancer as an Arab femme fatale. Farid al-Atrash changes this image by presenting Samia Gamal as an artist worthy of intern (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Charles Buchanan (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, 2010, Music History

Richard Strauss's Salome constitutes an operatic adaptation of Oscar Wilde's 1891 play. The popularity of this biblical account spans several hundred years with portrayals in mediums including folk tales, poetry and musical adaptations. The identities of the characters evolved over time, with emphasis on different personalities and relationships with each variation. Beginning with Gustave Flaubert's short story Herodias (1877), retellings dramatized the exoticism of the characters by virtue of their ethnicities and geographical location. By the end of the nineteenth century, Salome had developed into the Oriental femme fatale of Wilde's and Strauss's renderings. Early twentieth-century audiences became familiar with Salome's story through a multitude of interpretations including Strauss's opera. In this thesis, I examine the identities of the main characters of the tale. The characteristics of previous realizations betray the origins and meanings of these identities. Although the characters differed in each interpretation, audiences always saw them as part of a faraway time and place. The Orientalist underpinnings of early twentieth-century interpretations demanded that the characters be constructed to conform to exotic stereotypes. Chapter 1 reveals the development of the story, with an emphasis on Salome's identity and her relationships with John the Baptist and Herod. Chapter 2 compares the Salomes of modern dancer Maud Allan and composer Richard Strauss. Chapter 3 demonstrates that the characters in Salome were understood mainly through contrasts of identity.

Committee: Eftychia Papanikolaou PhD (Advisor); Mary Natvig PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Music