Showing papers on "Mural published in 2008"

Exploring the Creation of Picasso's Guernica: Composition Studies, Chance, Metaphors, and Expertise

Abstract: Simonton (2007) offered evidence for his Darwinian theory of creativity—blind nonmonotonic variation and selection—based on ratings of Picasso's preliminary sketches of the components for Guernica. This comment reexamines the sketches, adding two major sources of information: (a) consideration of the changing conceptions of the composition, as well as the components, and (b) inclusion of sketches from Picasso's first vision for his mural, the Studio sketches. Such analysis supports the notion of nonmonotonic variation including backtracking. It also suggests that the final mural, although radically different in its components from the Studio sketches, drew on the composition and theme of that initial vision for the mural, but in a completely reimagined form when a chance event pulled Picasso's thinking in a new direction. This comment also describes how Picasso drew on his expertise throughout his explorations, that lack of knowledge of outcome does not diminish the role of expertise in the artist at work...

Microanalysis of Gothic Mural paintings (15th century) in Slovenia: Investigation of the technique used by the Masters

Abstract: The present article focuses on an interdisciplinary research on cultural heritage concerning the microanalysis of Gothic mural paintings made during the 15th century in Slovenia. The samples were chosen from the churches of Crngrob (1453), Mirna (1463–1465), Mevkuž (1465) and Mace (1467), attributed to two of the most important Gothic painters of that period of time: Master Bolfgang and Master of Mace. The chemical and phase composition of all the mortars, number of their layers and selection of the pigments were of interest. For this purpose, fragments of mural paintings were studied with several instrumental techniques: optical microscopy (OM), SEM-EDX, x-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). In early artworks, the mortar was made using a mixture of lime and more or less clean sand. Later, crushed lime-rock or marble instead of sand was added to lime. The pigments identified by EDX microanalysis of cross sections previously studied by OM, are of earth or mineral origin. Therefore, they are durable in fresco and lime techniques: lime white, yellow and red natural or burned ochres, green earth and azurite. The results confirmed the high technical quality of both painters and the relationships between the teacher and the disciple. Master Bolfgang and Master of Mace combine three basic techniques of mural painting: fresco, secco and lime techniques. This kind of investigation and methodology allow us to know better the Central European Art and the Slovenian Art in the Adriatic zone, as well as the general map of European Art in the 14–15th centuries. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Of Dead Kings, Dukes and Constables: The Historical Context of the Danse Macabre in Late Medieval Paris

Abstract: As discussed in an earlier article published in vol. 157 (2004) of this journal, the starting point of most studies on the medieval Danse macabre is the extensive mural scheme executed in the parish cemetery of Les Saints Innocents in Paris in 1424–25. Little attention has hitherto been given to the political circumstances surrounding this scheme's creation during the Anglo-Burgundian occupation of the French capital. The dual presentation of the king as both a victim of death amidst the ranks of the living and as a worm-eaten corpse at the end of the scheme is especially intriguing in view of the deaths in quick succession of Henry V of England and Charles VI of France in 1422. It is these topical references that explain the quick rise to fame of what at first sight might be just another medieval didactic lesson about mortality and sin. The allusions to contemporary figures incorporated into the mural's text and imagery or (in the case of the duke) the avoidance of any such allusions are examined...

A fountain bewitched: Gender, sin, and propaganda in the Massa Marittima mural

Abstract: The fountain mural discovered in 2000 in the Tuscan town of Massa Marittima has drawn international attention due to its rare iconographic allusions to fertility and witchcraft in late thirteenth century Italy. The mural, which depicts eight women underneath a deciduous tree with phalli hanging from its branches in lieu of fruit, raises numerous questions. In this thesis, I examine the positive classical iconographic associations to fertility and auspiciousness and how these symbols came to be reinterpreted within a Christian context as elements of sin and temptation. Furthermore, the connections between the lingering classical prototype of a woman as a being of unbridled sexuality, temptation, and bearer of prophetic knowledge continued to manifest themselves in medieval folklore beliefs of witchcraft and its artistic representations in the high and late Middle Ages. The mural is evidence of how these anxieties were effectively appropriated into the genre of propagandistic political art during a time of civil unrest in central Italy. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to my committee members, Dr. for your encouraging ideas, input, and mentorship in this endeavor. This work is dedicated to my family, whose unwavering love and support continues to inspire me. Venti Baci.

The technique measurement for repairing the mural-paintings in Cave 85 at Mogao Grottoes

Abstract: The main diseases of wall paintings of cave 85 at Mogao Grottoes are detachment, disruption and flaking. Aim to the different kinds of diseases, we applying the modern restoration idea to develop the suitable material and technique. After the restoration of the cave, the crisis of the further deterioration of the wall paintings has been relieved, now the deterioration has been controlled, and the wall paintings are stable and safe.

Pintura mural do fim da Idade Média e do início da Idade Moderna no norte de Portugal

Abstract: This PhD dissertation provides a study of late Medieval and early Modern wallpaintings in northern Portugal. In the first chapter, I consider the state of the art of the study of late Medieval and early Modern Portuguese wall-paintings before the beginning of my own research project. In northern Portugal the majority of wall-paintings are located in parish churches. In these churches abbots or, more rarely, patrons were responsible for commissioning wall-paintings in the chancels, while the parishioners should command murals in the nave. Therefore, in the second chapter, I developed a research methodology in order to clarify who commanded wall-painting programmes in parish church chancels. I also make some comments on financial resources available to parish church abbots. Finally, I consider some cases of commissioners of mural painting. Extremely large giornate indicate that although extensive programmes were commissioned, it seems that they were to be made in the shortest possible time, therefore conditioning the sophistication of the end result. In the third chapter I discuss possible reasons that might explain this practice. The modus faciendi – and taste - of artists and wall-painting teams is the subject of the fourth chapter. Finally, in the fifth chapter I provide an analysis of themes of northern Portuguese wall-paintings of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Attention is also given to the possible functions of the image in wall-paintings.

African American visual arts

Abstract: Chronology of Visual Arts by African Americans from Slavery to the Present Introduction: The Historical Context 1. 'Grotesque jars and voodoo jugs': Africa, a Slave Past and the Visual Arts 2. 'Ethiopia Awakening': Sculpture, Religion and Folk Art 3. Black Revolution, the Mural and the Fine Arts 4. Creative Chroniclers: Developments in Photography 5. A Visual Language: Graffiti Art and Installation Conclusion Guide to Further Reading.

La iconografía en los objetos del sitio de Kuntur Wasi

Abstract: The archaeological materials associated with the Kuntur Wasi Temple in Cajamarca reveal rich iconographic representations. They are important for revealing the cosmology that gave meaning to the ceremonial activities of the temple, as well as the daily life of the people. This article presents a brief description of the characteristics of the stone sculpture and mural paintings found at Kuntur Wasi. It ascribes a meaning related to the myth and ritual of water and to the important role played by aquatic reptiles such as crocodiles, caimans or anacondas.

The "Allegory of Mercy" at the Misericordia in Florence: Historiography, Context, Iconography, and the Documentation of Confraternal Charity in the Trecento

Abstract: Levin, William R. The "Allegory of Mercy" at the Misencordia in Florence: Historiography, Context, Iconography, and the Documentation of Confraternal Charity in the Trecento. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2004. Pp. viii; 180. Twenty black-and-white illustrations. Levin's book on the Allegory of Mercy at the Confraternity of the Misericordia is a welcome addition both to the scholarship on fourteenth-c. Florentine painting and to that on Italian renaissance art. As its subtitle indicates, the work is an examination not only of the various stylistic, iconographie, and historiographie aspects of the monumental mural but also of the religious and social ambiances within which it was created. The thoroughness of the research on which Levin's study is based cannot be surmised from the relatively small soft-cover volume in which the book appears. Indeed, the comprehensiveness of the well-written text should have qualified it for a more impressive publication, which might have included color plates instead of a few black and white reproductions. Levin makes clear at the outset that the Allegory of Mercy was one of the first major semi-public (if not public) images displayed hi the center of Florence (15). Visible to people who walked by the Cathedral and the Baptistry, or fingered in the Piazza del Duomo (one of the frequented squares in the city), the image served as a reminder of the continuous and close interrelationship between the activities of the Confraternity of the Misericordia and those of the Florentine community. Therefore, obviously, the fresco depicts the life-size female personification of Mercy hovering above a detailed city-scape of Florence and flanked by thirty-six male and female figures, which must represent the city's populace. For that reason also, Levin begins his stylistic analysis of the mural not with the personification of Mercy itself which is of course in the center - but with two subsidiary portrayals of buildings and the people who inhabit them (31-36). Among various important art-historical issues addressed by Levin is the identification of the subject of the Allegory of Mercy (19-20; 36-37). As scholars of late-medieval and early renaissance art realize, the depiction of a towering female whose mantle covers and protects smaller figures of men and women often presents Mary in her role as the purveyor of Christ's mercy (fig. 11). On other occasions, an almost identical image may display not the Virgin, but St. Ursula flanked by adoring females. Nonetheless, hi Allegory of Mercy, a similar representation becomes the very embodiment of the virtue of Mercy, which, like that of Charity, may (in other instances) be symbolized by the portrayal of a mother shown nursing two infants (figs. 16-17). Also enhghtening is the controversy about the dating of the picture (pp. 16-17); according to the earliest historiographer of the Confraternity of the Misericordia, Placido Landini, the mural was painted in 1352. …

To be or not to be an artist: rethinking the social complexities of Thai mural painting

Abstract: Introduction Before I embarked on my fieldwork in Thailand in 2006, I considered all Thai mural painters to be artists. They paint commissioned work on temple walls therefore it seemed logical to call them artists. However during my first visit to national artist Ajarn Chalermchai Kositpipat’s temple-in-the-making at Wat Rong Khun in Chiang Rai, I confronted the reality that not everyone contributing to the temple’s artistic endeavors are considered “artists.”1 My interest in mural depictions transformed into a desire to understand the social complexities between the central Thai artists and northern Thai folk artists working behind the scenes at Wat Rong Khun. I discovered that in Thai mural painting it is not so much the stories and the morals painted that are important to the local audiences, but who paints the murals. The man behind the brush embodies the soul (chit) of the painting, and canvasses a template narrating the way people imagine their local histories. 2 In northern Thailand a northern Thai folk artist (sa-la) may not possess the skills of the central Thai craftsman (chang kian) or the formal fine arts training of an artist (sin), but he paints from his soul to preserve his understanding of regional Buddhist mural painting. The chang kian and the sa-la represent two different groups of craftsmen and folk artists in Thailand. To call a sa-la a chang kian ignores their efforts to stand out as regional folk artists and generalizes their work as a part of central Thailand’s visual discourse.

The conservation and relocation of a monumental petrachrome mural: helen lundeberg's the history of transportation

Abstract: The History of Transportation is a 240 foot long (73 metre) cement-andaggregate pictorial mural located in Inglewood, California. Created in 1940 by Pasadena painter and muralist Helen Lundeberg, the mural was once situated along one of southern California's most traveled commuter arteries. Changes in traffic patterns and demographics left the mural in a state of neglect over the years, subjecting it to structural and surface decay, including copious acts of vandalism that left it all but unreadable as an artwork. The mural's multi-faceted conservation program, carried out 2003–2007, was predicated on its relocation. Indeed, had it not been possible to remove and relocate this large-scale architectural artwork, the extensive repairs, graffiti removal, structural reinforcement, and mitigation of erosion that were carried out during treatment would have been nullified almost immediately after re-installation. Therefore, the plan for relocation to a site extensively used by the public was the essent...

Narrating Neighborhood: Denying Young Women’s Public Voices About Violence

Abstract: This paper describes a youth-centered activist project with a group of young women in Brooklyn, NY, and the controversy surrounding it. In 1999 the young women created a neighborhood mural with anti-violence themes. Within 6 months of the mural’s dedication, the mural was whitewashed by the corporate owner of the mural wall. Using content and discourse analysis of archival materials, organizational documents, and ethnographic fieldnotes from participant observation, I argue that the teen women’s representations of violence were denied through the shifting understandings of their ages and assumptions about conflict resolution strategies. I offer reflections on the need for careful planning and reflection in youth participatory projects and the meanings of success and social change in these projects.

Analysis of the Astronomical System of Constellations in Korguryo Tomb Murals

Abstract: This article articulates the Koguryian characteristics of astronomy shown in Koguryo mural tombs, which were painted from the fourth to the seventh century. As of 2008, a total of 107 mural tombs have been discovered. Of these, I confirmed that twenty-five tombs had constellation paintings. Analyzing these constellation tombs, four guardian deities as mystical animals (Blue Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Phoenix, and Black Warrior) were guardians of this world. I discovered that Koguryo people developed Sasook-do, a unique constellation system of four directions that is in charge of guarding the cosmos. It consisted of the Big Dipper on the north ceiling, the Southern Dipper, the Eastern Double Three Stars, and the Western Double Three Stars. Each corresponds with the Great Bear, the Archer, the Scorpion, and Orion, respectively. The Three Polar stars are placed in the center and are enlarged according to Osook-do, a five constellation system for directions. The Southern Dipper was a very important constellation rarely seen among Chinese mural tombs during this period.

Die Dietacher Kapelle und Ihre Wandmalereien

Abstract: The chapel of Dietach and its mural painting . Beneath the former hospital of Dietach in Upper Austria there is a small chapel situated, which was supposedly built by the famous Baroque architect Johann Michael Prunner. He was the architect of Graf Franz Josef von Lamberg (Steyr), who founded the hospital of Dietach in 1687. In 1997 the chapel had to be removed because the street in front of it had to be enlarged. To save the chapel from destroying, it was moved seven metres backwards from the street in a remarkable operation, which was financed by the owner, the Bundesdenkmalamt and the government of Upper Austria. The restoration of the chapel put forth a significant mural painting with an illustration of the deposition of the cross, painted by Johann Georg Morzer in 1752. He is the painter of the crucifixion in the Cellar of the Coelestine-Abbey in Steyr. Today the chapel is a popular tourist attraction, primaryly because of the fantastic, restored mural painting inside.

Misreading America in Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider

Abstract: Easy Rider is a film that bids farewell to a number of ideas. The idea of community, a persistent though always receding theme in the film, is one of them. Hopper’s own, admittedly hackneyed, words on the subject give shape to this assertion. Here, in the space of three semi-intelligible sentences about cinematic authorship, Hopper articulates a generation’s surging faith in the individual: “Film is an art-form, an expensive art-form, it’s the Sistine Chapel of the Twentieth Century, it’s the best way to reach people. The artist, not the industry, must take responsibility for the entire work. Michelangelo did less than a quarter of the Sistine Chapel; yet directed all work, stone by stone, mural by mural, on and on and on.”1