Showing papers on "Mural published in 2013"

The Art of War: Instability, Insecurity, and Ideological Imagery in Northern Ireland’s Political Murals, 1979–1998

Abstract: This article examines the purpose behind, and rhetorical content of, political wall murals produced during the troubles in Northern Ireland. I utilize a semiotic approach to analyze the ways that the symbolic content and physical placement of Northern Irish murals was used by actors on both sides of the conflict. I examine the major thematic traditions utilized by muralists on each side and situate them within the historical and political contexts of the conflict in Northern Ireland. This approach highlights the ways that murals did more than simply champion ideological causes, as earlier scholarship has argued, but served an active role in efforts to catalyze cultural support for organizations’ political goals. I argue that murals played a key role for organizations on both sides of the conflict, as they each struggled to craft a communal self-identification and legitimizing central narrative that furthered their ideological goals. Organizations on both sides used murals to mobilize cultural support for their political and military struggles. In this regard, murals functioned as a form of mythic speech, attempting to depoliticize highly political ideologies and make the rhetoric used by the competing groups seem natural and pure. The grassroots nature of the mural traditions is particularly telling in this regard, exposing the deep-seated insecurity of organizations on both sides. This insecurity is further reflected by, and served as a catalyst for, the paramilitary violence that was a defining characteristic of Northern Ireland for so long.

Painting Andean Liminalities at the Church of Andahuaylillas, Cuzco, Peru

Abstract: The church of Andahuaylillas located near Cuzco, Peru, is frequently hailed for its lush interior decorations and seventeenth-century mural paintings. One mural image in particular has captured the sustained attention of scholars for decades: the entrance wall mural entitled Camino del cielo e infierno depicting a complex allegory of good and bad faith. This article explores the mural's connections to a Flemish print and a Spanish auto sacramental (a one-act play associated with Corpus Christi), demonstrating the hitherto unexamined relationships between mural painting, print culture, and religious theatre in the Andes. It also considers the inclusion of local indigenous and Inca references in the mural that were simultaneously subsumed within discourses of idolatry while at the same time granting visibility and legitimacy to indigenous Andeans. This article brings to light the plurality of meanings invested in Heaven and Hell as both destination and journey among Spanish ecclesiastics and their indigenou...

The Politics of Post-Conflict Space: The Mysterious Case of Missing Graffiti in “Post-Troubles” Northern Ireland

Abstract: Why is there so little graffiti in Northern Ireland compared to cities in North America and Europe -- including Great Britain, to which it is politically connected, and Ireland, with which it is geographically connected? This question is particularly perplexing given the highly developed political mural tradition on both sides of the sectarian divide in the North, and the almost 15 years that have passed since the signing of the Peace Agreement ending some three decades of militarized conflict. This paper explores the connections between the absence of graffiti, and the street-level structures and processes of reconciliation or conflict – with a specific focus on the geopolitics of paramilitary control within communities throughout Northern Ireland. The contributions of the paper are three-fold: (1) it highlights the importance of graffiti as a (usually neglected) lens for assessing the degree to which the expected benefits of a peace agreement are experienced at the street level; (2) it addresses the methodological challenge of how to examine something that is not there (specifically, it studies the absence of graffiti in Northern Ireland by comparing it to the logic, mechanics and meanings of graffiti elsewhere); and (3) it questions the well-marketed representation of Northern Ireland as a unqualified case of successful post-agreement peace.

"A Spectacle to the World, Both to Angels and to Men": Multiculturalism in Medieval Famagusta, Cyprus, as seen through The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste Mural in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul

Abstract: In 2012 the fifteenth-century mural of The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Famagusta, Cyprus, underwent a major restoration funded by Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) and the World Monuments Fund. It had been singled out for priority treatment not only because of its advanced state of decay, but because of the wealth of information it could offer historians working on the cultural histories of medieval Cyprus. This article looks at some of the questions raised about multiculturalism in medieval Famagusta and offers some tentative suggestions for a “reading” of the mural.

A multi-analytical study of the fifteenth century mural paintings of the Batalha Monastery (Portugal) in view of their conservation

Abstract: The systematic characterization of the painting’s palette and technique applied on the execution of the mural paintings of the Batalha Monastery (Batalha, Leiria, Portugal) is presented. These are the oldest mural paintings known in Portugal (apart from Roman frescoes) and represent the beginning of an artistic Portuguese tradition that continues until the nineteenth century. The aim of the study was to identify for the first time by adopting a multi-analytical physico-chemical approach of the pigments, binder, and alteration products (white veils, crusts, and pigment alteration) of these unique works of arts in order not only to better understand the painting technique, but also to support a conservation-restoration intervention that took place from April to August 2010. Micro-sampling of paint layers was performed on representative areas of the paintings. The characterization of the pigments and binders was carried out by microscopy and microanalysis of cross sections using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDS), micro-FTIR, and micro X-ray diffraction. The combined analysis of the paintings allowed the identification of the painting’s palette: Vermillion (HgS) and red ochre for the reds, yellow ochres for the yellows, green earths and malachite for the greens, azurite for the blues, and carbon for the blacks. The use of the pigment is dependent of the motive painted while the most expensive materials were used in the most important iconographic motives. Alteration of malachite was identified in darkened layers in green areas of the paintings. White veil areas on the surface of the paintings were identified as calcite from precipitation/dissolution processes due to water run-off on the sacristy dome ceiling and walls.

A Wall Painting in Herod’s Theatre at Herodion: An Image of Elysium?

Abstract: It seems that Herod’s theatre at Herodion is part of the monumental burial complex (the mausoleum) and its related ceremonies. This proposal is reinforced by literary sources and similar Roman-period theatres related to burial complexes and the cult of the dead.Of the four wall-paintings discovered in the royal box of the theatre, only one has survived in its entirety. The mural depicts a scene with a building and trees, next to which is a rocky hill with deer (or gazelles) climbing it. Either next to or opposite the deer stands a hunting-dog (hound), watching them and/or ready for pursuit. Does this wall-painting depict the deer and the hound merely incidentally, or does their appearance have an allegorical meaning?

Healthy Communities at Twenty‐Five

Abstract: Since the dawn of settled agriculture and the birth of the first cities, such as Ur and Jericho, there has been a yearning to improve the lot of civilization. Enhancing the well-being of people and place is a timeless and perennial quest. Whether examining ancient mosaics that depict the good life in the cradle of civilization or modern community visions drawn with markers on mural paper by residents gathered in today’s multisector collaborative partnerships, one can see common patterns in diverse peoples’ ideas of what comprises quality of life. This recognition can inform ever-better ways to translate personal aspirations for well-being into collective actions for a healthier and more equitably prosperous United States of America.

Creative cities and sustainable development: mural-based tourism as a local public strategy

Abstract: Creative locations become a key element of public regeneration strategies and develop innovative services based on intellectual proper ty. Some communities that have chosen to develop their tourism potential through the use of murals have improved their local development in a sustainable way, thus meeting a need expressed by tourists to create a more active experience with an opportunity for the destination to embed experiences in the locality. In this study, which was carried out as part of an international cooperation research project with Uruguay, we have explored whether Uruguayan mural art may be a way for Uruguayan towns to develop sustainable, creative, mural-based tourism. We used a qualitative content analysis, through in-person interviews, and found that its potential has not been exploited due to the lack of an organized public strategy. Keywords : creative cities, mural art, local sustainable development, mural-based tourism.

Western Han Dynasty Mural Tombs: from the Use of Integrated Technologies to the Cybermap

Abstract: The Virtual Museum of the Western Han Dynasty Project is a joint research between UC Merced, the Italian National Council of Research, and the Jiaotong University aimed at digitally documenting archaeological sites, artifacts and cultural relics of the Western Han Dynasty. The outcome of this process will be the creation of a virtual museum, based on collaborative environments, dedicated to the Western Han Dynasty. This project will integrate new archaeological datasets from fieldwork activities, monuments, and famous collections of artifacts. The use of integrated technologies will permit the reconstruction of the ancient landscape of the capital of the Dynasty – Chang’an–, funerary contexts and art and artifacts. One of the most important archaeological examples in Xi’an is represented by the paintings of the western Han mural tombs. Despite their cultural and historical importance they are at risk of being lost because of the critical conditions of plasters and colors. The murals show a very rich repertoire of subjects such as scenes of daily life, rituals and ascension to heaven. These examples of mural paintings contain a very complex interpretation code explaining the relations between life and death during the Western Han dynasty. A simple description of the subjects and also the 3D virtual reconstruction of the tombs are insufficient for approaching a correct cultural interpretation. In this paper we present a tentative analysis and communication of two mural tombs’ iconography obtained through 3D virtual cybermaps. The use of cybermaps emphasizes the interpretation of the spatial connections (affordances) between the different scenes decorating the coffin chambers.

Romanesque mural painting in Catalonia

Abstract: The Romanesque mural painting in Catalonia which was saved from despoilment and dispersion in 1919, when the Junta de Museus (Board of Museums) of Barcelona embarked upon a major campaign of purchase and removal, is a unique heritage of universal value. Even though the mural paintings from the Romanesque cathedrals or the great abbeys like Ripoll no longer survive, what has been conserved is quite notable both stylistically and iconographically. The surviving frescoes were mainly inspired by the art of early Christian Rome and that of the Gregorian reform, yet also by Byzantine sources and by Lombard and Germanic styles and prototypes, all translated into highly original programmes of images. The most emblematic works are conserved at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC), such as the apse from Sant Climent de Taull, a capolavoro of European Romanesque painting, and the apses from Sant Pere de la Seu d'Urgell and Santa Maria d'Aneu, both boasting outstanding quality, along with the paintings from Sant Joan in Boi, Sant Quirze de Pedret, Sorpe and el Burgal. Together with the frescoes at the Museu Diocesa i Comarcal de Solsona, the Museu Episcopal de Vic, the Museu d'Art de Girona and the Museu Diocesa d'Urgell, along with the numerous murals and remains of paintings conserved in situ, many of them discovered in recent years, they enable us to envisage the scope of this Catalan Romanesque art. Of these discoveries, perhaps the most noteworthy are the paintings from Sant Vicenc d'Estamariu, as well as the new images on the triumphant arches of Sant Climent de Taull. This article summarises the most important part of this mural painting heritage as well as the most recent literature on the subject.

Sikyatki polychrome: style, iconography, cross-media comparisons, and organization of production

Abstract: Sikyatki Polychrome (A.D. 1385–1629) is one of the most easily recognized, yet least understood, pottery types in the Southwest. This article explains the history of the Sikyatki Polychrome type description and how its chronological range was established. It explores the stylistic and iconographic repertoire of Sikyatki Polychrome, and compares pottery painting with rock art, mural painting, and depictions of textiles. I suggest that at least some Sikyatki Polychrome vessels may have been produced by part-time specialists, who most likely worked in family groups. Men may have painted some Sikyatki Polychrome vessels, as well as textiles and kiva murals rendered in the same style.

Development of Multimedia Contents System for Gogurye Ancient Tomb Mural

Abstract: In this paper, we design and develop an educational virtual system which can experience Goguryeo tomb murals in the virtual world Goguryeo tomb murals are well known in the world, and they are registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site by the value Acknowledged worldwide We design an user-friendly interface for Goguryeo tome murals by Flash, and make a modelling and rendering with 3D Max In addition, we create an educational animation with Adobe Premiere We choose some of items such as Goguryeo tomb murals, historical sites, high-level description of periodization, Goguryeo`s clothes, home, play as sub-themes, and we develop a system with detailed views and informations for the daily life of the people of Goguryeo

Identification of traditional Thai colours used for mural paintings and Khon masks

Abstract: Thai colour names used for mural paintings and Khon masks are not well known, uncommonly used, and some are forgotten. They are normally known today only among few artists who inherited the knowledge to paint them from their elders. However, the artists cannot quantitatively describe the characteristics of these colours, and this is a major impediment in colour identification and preservation studies that are necessary for future restoration works of temples and artifacts. The purpose of this article is to describe our research for identifying and quantitatively describing traditional Thai colours, as part of our effort to create a “Thai Colour Name Dictionary.” In this article, we show information about colour names which have never been mentioned in any international journal until now, and we describe the method we used to identify them with physical colours. The method is exemplified on 10 colour names. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 38, 229–234, 2013.

Image Reproduction based on Texture Image Extension with Traced Drawing for Heavy Damaged Mural Painting

Abstract: Not only geometric information but also optical information is needed to reproduce ruins using three-dimensional realistic computer graphics as they were when those were founded. In order to give a model a sense of reality, it is common to carry out the texture mapping of the photographed image. However such information can not be acquired from either weathered or partially destroyed ruins. While there are various conventional techniques for image restoration, which can overcome in the case of small missing and cracks, it is difficult to restore such a heavy damaged mural painting well when there is no information from the periphery. In this paper, we propose an image reproduction of a heavy damaged mural painting using a texture information extracted from another mural painting which has actually been restored by conservators and a traced drawing which the specialist guessed and drew. The restored image was used same pigment inks. Based on texture information from the restored image and a segmented traced drawing, we produce a restored image by applying the texture extension to each segment.

Study of the painting methods of mural paintings in ancient tombs of Goguryeo using scanning electron microscope.

Abstract: Disputes on the painting methods of Goguryeo murals can mainly be categorized into whether the murals adapted eastern secco or western fresco; however, the murals have their own unique methods as well. There are different viewpoints among experts on interpreting the painting methods. This study involved the creation of research samples to discover the painting methods under dispute and may help discover the methods based on scanning electron microscopy energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) studies. Goguryeo murals introduced pseudo-fresco rather than buon fresco methods. Unlike fresco techniques in the West, Goguryeo painters mixed traditional soft binders and adapted typical secco painting techniques for paintings, borders, and corrections after drying. The disputed issues may be resolved by these techniques, and samples may be produced based on the analyzed data. Therefore, many questions can finally be answered through SEM-EDX elemental mapping.

벽화마을의 보존과 계승을 위한 정체성 구현에 관한 연구

Abstract: Today’s mural villages appeared along with a boom in the public art project that murals were drawn on village walls according to a part of the policies which aimed to maintain alleys and hillside roads like the ‘mud flat’ in the city and improve residents’ lives. The public art project had been revitalized in earnest with the institutional support such as literary promotion fund and lottery fund as well as the support of the government and the local government. Mural village can be divided into 4 types, government-led, local government-led, private organization-led and resident-led. There were many cases that mural towns were made by talent donation activities. These phenomena put life into underdeveloped villages and made them bright and light. On the other hand, as there were many murals different from the topic decided before the mural work and with the image unrelated to the legitimacy of the village and the meaning of the village’s existence, the identity confusion or absence of the village was caused. Some of murals made through “talent donation activities’ in a good sense incited the identity absence of many mural villages. Now, it is time that the need of carrying out public art project including talent donation as a long-term plan, not a one-time event has emerged. To realizing the identity of the mural village is to make a brand identity. In this context, this study analyzed some cases of the existing mural villages to identify the current status of identity realization. This study also searched for the answer from brand identity factors to present what the factors organizing the brand identity and space communications of the mural village were and what types of factors were needed.

England's Rivera: The Lost Murals of Viscount Hastings 1931–1939

Abstract: Beyond his work as Diego Rivera's assistant in San Francisco and Detroit, little has been written about the British mural painter Viscount ‘Jack’ Hastings, creator of the Worker of the Future Upsetting the Economic Chaos of the Present at the Marx Memorial Library in London. Drawing on a range of documentary sources and discussing some hitherto unknown murals in both the US and the UK, this article will examine the development of Hastings’ work as an artist and political activist. A key theme of this article will be to explore Hastings’ role in attempts to promote mural painting and socially committed art in England through his involvement with the Artists International Association and his writings for Left Review and Architectural Review. This article will also examine the relationship between Hastings’ work and his political interests, which culminated in his abandoning his artistic career in order to serve as a junior minister in Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government.

Der Weg der Roten Fahne. Art in correlation to architecture, urban planning and policy

Abstract: The presented research focuses on the relationship between art and architecture. On the example of the mural Der Weg der Roten Fahne (The Path of the Red Flag) installed at the western facade of the Kulturpalast Dresden (Palace of Culture in Dresden) the author analyses the necessity of the mural as an immanent element to communicate political decisions of the German Democratic Republic's government to the public by using architecture. Up until now the mural reinforces the political value of the International Style building in function and shape and links its volume to the urban layout.

Views corners and their esthetic effects on the artistically shape

Abstract: This study aims at exploring the views corners in Watching mural paints and painted grounds, as these corners are established from the line of the body plus the view line, and how we may observe different shapes. This study contains in to two searches: the murals paints and ground paints and how we may observe both of them and the impact of this view in the corner views and what result from constructing this shape beside what we may understand from them in ideas and covers. This study describes the mural paints and analyzes them artistically and aesthetic according to view of observing, then clarifying the relationship between observing the mural paint in right angle agreed with their real shapes and their facts, and observing the mural ground in acute angle agreed with their movable constructing rhythmic shapes even if their shapes are real and analyzed them in view and aesthetically. As this study discusses the relationship between the materiality, ideal and symbolic in observing the mural paints and ground paints in different angles. Adding this study clarifies the importance of arithmetic quantum for the aesthetic shapes to clarify that frequencies in the real shapes and geometrical shapes will gain them the same artistic and aesthetic characteristics.

Graffiti-Inspired Curriculum: Enhancing Student Understanding of Artistic Conventions, Symbolism, and Metaphor

Abstract: Graffiti is an art form that has been largely ignored by institutions of art education. This art-based, classroom study explores the student learning that can occur through the implementation of a graffiti-inspired unit. The content assessed for student growth in understanding was artistic conventions, symbolism, and visual metaphor. This study describes how the data on student learning was accumulated through the use of questionnaires, individual interviews, and written artist statements. The graffiti-inspired curriculum of this study, that included three major assignments based on a common theme of personal identity, showed that students were able to significantly increase their understanding of artistic conventions, symbolism, and metaphor almost universally. The final results of this study were applied to a graffiti-inspired unit plan for art educators to use and adjust in order to engage and increase the knowledge of their individual student populations. Keywords: graffiti-inspired, artistic conventions, visual culture, visual metaphor Running Head: GRAFFITI-­‐INSPIRED CURRICULUM

Vision of the Heavenly City in Jošanica Monastery

Abstract: The article discusses the iconography of an enigmatic fresco in the narthex of the Josanica monastery in Central Serbia (dated 1430-33), the meaning of which was unknown due to its unique iconography and lost captions. After the discovery of the mural paintings in the 1950s and their cleaning during the 1960s, the fresco was regarded by early reports to be part of the cycle of a hermit’s life. In his 1995 study on the narthex program, S. Petkovic proposed the identification of the fresco as the Vision of Eulogios, providing as iconographic parallels a fresco in the Pherapont monastery and an icon in the Tretiakov Gallery in Moscow. Reconsidering the fresco’s structure, the author of this article argues that the mentioned Russian examples do not match the scene in Josanica and that the fresco represents a Vision of the Heavenly City based on Isaiah’s prophecy from Is. 26:1- 11. Although the fresco is hapax within medieval wall paintings, the article discusses examples from manuscript illumination which pro...

Les peintures murales

Abstract: An analysis of the sources and meanings of the seven mural paintings executed by Le Corbusier in Jean Badovici's villa E-1027 (largely designed by Eileen Gray)as well as the others he painted in and around the seafood restaurant l'Etoile de Mer and his own cabanon.

The Urewera Mural: Becoming Gift and the Hau of Disappearence

Abstract: In this article I discuss the seeming 'theft' of the Urewera Mural in 1997, using the term ‘cultural activism’ to describe the mural’s removal, because it acted as a catalyst to refocus the spotlight on specific Maori land claim issues. The Urewera Mural was targeted because it was portrayed as an object of white cultural value with significant representations for Pakeha. Te Kaha’s intention was for Pakeha to lose something of value and to experience how Maori have felt since colonisation when their land, their cultural value, was taken. Stephen Muecke writes that ‘cultural activism can have the same result as political activism, but it doesn’t look the same ... It is a tactical “bringing out” of culture as a valuable and scarce “statement” ’. I suggest cultural activism is, thus, ‘performative’ political activism; for when protestors dress up and ‘perform’ their protest, a media identity is created that is beyond the political message, and so more memorable.

The Discovery of the Caja de Agua of Tlatelolco: Mural Painting from the Dawn of New Spain

Abstract: Brought to light only in the mid-twentieth century, the ancient Templo Mayor precinct of the Mexica city of Tlatelolco is today located in the northern section of the sprawling metropolis of Mexico...

Mural with micro-magnetic environment

Abstract: The utility model discloses a mural with a micro-magnetic environment. The mural with the micro-magnetic environment comprises a bottom material and a face material connected with the bottom material, wherein the bottom material comprises a magnetic glue layer. The mural in the micro-magnetic environment does not contain a non-environment-friendly material and is harmless to the physical health of people usually in the micro-magnetic environment; the micro-magnetic environment is beneficial to the human health; when a user needs to replace a mural with a novel pattern, the mural can be replaced by only dismounting the face material from the bottom material and mounting a new face material with the novel pattern; and the mural with the micro-magnetic environment, provided by the utility model is applicable to various customized demands of clients and the dismounting cost is low.