Showing papers on "Mural published in 2006"

The mural as graffiti deterrence

Abstract: This study investigated whether the use of a colorful mural as a passive thematic prompt could significantly reduce new graffiti attacks in an area prone to graffiti. A control design with a preceding baseline tested this hypothesis. It was predicted that the mural would reduce the proportional amount of new graffiti that appeared on the mural area compared with a blank area. Acolorful muralwas painted on the section of a wall that had attracted the most graffiti during baseline. Data consisting of numbers of instances of new graffiti were recorded by two observers. Eight new graffiti attacks were recorded on the newly cleaned area with the mural after weeks (vs. 14 attacks in the fortnight of baseline). The main control section of wall was subject to significantly higher levels of graffiti during intervention than the mural section.

Scientific investigations of the Tokhung-Ri tomb mural paintings (408 A.D.) of the Koguryo era, Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Abstract: In the framework of the UNESCO workshops on the Conservation and Preservation of the Koguryo mural paintings, which were held in Pyongyang in 2004 and 2005, paint samples were collected from the Tokhung-Ri tomb located in suburban Pyongyang and analyzed by optical, polarized and FTIR microscopy, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD) as well as Raman spectroscopy, in order to characterize the composition of pigments, the execution technique adopted and the state of conservation of the murals. The first scientific results seem to confirm the suggestion of local conservators about the adoption of a fresco technique, even though it is not yet clear whether this was intentionally achieved by the North Korean painters. As regards this, analyses of more samples as well as confirmations from a survey of the historical literature are needed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PIXE analysis on Maya blue in Prehispanic and colonial mural paintings

Abstract: Particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE) experiments have been carried out at the AGLAE facility (Paris) on several mural samples containing Maya blue from different Prehispanic archaeological sites (Cacaxtla, El Tajin, Tamuin, Santa Cecilia Acatitlan) and from several colonial convents in the Mexican plateau (Jiutepec, Totimehuacan, Tezontepec and Cuauhtinchan). The analysis of the concentration of several elements permitted to extract some information on the technique used for painting the mural, usually fresco. Principal component analysis permitted to classify the samples into groups. This grouping is discussed in relation to geographic and historic data.

A Technical Study of the Mural Paintings of the Interior Dome of the Capilla de la Virgen del Rosario, Iglesia San José, San Juan, Puerto Rico

Abstract: This is a technical study of the extant murals of the 17th Capilla de la Virgen del Rosario located within Iglesia San José, San Juan, Puerto Rico. The primary objectives of this investigation were to: document existing mural campaigns, establish a chronology of mural painting through analysis of materials and techniques, evaluate the conditions of the paintings and to determine possible deterioration mechanisms, and propose recommendations for their conservation and interpretation. In-situ documentation including color digital photography, extensive field notes, and mapping of visible painting campaigns were conducted. This was followed by a materials analysis of select campaigns’ substrate, binders, and pigments. Test methods included gravimetric analysis and XRD of substrate plasters, examination of cross-sections and pigment dispersions, EDS analysis of pigments, and FTIR analysis of binders. The results of this study found six distinct mural campaigns and established a chronology which attributed painting phases to the Dominican, Jesuit, and Vincention orders of the Catholic Church. Notable iconography include the 17th century mer creatures (la serena), and the mid-19th century depiction of the Battle of Lepanto. Substrate analysis revealed a lean plaster mix in the enfoscado as an intrinsic cause of failure, further aggravated by continued water infiltration. Water ingress has created an environment supporting threatening deterioration mechanisms including abundant chloride salts, and biological growth contributing to failing paint layers and plasters. The Rosario Chapel murals are highly significant and warrant a comprehensive strategy for their conservation and interpretation through a collaborative process involving all stakeholders. Disciplines Historic Preservation and Conservation Comments Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Historic Preservation 2006. Advisor: Frank G. Matero This thesis or dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/16 A TECHNICAL STUDY OF THE MURAL PAINTINGS ON THE INTERIOR DOME OF THE CAPILLA DE LA VIRGEN DEL ROSARIO, IGLESIA SAN JOSÉ, SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO

The teotihuacan ballgame and the beginning of time

Abstract: This paper proposes a reinterpretation of the Tepantitla murals long known as the Tlalocan. Taking into account the numerous representations of different kinds of ballgames on these walls, along with the instances of the Maya glyph for pu, pu or pu[h], or “Place of the Reeds” (i.e. Tollan), this paper argues that this mural represents Teotihuacan as prototypical civilized city associated with the beginning of time and the calendar. Further evidence is provided by the images of “Scattering Priests” in the adjacent room, all of whom wear crocodilian headdresses associated with Cipactli, the first day of the central Mexican calendar. In both rooms, images of Tlaloc with hallucinogenic water-lily buds in his mouth reflect associations with the sun, the calendar, and the underworld. The murals of Tepantitla can be interpreted as a coherent program representing the central role of the ballgame in establishing Teotihuacan as Tollan, the place where time began.

Iconographic Analysis of the Armadillo and Cosmic Imagery within Art Associated with the Armadillo World Headquarters, 1970 - 1980

Abstract: This thesis draws upon recent, art historical scholarship in iconography and semiotics to identify and analyze key images in an iconographic program associated with murals, paintings, and posters related to the Austin, Texas music venue, the Armadillo World Headquarters, 1970-1980. Resources include South Austin Museum of Popular Culture, the Center for American History at the University of Texas, Austin, personal communications, and publications concerning the artists, music and history of Austin and the Armadillo World Headquarters. There are five chapters as follows: Introduction, History of the Armadillo World Headquarters, Analysis of the Armadillo Mural and Freddie King Painting, Analysis of Posters for the Grand Opening and the Michael Murphey Cosmic Cowboy Concert, and Conclusion.

Real and Illusory Feathers: Pigments, Painting Techniques, and the Use of Color in Ancient Mesoamerica

Abstract: For the last thirteen years I have studied the techniques used by ancient Mesoamerican painters in their creation of mural paintings. Although my interest has been to recreate the procedures followed by these painters in order to characterize the different traditions or schools that once existed in Mesoamerica, I have also focus on the creation of color it self. In this regard, I have realized that there seems to be a very conscious choice in the selection of raw materials to create color. That is, the surfaces of murals are colored not by the easiest and more available raw material but by the material that best suits the artistic and symbolic needs of the painters or the painting tradition. The amount of pigments used as raw materials and the ability to model, mix, and apply them in order to produce multiple other tones are characteristic of a painting school and I believe are determined by other cultural and symbolic constrains. Here is where feathers and pigments come together as raw materials to create particular colored surfaces with specific visual effects. The color code and the materials used to create that code are not secondary elements in a representation. That is, they are not only used to embellish the surfaces of a representation where concepts and ideas are created with a line drawing, but they have an important function as means of expression and reflect cultural categories by them selves. Color is characterized by three aspects: hue (tone or chroma, the color in itself), luminosity (the amount of black or white, called shade), and saturation (the amount of color, providing transparency and opaqueness). From the very start of the mural painting tradition in Mesoamerica the painters were interested in modeling pigments as to create three shades of a particular tone experimenting with luminosity and saturation. This is particularly evident in their representation of feathers. In this work I will reflect of the links between plumaria and the use of several techniques in the creation of color as to reflect upon the common visual and symbolic characteristics of the use of color in murals and in plumaria.

Portinari e a arte social

Abstract: The interest in mural painting has resulted in many decision-makings in the 20th Century, among them the defense of large scale broadcasting of images shot through with the commitment of the artist with his own time and people. In the set of “economical cycles”, Portinari demonstrates that it is possible to “narrate a story” without the attachment to the official version, presenting a critical view of the Brazilian society from the nuclear theme of work.

The Chicano Mural Movement of the Southwest: Populist Public Art and Chicano Political Activism

Abstract: This work examines an art movement that was a direct outgrowth of a populist civil rights movement of the late 1960’s in the Southwest United States This art, the Chicano Murals created as part of el Movimiento in San Diego, California was intended primarily as a didactic communication medium to reach into the barrios and marginalized neighborhoods for the primary purpose of carrying a resistance message to the semiliterate mestizo population within Its secondary purpose was to bring a message from within these minority neighborhoods outward to the privileged elite, both Anglo and Hispanic, that within the confines of the barrio there exists a culture and heritage that has value The Chicano Murals were ubiquitous throughout the southwest United States with concentration of the art in those areas adjacent to the Mexican border This work examines some of the murals, and the politics associated with their creation principally in San Diego, California, and some activities in Los Angeles, and Santa Fe, New Mexico This dissertation posits that it has been well established that art in public space is often a contentious matter and when it also carries a contra message, as did the Chicano murals, it may be considered intrusive and abrasive The social environment into which these murals were insinuated – the public sphere, the intellectual territory of high art and the elite system of private and government cultural patronage, are examined in the context of their effect upon the mural content and conversely, the effects of these murals upon diversity in the high art and museology of the United States

The Art of Healing: Painting for the Sick and the Sinner in a Medieval Town

Abstract: Many historians of medieval art now look beyond soaring cathedrals to study the relationship of architecture and image-making to life in medieval society. This book explores the interplay between church decoration and ritual practice in caring for the sick - bridging cultural anthropology and the social history of medicine - and aiming to expand our understanding of how clergy employed mural painting to cure body and soul. Looking closely at paintings from ca1200 in the church of Saint Aignan-sur-Cher, a castle town in Central France, Kupfer traces their links to burial practices, the veneration of saints, and the care of the sick in nearby hospitals. Through careful analysis of the surrounding agrarian landscape, dotted with cults targeting specific afflictions - especially ergotism - Kupfer sheds light on the role of wall painting in an ecclesiastical economy of healing and redemption. Sickness and death, she argues, hold the key to understanding the dynamics of the Christian community in the Middle Ages.

Hombres Y Mujeres Muralistas On a Mission: Painting Latino Identities in 1970s San Francisco

Abstract: This article argues for the importance of murals as cultural texts, consciously formed to entertain, influence, and solidify local and transnational communities. In 1974, two teams of artists painted two legendary murals in San Francisco's Mission District: In “Homage to Siqueiros,” the trio of male muralists presented themselves as heirs to famed Mexican muralists in order to solidify their indictment of conditions in the Americas and counter the participatory role of their patron, the Bank of America. In “Latino America,” the female muralists rejected the Chicano Movement's emphasis on Mexican masters and declared a new feminist, collaborative iconography. Although the murals were dissimilar in terms of gender, approach, and aesthetics, the muralists were joined in their desire to unite the local Latino community through their depictions of a shared homeland, or an imagined Latin America. This article highlights the aesthetic, cultural, political, gendered, and regional dimensions of Latino identities through the lens of mural creation.

Public and Private: The Late Medieval Wall Paintings of Haddon Hall Chapel, Derbyshire

Abstract: This paper focuses on the mural scheme executed in Haddon Hall Chapel shortly after 1427 for Sir Richard Vernon. It argues that at that time the chapel was also being used as a parish church, and that the paintings were therefore both an expression of private devotion and a public statement. This is reflected in their subject matter, which combines themes associated with popular beliefs, the public persona of the Hall's owner and the Vernon family's personal devotions. The remarkable inventiveness and complexity of the iconography is matched by the exceptionally sophisticated style of the paintings. Attention is also given to part of the decoration previously thought to be contemporary with this fifteenth-century scheme but for which an early sixteenth-century date is now proposed on the basis of stylistic and other evidence.

Indian Painting: The Great Mural Tradition

Abstract: Wall painting, including murals, cave paintings, and fresco, is an ancient Indian art. India contains some of the earliest examples of wall painting, dating back to the second century BC, and depicting Hindu and Buddhist themes. One can also find secular themes depicting the daily life of aristocracy. All of these works were created with tremendous skill and each painting has a fascination all their own. The author Mira Seth who has visited and studied each painting mentioned, painstakingly records both the detail of the work, and the history and context of the circumstances under which they were made. This book is the first complete survey of classical wall painting throughout India. Lavishly illustrated and written by the foremost scholar on the subject, "Indian Painting: The Great Mural Tradition" is the only book of its kind.

The Public Life of Painting

Abstract: as a house to its life as a guest house, as a kitchen, and finally as a chicken coop, before collapsing, ravaged by termites. Monumental objects become biographical subjects more readily. The year after Andy Warhol turned a building into a movie star (in the eight-hour Empire), Alan Trachtenberg published Brooklyn Bridge: Fact and Symbol (1965), a path-breaking example of the biographical genre that includes Marvin Trachtenberg s The Statue of Liberty ( 1 976), for instance, and Eric Darton's Divided We Stand: A Biography of New York City's World Trade Center (2000). These are biographies that tell the history of both physical and metaphysical (symbolic, allegorical, ideological) lives.1 Kopytoff also points to the example of artworks, explaining that "a biography of a painting by Renoir that ends up in an incinerator is as tragic, in its way, as the biography of a person who ends up murdered."2 Picasso's Guernica has inspired a record number of biographies, recently and importantly Gijs van Hensbergen's Guernica: The Biography of a Twentieth-Century Icon (2004). 3 However complex the history of the mural's composition and exhibition, the history of its iconicity resolves into the simple fact of its worldwide symbolic value: the protest against unwarranted military violence. Guernica might be understood not simply as the twentieth century's most iconic painting, but as the one painting that the century could hardly live without, an image reproduced as a tapestry to hang outside the U.N. Security Council. In this century, it has already become an icon that proves somewhat difficult to live with. On the day (in February 2003) when Colin Powell explained to the Security Council why the United States must wage war on Iraq, blue drapery veiled the dramatic reminder of the human capacity to inflict chaos and suffering. Humbler, comparatively diminutive paintings deserve biographies too, as Steven Biel demonstrates in his charming, lively American Gothic: A Life of Americas Most Famous Painting. I think it's debatable whether (from a non

Mexico and modern printmaking : a revolution in the graphic arts, 1920 to 1950

Abstract: Mexico witnessed an exciting revival of printmaking alongside its better-known public mural program in the decades after the 1910--20 revolution. Major artists such as Jose Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Rufino Tamayo produced numbers of prints that furthered the social and political reforms of the revolution and helped develop a uniquely Mexican cultural identity. This groundbreaking book is the first to undertake an in-depth examination of these prints, the vital contributions Mexico's printmakers made to modern art, and their influence on coming generations of foreign artists. Along with a thorough discussion of the printmaking practices of Orozco, Rivera, Siqueiros, Tamayo, and others, the book features some 300 handsomely illustrated prints----many previously unpublished. Essays by distinguished scholars investigate the dynamic cultural exchange between Mexico and other countries at this time. They analyze the work of such Mexican artists as Emilio Amero and Jesus Escobedo, who traveled abroad, and such international artists as Elizabeth Catlett and Jean Charlot, who came to Mexico. They also discuss the important roles of the Taller de Grafica Popular, a flourishing print workshop founded in Mexico City in 1937, and the Weyhe Gallery in New York, which published and distributed prints by many of these artists during the 1920s and 1930s. Together, the prints and essays tell the fascinating history of Mexico's graphic-arts movement in the first half of the 20th century.

Notes on Pompeian Domestic Cults

Abstract: The performance and setting of Pompeian domestic cults is investigated on the basis of the evidence from three Pompeian houses (Casa del Cenaculo, Casa degli Amorini Dorati, Casa di Marcus Lucretius). Wissowa's view that representations of gods in mural paintings received divine worship in the domestic sphere, as well as the conclusions drawn from it by modern scholars, are refuted. An attempt is made to outline the functioning of Pompeian domestic cults, including the worship of the emperor, solely on the basis of divine figurines, which are abundantly attested in Pompeian household shrines, but have never before received systematic attention.

Bilden, texten och kyrkorummet. En studie av scener kring Jesu födelse och Kristoffermotivet i Sydskandinaviens medeltida kalkmåleri

Abstract: The subject of the thesis is the narratives in medieval mural paintings in southern Scandinavia c 1100-1530. Its aim is to examine their relationship to texts, to the viewer and to the church space, where the viewer looks at the murals. Two different subjects have been chosen for study: S Christopher and the Nativity of Christ. From the corpus of preserved mural paintings with these subjects in southern Scandinavia a selection of monuments has been put to closer study. The dissertation consists, after a review of previous research (1), of four main chapters, focusing on: 2. The S Christopher image, its temporal aspects and its relationship to the verbal narrative and to the church space. 3. The Nativity scene and its relationship to the narrative and its temporal aspects. 4. The pictorial sequence of the Nativity story and the interrelationship of its different scenes, the sequence and the church space. The finishing chapter (5) focuses on the relationship between the pictures, the church space, its function and the worshippers. The S Christopher images have played a very active part in the development of the saint's legend. The pictures develop from an imago-like representation to a historia in the form of a scene with implied action. In a similar way the Nativity scene develops from a representation without much implied action, and later becomes more closely related to time and change - something that partly changes its meaning. Most of the Nativity scenes are part of pictorial sequences, with an entirely chronological arrangement or with a more or less typological one. The meaning and content of the sequences are influenced by their combination of scenes in a spatial structure, and also by their placing in the church interior. The position of the mural paintings on the walls and vaults and in the different parts of the church interior gives them varying accessibility for the worshippers and the clergy, and different relationship to the centres of the room, such as the altar(s), the font, the entrance, the screen etc. The pictorial surfaces are also to different degrees subordinate to the existing surfaces and boundaries, which become an important factor in the arrangement of the mural paintings.

Fernand Leger: The Monumental Art

Abstract: Mural painting became a significant part of Fernand L, ger's work with commissions for the World's Fairs of 1925 and then 1937, held in Paris. They grew increasingly important during the years preceding his exile in America, then, upon on his return to France, in the context of Reconstruction. Due to his international fame, opportunities arose in Europe, the United States, South America and Canada. Yvonne Brunhammer is the former chief curator of the Mus, e des Arts D, coratifs in Paris. Pierre Descargues i a famous French art historian and a personal friend of L, ger and many other twentieth century artist.

Murals as a popular medium of communication in south africa

Abstract: The flourishing of community mural art in South Africa at the beginning of the 1990s was prompted directly by the demise of the apartheid regime. It was associated with -and spurred on- by the transformation of the socio-political landscape, the liberalization of race relations, the relaxation of city by-laws, and a widely-shared spirit of enthusiasm for the new ‘rainbow nation’. Today, roughly a decade later, the mural movement has virtually ceased to exist. It appears that many city officials and sponsors no longer think of murals as creative, vibrant expressions of a new African spirit, but rather as embarrassing, technically and stylistically primitive, low budget manifestations of an unwanted ‘Third World’ identity. Given the past enthusiasm with which artists, community activists, government departments and non-governmental organizations used to employ the mural medium for a variety of educational purposes and public awareness campaigns, one wonders why the phenomenon has proven to be so shortlived.