Abstract
This paper is a study on the changing role of the artist in European society, as seen in its case study of Antonio Canova. It asks whether increased demand for art, and increased commercialization, gave the artist greater freedom as it released him from the grip of his patron; or, whether this only subjugated him to new restrictions, those of a competitive market.

From the Paper
"Before the nineteenth century artists in Europe relied almost entirely upon their patrons to finance their work. It was extremely difficult, and pretty much unheard of, for an artist to finance his own profession, and there was not a large enough market to create a piece without having a specific buyer in mind. Therefore, patrons could, and often did, exert a large influence on the outcome of the work."

Tags:art, canova, napoleon, painting, patron, nineteenth, century, artists, europe, market, antonio, canova

Abstract
Abramovic and Orlan both present autobiographical material as their art. The paper analyzes the way they present their own lives to the public, resulting in little difference between their lives and art. The writer proves that it is possible to distinguish their art from non-art, but difficult to distinguish life from art in their cases as their art becomes their life.

From the Paper
"The work of Marina Abramovic and French multi-media artist Orlan derives from performing art, which became very popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Performance art is a visual art in which the creative activity and skill of the artist is the central focus. Both artists challenge and question life by approaching a specific concept or problem. Abramovich calls herself the "Grandmother of Performance Art" . Critics do not dispute this fact as she embodies many people's definition of the art. Arnold Aronson believes that performance artists often try to eliminate "the boundaries between art and life and to confront the spectator directly" . In this way, Abramovic's work plays with varying degrees of audience participation. The performing art piece is often of an autobiographical nature as artists take off their masks and presented "themselves or their actions as the art work" . An important issue raised by a great deal of performance art is that of the nature of art. The artists which will be examined provoke discussions about whether their work can be called art or whether it is just life. Orlan describes her own work as 'Carnal Art". This stems from "Body Art", itself a branch of performing art, in which the artist's body becomes the canvas, the means to express their art. Orlan's carnal art takes one more extreme step using flesh as her creative expression."

Tags:performance, autobiographical, creativity, public, private

Abstract
This paper defines Minimalism as the tendency by a new generation of artists towards non-allusiveness and decontextualisation from tradition, impersonality in tone, and the flattening of perspectival schema?s though the emphasis on surface, and the subsequent neutralization of depth cues. The author states that there is little agreement as to when the movement officially came into being, and who if anyone was its innovator. The paper states that Minimalism emerged primarily as a reaction against Pop and Abstract Expressionism.

Table of Contents
The Emergence of Minimalism
The Influences of High Modernism
Robert Rauschenburg?s ?White on Whites?
Frank Stella?s Black Paintings
Carl Andre and the Influence of Brancusi
Dan Flavin and the Russian Avant-Garde
Sol LeWitt and the Opening Up of Space
Robert Morris and Phenomenological Vision
Conclusion

From the Paper
"Superficially Minimalism was everything that motion-painting was not, and indeed it's physical characteristics embodied, at least for the American critic Clement Greenberg, the very elements that modern formalistic abstraction had strove so hard to escape from. It's closest physical relative was early Constructivism, whilst its ideology could be said to have been initiated by Kasimir Malevich's Suprematism movement. Both Constructivism and Suprematism renounced the need for art to be visually complex, Malevich through his Black Square and Vladimir Tatlin's via his Counter-Corner relief's, although these cannot really be seen as anything more than a indicative forerunner of this new aesthetic. "

Tags:surface, perspective, constructivism, expressionism, russian

Abstract
This paper examines the works of Oscar Wilde, Lord Henry Wotton and Thomas Mann. The paper shows how the notion of the self as a construction is particularly evident, not only in the fictional work of these writers, but also in the way that they themselves lived their lives.

From the Paper
"After visiting Walt Whitman during his lecture tour of America in 1882, Oscar Wilde said of the American poet: 'I have an admiration for that man which I can hardly express'. Looking at both Wilde and Whitman as personalities, it is difficult, at first glance, to imagine what Wilde, with his reputation as a quick-witted dandy could have found so admirable in Whitman, the self-confessed 'good gray poet'. But it was in Whitman, according to Alan Helms, that Wilde found 'an illustration of his favourite theory', that life imitates art. What Wilde found in Whitman was 'a consciously crafted man who had become his own ideal version of himself'. Later, in 1888, when Wilde commented to fellow Irish poet Yeats, 'I think a man should invent his own myth' it became evident that the notion of self-creation or the cultivation of his own image was something to which Wilde himself aspired."

Tags:music, Whitman, Wilde, Mann, Wotton, images, self, identity

Abstract
This essay explores the significance of society and how it may shape the individual. This is especially relevant in The Tempest as we see how different characters react to their placement in an unknown society. Similarly in Gawain, we see how a society with very different rules and traditions to our own affects the individual and his notions of himself. I also employ the thoughts of Literary theorists such as Saussure and also philosophers such as Freud and Marx.

Tags:benjamin, gogh, reproducibility, van, wilde

Abstract
This paper gives a detailed analysis of the many types of comedy in modern society and what role humor can play in our lives. Different forms of comedy are analyzed such as slapstick, farce, stand-up comedy, parody and tragi-comedy.

From the Paper
"Comedy has been used as an escape from the tensions of real life for centuries. Laughter seems to be the one uniquely human sensation that there is; there seems little possibility that animals experience humor. Comedy is an essential part of everyday life, as it is regularly on television and radio and in literature. It is often through comedy that we can take a look at our lives and the issues that govern them, and to some extent comedy shapes the world in which we live."

Tags:farce, parody, slapstick, humor

Abstract
This paper explains that the innovation of the grid as an enduring motif in modern art and its offshoot, the straight-line, opened up a relatively unprecedented mode of expression for modern abstract artists. This paper explores the philosophy and work of Piet Mondrian and other artists of the Neo-Plasticism movement. The author points out that, for Mondrian, the grid was not simply a structural mechanism but an organic solution to the Modernist preoccupation with mind/matter dualism. Examples of Mondrian's works in color included.

From the Paper
"The grid is clearly the perfect artistic means by which to affect this "liberation", as it provides a structure predicated on an inherent and infinite formlessness. Its strict horizontal and vertical axes proved an excellent format for the controlled interaction of pure, primary planes of colour, and functioned as an independent, artistically alive (plastic) organism in which ??everything counterbalances everything else.? "

Tags:barnett, lozenge, plasticism, newman, theosophy

Abstract
An examination of Indian arts with emphasis on the images and symbolism in the Indian notions of art and religion. The author examines the influences of the Western world on Indian expression of art.

From the Paper
"For thousands of years the arts have thrived on the Indian sub-continent, with the advent of western influence and occupation taking place only within the last few hundred years. The impact of western influence upon India is unmistakable, especially in regards to her arts and religion, serving not so much as a contributor, but as a critic. To even begin to comprehend and appreciate the incredible diversity and complexity of Indian arts, we must undergo a paradigm shift of our most basic western beliefs and notions of art and religion. Therefore, an understanding of the historical interpretations of Indian art is essential. Going beyond this, we must construct a rudimentary primer on seeing Indian images, also known as daran, and trying to understand, at least at a basic level, the symbolism involved in such religiously rich imagery."

Tags:art, continent, images, india, sub

Abstract
This essay investigates whether the natural materials and technology available influenced the development of Egyptian art. The essay argues that the wealth of natural materials Egypt had in its possession provided the Egyptians with access to a range of mediums with which they could develop art. An argument is put forward that the technology and techniques used by the Egyptians greatly influenced and contributed to the development of Egyptian art. This essay begins by looking at the earliest materials and technologies that were used during the prehistoric period followed by an examination of how these materials and techniques developed over time. Evidence is provided throughout the essay to support these arguments.

From the Paper
"Pottery was also one of the earliest forms of artwork in Egypt dating back to the Prehistoric Neolithic and Predynastic Periods. In 1985 Sir Flinders Petrie discovered a variety of Predynastic pottery vessels ranging from Badarian handmade vessels to decorated pottery from the Naqada Period that showed evidence of "exquisite craftsmanship" (Romer 1982:38). The natural materials that allowed for the creation of such pottery included Nile river silt clay, limestone and clayey shale from the cliffs (Romer 1982:45). The early technology used to produce pottery included polishing the pottery with a pebble to give a burnished red or black appearance before being fired in a kiln (Shaw & Nicholson 1995:226). Other

decorative characteristics included rippled lines that were produced by running another natural material, fish bones over the wet clay (Hart 1995:30)). Improvements in ceramic technology and the introduction of the potter's wheel allowed an increase in the range of shapes that could be produced (Quirke & Spencer 1992:178). However J. Romer (1982:70) states that the use of the potter's wheel led to a decline in the quality of Egyptian pottery. He argues that the potter's wheel, although allowing larger vessels to be made quickly and easily from clay, ultimately led to pottery becoming more utilitarian and of less artistic quality. Therefore although the standard of art declined, this is still evidence of how the technology available influenced the development of Egyptian art."

Tags:aldred, amun, faience, gold, Old, Kingdom, Middle, Kingdom, Prehistoric, Neolithic, Period, pottery

Abstract
This paper considers the many influences on the career of Piet Mondrian, in particular theosophy, cubism, the Dutch tradition, Vincent van Gogh, neo-plasticism and his eventual move to New York.

From the Paper
"Founded on an unprecedented concern with structure, unity and subtle geometry, Piet Mondrian's landscapes reveal the origins of what was to become the major preoccupation throughout his career - universal beauty, and its abstract representation. It was a journey that would culminate in his remarkable last work Victory Boogie-Woogie, and a process which saw him grapple with Naturalistic Realism, Cubism, Symbolism (briefly) and finally Neo-Plasticism, also called the International Style, a movement he was to make his own. Mondrian's art is fascinating for the very reason it is also so hard to understand - it was a completely new way of perceiving the relationship between the external world, inner feeling and the surface of the canvas. His abstraction was not just a move away from figurative, representational art, but a step towards transcendental purity."

Tags:atlantic, boogie, cubism, dutch, gogh, grid, lozenge, painting, paintings, theosophy, victory, vincent, woogie