In an effort to further capture the relevant previous work originating at New York University, the following are abstracts of additional dissertations pertaining to living traditions in art. CP

Fowowe, Moses Oladipo on village potters of Nigeria

Fraih, Insaf on Bedouin embroidery in Jordan

Gottheim, Vivian on Bomba Mei Boi ritual performance in

Henshaw, Elizabeth on Nigerian art education policy

Jamuni, Pairoj on modern Thai painting

Lederman, Arline Joan on Afghan crafts

Nourel-Din, Safwat on the problem of creativity and tradition in Kuwaiti ceramics

Schwarz, Cynthia Johnson on American Windsor chairmakers

Spellman, Robert on the Black aesthetic

Wilson Cryer, Patricia L. on Puerto Rican Painters in New York City

A Study of the Origins, Development, and Significance of Southern Nigerian Traditional Pottery

 

Moses Oladipo Fowawe

 

This study investigates the origins, development, sociocultural, economic, and the aesthetic import of traditional pottery in Southern Nigeria. It demonstrates that pottery is the oldest art tradition in Southern Nigeria, and corrects the impression given by early scholars and researchers that sculpture is the oldest art form in Southern Nigeria and, indeed, in Nigeria. The findings of the study show that pottery, like sculpture, has sociocultural, religious, economic, and aesthetic significance. In addition to its domestic uses, this study finds that pottery is employed in important tribal ceremonies as well as in religious services honoring various divinities and deified heroes.

 

The technology of traditional pottery is examined in terms of the current methods used in different locations in Southern Nigeria. The styles of production were found to vary not only among the three major ethnic groups--the Yoruba, Bini, and Igbo--but also among individual potters manufacturing pots in the same pottery.

 

The study identifies several factors accounting for the moribund state of the traditional arts industries. These are: inter-tribal wars among brother states in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the intolerance of the early Christian missions towards art forms that had religious connotations, and, above all, the encouragement given by the colonial government to foreign investors. In spite of this, traditional pottery has not only survived, but prevailed. However, patronage is not as high as it was in the pre-colonial period.

 

Finally, the study investigates the aesthetic attitudes of the Southern Nigerian people towards traditional pottery. Criteria used in making value judgments of traditional pottery are identified using Robert Farris Thompson's theory of "canons of excellence" as the conceptual frame-work. From the evidence of field research, oral interviews, published and unpublished sources, the pottery was found to have high aesthetic merit, and to be an esteemed art tradition in Southern Nigerian society.


Aesthetic Inquiry into Jordanian Embroidery

 

Insaf Fraih

 

The problem investigated is the phenomenon of embroidery in Jordan as a cultural tradition which is still being practiced today. The issue is that Jordanian embroidery has not been fully documented nor has it been treated in its cultural context. The tradition as a living expression of the culture is at present being threatened by inroads into the culture by modernism which does not value traditional crafts highly enough to actively encourage them and by the technology of machine work. The purpose of the dissertation was thus to describe the aesthetic qualities of the embroidery according to region, treating specifically the work done at Bethlehem and Ramallah on the West Bank and on the East Bank in the northern region of Ajlun and the central area of Salt; to look at the embroidery in its cultural context in relation to history and religion, to see where its roots lie, and to stimulate interest in a scholarly approach to the subject.

 

The procedures used were both a review of the literature on the embroidery and on the cultural atmosphere in which it is created. Visiting with and talking to embroideresses, particularly in the northern area of the East Bank, was also part of the work done for the dissertation.

 

The results of the investigation revealed a highly individualized aesthetic in the different areas of Jordan, with a more highly evolved technique in towns and villages with more historical continuity and strong family ties. The marriage customs and expectations of individual families in these communities place a high value on the richly-embroidered garments which are prepared for the marriage, and are worn during the celebrations as well as during the marriage as an emblem of the highly regarded married state.

 

The conclusions of the study were that the established regional characteristics, although being preserved by collectors, are breaking down through modern influences such as increased communication between towns, which is fostering an atmosphere where embroideresses are working outside of the traditional cultural framework of learning the craft from their mothers and neighbors. This breakdown is making the scholarly documentation of the living traditions which still exist in some quarters all the more valuable and more important to pursue.

 

Eve of Saint John’s Day: A Work in words and Images based on an Aesthetic Inquiry into the Dramatic Dance “Bumba-Meu-Boi” as presented in Sao Luis olf Maranho, Brazil (Original Artwork)

 

Vivian I. Gottheim

 

The purpose of this research-project was the creation of a mixed media artwork (words and images), drawing upon materials collected at the celebration of Bumba-Meu-Boi in Sao Luis, Maranhao, Brazil, in June 1982. In addition to the mixed media work (reproduced in the dissertation), a method of aesthetic inquiry was developed for use by those who view the artist as protean researcher.

The basis for this study was the personal experiences of the researcher during the celebration of Bumba-Meu-Boi and the works of Mario de Andrade, Luis da Camara Cascudo, F. A. Pereira da Costa, Renato Almeida, Alceu Maynard Araujo, Oneyda Alvarenga, Jose Ribamar Sousa dos Reis, David W. Ecker, Eugene F. Kaelin, John V. Gilbert, Ira Progoff, Minor White, and Igor Stravinsky. Data collection in Sao Luis consisted of interviews, photographs and a personal journal.

Following the phenomenologically based Ecker-Kaelin Levels of Discourse model, the author documents how she attended Bumba-Meu-Boi in Sao Luis, reflects upon her experience, and provides a meta-critical analysis of it. Also included is a review of the literature, in two parts. Origins of the Celebration provides information on the formative elements of the event; The Celebration describes Bumba-Meu-Boi as it has appeared since the early twentieth century.

The study does not offer simply a mass of personal observations; rather, the author's experience is objectified in a document and artwork to the extent that they form the basis for knowledge of Bumba-Meu-Boi.

 

Nigerian National Policy on Art Education: A Proposal for its Extension and Implementation in the Cross River State of Nigeria

 

Elizabeth Henshaw

 

(1979 disertation; no abstract online)

 

Modern Thai Painting: A Study of Twelve Thai Painters in the context of Thai Tradition and Changing Art Education

 

Pairoj Jaimuni

 

Modern Thai painting is examined through focusing on the careers and works of twelve representative and influential contemporary Thai painters. The twelve were selected by a committee of Thai art experts and were personally interviewed by the researcher. Writings by or about these artists, to the extent they existed, were used to supplement the interview material. The interviews themselves, conducted between 1982 and 1986 in Bangkok, were systemic in that, though open-ended, they were pursued with the same set of questions asked of each artist. The artist was also asked to choose three paintings which he/she believed best represented stages of his/her development, which were then used by the researcher in these presentations.

 

The consideration of contemporary Thai painting is seen in relation, on the one hand, to traditional Thai painting and westernizing changes that began in the nineteenth century, and, on the other, to the role of Silpa Bhirasri and educational institutions of modern art, specifically the Pohchang School and the School of Painting, Sculpture and Print Making of Silpakorn University, the latter founded by Bhirasri, on the artistic careers of the twelve artists. Parallel to the consideration of modern Thai painting is the examination of the intention and search of many Thai artists to synthesize western and eastern approaches and to infuse modern forms with Thai spirit.

 

A chapter is devoted to the pre-Bhirasri era of Thai painting, from prehistory to the twentieth century. Another chapter is devoted to the detailed development of the School of Painting, Sculpture and Print Making of Silpakorn University as it is major educational influence on modern Thai painting through the artists that it has shaped and trained.

 

Finally, the dissertation proposed some changes and new lines of development for a national program of art awareness and education in Thailand.

The Arts of Afghanistan: A Documentation and Aesthetic Analysis

 

Arline Joan Lederman

 

The traditional arts of Afghanistan comprise a body of work, which heretofore has not been adequately documented. This thesis is a survey, photographic documentation and aesthetic analysis of these art forms.

 

Research in the arts of Afghanistan was undertaken during the years 1965-1978. Every effort was made to consider primarily those arts produced in traditional settings such as rural villages, in nomad camps and by others who retain tribal identities and lifestyles. Interviews with artisans, bazaar keepers and officials along with phenomenological investigation of the arts provided the great majority of the data. Every region of Afghanistan that was accessible by car was visited.

 

Tribal groups documented are: Pathans, Turcoman, Hazara, Aimaq and Nuristani with some mention of Uzbek, Brahui and others. Historic precedents of the arts along with cultural borrowings and invasions are reviewed. Included are metalwork, stonework, leather, and ceramics along with textile traditions. Typical examples was a more significant criteria than beauty. Every effort was made to choose items not geared to the contemporary tourist or export markets.

 

Almost all the photographs are the work of the researcher with the exception of the section on historic influences and as noted.

 

This thesis examines the body of Afghan arts as an entirety and maintains that the arts of Afghanistan are a significant collection deserving of consideration as the visual aesthetic culture of the country. Questions of what a visual art culture is and how it can be defined are discussed.

 

The Ceramics of Failaka: A Question of the Function of Tradition in artistic Creation (Aesthetic Inquiry, Dilmun Civilization, Theory, Ancient Artifacts, Kuwaiti Culture)

 

Safwat Nourel-Din

 

In this study, the researcher explores the problem of tradition in relation to artistic creation, specifically as raised in her analyses of recently excavated ceramic artifacts on Failaka Island, Kuwait, and in her interviews with contemporary art students, ceramicists, and art instructors in Crete, Athens, Cairo, Kuwait City, and Failaka. An artisitic resolution is exhibited in her own ceramic art.

 

Selected artifacts excavated in Failaka by the Danish archaeological team in 1958-63 are examined in terms of their forms, functions, and techniques. Included are two terracotta figurines, five vessels labeled "Red Ridged Pottery," one Hellenistic flask, two seals, a kiln, and a ceramic workshop. Foreign influences on Failakan art were traced, and a study of local clay was also undertaken. Contemporary works of ceramics from seven schools in Kuwait are examined and individuals interviewed to identify traditional influences, if any. The evidence points to a discontinuity of tradition. On the basis of this examination, the artist/researcher focuses on the advancement of tradition. Her philosophic commitment is embodied in five ceramic works, each fusing ancient and modern elements in her own creative process.

 

The Art of the Winsor Chairmaker: An Aestheic Inquiry

 

Cynthia Johnson Schwarz

 

The purpose of this investigation was to document and interpret the living American tradition of constructing Windsor chairs with hand tools. More formally, it was to engage in an aesthetic inquiry into the art of making a Windsor chair. The dissertation is organized around four major topics: the question of method, the Windsor tradition, the process of chairmaking, and the chairmaker's art.

 

The research involved two levels of inquiry: the literal one of observing, interviewing, photographing and notetaking; and the philosophical one of phenomenological hermeneutics, as employed by Martin Heidegger in Being and Time. The researcher thus arrived at an understanding of how Michael Dunbar constructs a sack-back Windsor, as well the meaning of this process as an artistic event. In a like manner, David Sawyer's construction of a continuous arm Windsor was documented. Three more Windsor makers were interviewed and recorded so that the researcher could compare and interpret their chairmaking procedures.

 

The Windsor tradition was studied through the antique chairs themselves, written material from the Federal period in America, and from the specialized literature.

 

The aesthetic inquiry raised doubts regarding the conventional distinction between "art" and "craft". While classificatory systems relegate chairmaking to the category of utilitarian arts, antiques, or just furniture, the art of chairmaking became manifest as the study progressed.

 

An analysis of the chairmaking process revealed at least a dozen occasions where the chairmaker had to make artistic choices and decisions of his own. In addition, it

was observed that the tool marks of the maker gave a distinctive contour and line to each chair, much as the painter's brush stroke, or the sculptor's chisel cut.

 

It was concluded that traditional chairmaking, while surely a craft, can also be an art, and that existing classifications unwittingly deny the consideration of this possibility. The vital tradition of Windsor chairmaking continues to achieve a subtle balance between its design and all the riving, shaving, chipping, turning and carving with drawknife, spokeshave, scorp and chisel that brought it into being.

 

A Comparative Analysis of the Characteristics of Works and Aesthetic Philosophies of Selected Contemporary Mainstream and Blackstream Afro-American Artists

 

Robert Spellman

 

(1973 dissertation, no abstract online)

 

Puerto Rican Art in New York: The Aesthetic Analysis of Eleven Painters and their work (Bilingual, Spanish)

 

Patricia L. Wilson Cryer

 

The Problem. The purpose of the study was to examine the lives and art of New York Puerto Rican painters to discern to what extent their art reflected their New York City experiences. The Puerto Rican migration to New York with its social and economic implications was looked at in order to provide a perspective from which the New York Puerto Rican artist could be understood. The specific questions asked by the study were: how did Puerto Rican art in New York develop from its identifiable beginnings circa 1930 to 1980? What were the educational backgrounds, pivotal experiences, and philosophies of selected New York Puerto Rican painters? What were the aesthetic characteristics of selected works of New York Puerto Rican painters? Were there any discernible ethnic characteristics embodied in the paintings and experiences of New York Puerto Rican artists?

 

Methodology. The study consisted of eleven painters selected from the files of the two major New York institutions dealing with Puerto Rican art: Cayman Gallery and El Museo del Barrio. These included: Eloy Blanco, Rafael Colon Morales, David Cottes, Niles Cruz, Marcos Dimas, Evleyn Lopez de Guzman, Jose Morales, Fernando Salicrup, Peter Schira, Jorge Soto, and Pedro Villarini. Not only were their personal backgrounds provided but a history of Puerto Rican art in New York with the development of institutions dealing primarily with the art of Puerto Ricans was examined.

 

Findings. The art of the selected New York Puerto Rican painters was categorized into three areas: those who worked in a style which reflected nostalgic yearnings for Puerto Rico; those whose art reflected their New York Puerto Rican experience and/or their search for historical roots; and those whose art reflected the styles of the mainstream. Language was looked at as a possible link in the selection of art styles the painters worked in.

 

The majority of the artists were products of the massive migration which occurred during the nineteen forties and fifties, and, as children of the migrants, had to cope with two very different environments: that of the public school which to them represented American and that of the home which represented Puerto Rico. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)