As Paris underwent rapid commercial growth in the nineteenth century, prostitution emerged alongside the demands of a burgeoning consumer society, becoming a prominent theme in French art. Paying attention to these historical contexts, this dissertation highlights how male artists’ paintings of prostitution reveal their anxieties about the dramatic changes in social structures during the nineteenth century.

This paper focuses on the role of artistic depictions of prostitution in addressing the societal challenges produced by capitalism and globalization. These challenges include the commodification of social relations, the reconstruction of labor structures and class systems, and the impact of Western imperialist expansion, including its invention of primitivism – all of which have shaped gender dynamics. Therefore, male artists’ paintings of prostitution serve as a visual commentary on issues of sexuality, morality, labor, commerce, and race. Through the lens of painting prostitution, I investigate how portrayals of the female body express underlying anxieties about masculinity and the pressures imposed by a rapidly evolving capitalist society.

By analyzing the paintings of Paul Cézanne, Édouard Manet, and Paul Gauguin, I hope to demonstrate how images of prostitutes in Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art reflect the modernization process in nineteenth-century France. Drawing on frameworks from capitalism studies and psychoanalysis, I seek to explore the capacity of painting prostitution to interrogate and illuminate the complex dynamics of gender relations, capitalist movements, and colonial politics.

Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first landscaped rural cemetery in the world, conceived by Jacob Bigelow and Henry A. S. Dearborn in 1831, as a response to unsanitary burial practices in the crowded city and a space to elevate Boston’s cultural and intellectual life. This paper demonstrates Mount Auburn Cemetery’s unique position among picturesque gardens as an example of the convergence of art, nature and philosophical thought. Inspired by the English picturesque movement and literary figures such as Milton, Pope, Kent and Addison, its design is an idealized landscape that encourages contemplation and emotion through its revolutionary blend of natural beauty and artistic commemorative monuments. Jacob Bigelow and his collaborators designed the cemetery as a resting place and a space for reflection, grief and connection with the past. The winding paths, trees and monuments evoke melancholy, nostalgia and reverence for nature, echoing the Romantic notions that prevailed in the literature and art of the time. In addition, its openness to people of diverse backgrounds reflects the evolving democratic ideals. Like traditional English gardens, it encourages reflection on life, death and the passage of time. Through its design, the cemetery honors the memory of the deceased while symbolizing the ideals of nineteenth-century American and European culture: nature’s beauty, memory and intellectual and artistic achievements. Today, it remains open to the public as a space where the past and present coexist, offering lessons on mortality, virtue and the transcendence of time. In this paper, I discuss Mount Auburn Cemetery’s origins as related to the English picturesque movement and offer a fresh analysis on the ambitious goals of this unique project.

Beginning in 1875, the Philadelphia artist Thomas Eakins painted fourteen works depicting women engaged in spinning or knitting. It is perhaps the largest body of his work to show a particular activity—rivaling even his celebrated rowing paintings. Scholars have often dismissed this body of work as a “curious interlude,” exercises in depicting rotational motion, or simple expressions of nostalgia for a generalized “Early America.”

This talk will delve further into the cultural and historical context of Eakins’ depictions, arguing that they reflect a keen awareness of the Homespun Movement, also evoked by the title of Eakins’ 1881 watercolor Homespun. During the American Revolution and the decades that followed, spinning and knitting were far from “simple” tasks—they were industrious and patriotic acts, enabling colonial women to protest British taxation by producing homespun goods, thus entering the political sphere traditionally reserved for men. As my research will show, these acts became popular symbols of American independence and industry, a legacy celebrated during and beyond the Revolutionary era.

Eakins’ works clearly reference this history, yet these connections have gone unrecognized. Works like Homespun and The Courtship evoke imagery of industrious colonial women central to the movement, while his 1877 watercolor 70 Years Ago references the Embargo Act of 1807, which spurred a revival of Homespun sentiment. That Eakins came from a family of weavers and was known to conduct research into Philadelphia’s past for his paintings further suggests a deliberate engagement with this narrative. By reinterpreting these works alongside the cultural and political significance of American spinning, this talk challenges assumptions about his motivations for choosing the subject. Examination of Eakins’ many connections to Benjamin Rush, who championed spinning as a symbol of women’s education and industrious activity, suggests that these works are intimately related to Eakins’ own efforts to train industrious, self-reliant female painters at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts during the same period.

This research aims to analyze themes central to nineteenth- and twentieth-century landscape paintings of the American West. Painters Albert Bierstadt and Charles M. Russell among many others exhibit in their works themes of masculinity, divinity, power, and industry. These traits which are common to romanticized stories of cowboys reflect core tenets of American values which have permeated the country since its founding. Such themes are discovered by formally analyzing Bierstadt’s Rocky Mountains: Landers Peak, 1863 and Russell’s work Free Trapper, 1911 for their composition, light, subject and tone with supplementation from primary accounts and historical records. The artists and their journeys into the “Wild West” provide insight to the reality and fantasy of the landscape. The titular figure of the cowboy carries the weight of these themes through its long-winded romanticization in media across the globe. Playing a pivotal role in the perception of the West, the landscape itself shares a large cultural importance. As the literal backdrop of the West and as a huge portion of the country’s land it’s a coveted piece for analysis. By evaluating the landscape within these artworks through a lens of philosophical sublimity further aspects of Americanism are easily discerned. Since the beginnings of colonization in the New World have the rules of God, glory, and man dominated over the natural forces of the land. Starting with the mountain men or fur trappers who traversed the first roadblock of the North American landscape, the Appalachian Mountains, exploitations of masculine figures have fueled innovation in the minds of Americans. As art can be read to capture the essence of man (whether intentionally or not) I argue that the values presented in America’s greatest romanticized mythology, the cowboy, accurately reflects through art the culture of the United States.

In his painting of Geronimo, Jerome Tiger is doing something uncommon for the early 1960s. While a large body of indigenous work relates to historical native experiences, native artists from this time period are often criticized for their works supporting stereotypes within popular media. While Tiger’s larger body of work does include paintings like this, Geronimo reframes the historical subject with a soft color palette to emphasize the humanity and nobility of Geronimo the Apache warrior and shaman, contesting his stereotypical representations. While there is no literature on this specific painting, this paper will discuss stereotypes within Native American artmaking and depictions of native historical figures to develop a moderate perspective of native artists working after George Catlin. This research paper will be contributing to the small body of work on Jerome Tiger as well as the reframing of demonized historical figures, which have been overlooked or stereotyped in popular media. In doing so, this paper contributes to amending systemic issues in the discipline of art history and popular media more broadly. This research paper will discuss Tiger’s work and life, the way he reframed Native histories, and the study of Geronimo’s history, compared with his work. In the case of Geronimo, Tiger reframes the historical figure with his application of the Bacone style of art to emphasize the humanity and nobility of Geronimo the Apache warrior.

Diné basketry saw a significant change in the late twentieth century. This paper aims to explore the reasoning behind the stylistic change of Diné basketry. We want to know why contemporary Diné basket art has changed from its traditional stylistic form. We held a semi-structured interview with contemporary Diné basket weaver Lorriane Black at the Natural History Museum of Utah. Lorraine and her family are major basket weavers, with her mother Mary Holliday Black, being credited as a major influence in this artistic change. We also look at the cost of baskets for sale on the Twin Rock Trading Post website, comparing the contemporary basket prices to the traditional. We found an economic benefit for Diné basket weaver to create more contemporary designed baskets, but personal stories and history drive this. Diné basket weavers started to use contemporary baskets to materialize their history and ceremonies, which at the time where being erased by colonization. With this knowledge, art institutions can better educate and share knowledge on basketry’s history and support its future. This knowledge helps keep Diné weaving and history alive within the art world.

This paper focuses on the rise of activist aligned tattoos through the exploration of contemporary Indigenous American tattoo reclamation, tattooing with a focus on racial and social justice, LGBTQ+ advocacy in tattoo imagery and the embodiment of environmental activism in tattoo art. This work examines tattoo practices across history and the globe, drawing on anthropological, sociological, and art historical sources to demonstrate how these body modifications have and continue to be used to signify status, affiliation, community, and resistance. This paper examines the forward momentum by contemporary artists to revitalize tattoo practices and their role in societal activism across diverse communities. Indigenous American community members, such as model and activist Quannah Chasinghorse and multidisciplinary artist and tattoo artist Nahaan from the Pacific Northwest, are reclaiming traditional tattoo practices as acts of cultural preservation. Black tattoo artists are chronically underrepresented in the culture and Black clients seeking ink face nuanced levels of racism and stereotyping- issues that multidisciplinary artist Doreen Garner works to dismantle in her tattoo work. Tattoos have become a powerful medium for LGBTQ+ activism, inclusivity and self-expression in the twenty-first century, exemplified by the work and advocacy of queer owned Denver tattoo studio, The Wolf Den. Lastly, modern environmental activists have turned to tattoo expression to ignite conversations surrounding ecological preservation, as seen in the tattoo collection and social platform of musician and activist Moby. This research champions the ways tattoos function beyond their aesthetic display- serving as dynamic and modern forms of resistance.

The ivory covers of the Melisende Psalter present a striking emphasis on kingly figures, despite the manuscript being widely attributed to the powerful medieval queen Melisende of Jerusalem (r. 1131–1153). This paper examines the queen’s problematic absence from the ivories, which prominently place scenes of King David and a Crusader king at the forefront while relegating female figures to the margins. A closer inspection of these female figures, identified as personifications of the Virtues and Vices from Prudentius’ Psychomachia, reveals that their inclusion serves a propagandistic function which legitimizes the rule of David and his descendant, the Crusader king. These marginalized figures literally and figuratively support male sovereignty. Furthermore, a close reading of the Psychomachia itself reveals that the Virtues and Vices embody “rhetorical androgyny,” wherein feminine characters must become masculine for them to overcome weakness and become virtuous. The inclusion of these figures underscores a medieval notion of power that was only deemed legitimate when male. By taking an iconographical and feminist approach alongside an examination of the historical context of Melisende’s reign, this study reveals how the psalter’s ivory covers construct a gendered view of power that reflects broader medieval biases against female sovereignty.

Until recently, scholars had assumed that the participation of women in the commissioning and gifting of luxury objects, art, and architecture in Medieval Islamic communities was negligible. However, recent studies have challenged this assumption by highlighting the cases where women directed and commissioned gifts. Women’s agency in Medieval Islamic culture is demonstrated through three case studies: the gift-giving exchanges by Zubaydah (9th century), Sayyidah al-Mushtaq (968), and Safiye Sultan (1593-1599) illustrate how they communicated their power, prestige, and charity, thereby cementing their legacy in the visual and cultural history of Islam.

Beginning in Abbasid Baghdad, my paper explores how Queen Zubaydah began using her dowry for charitable projects along the hajj routes in 806. The Al-Kharabah Palace she built served as a resting place for pilgrims. Zubaydah benefited significantly from her generosity, as her reputation skyrocketed and her identity as a powerful pious woman was recognized. Next, I investigate the Cordoban ivory pyxis known as The Pyxis of al-Mughira (dated 968). Even though there is no officially named patron, the details of the inscription and a history of commissions connect the object to the owner’s mother, Sayyidah al-Mushtaq, an influential female patron of the Cordoba Caliphate. Finally, between 1593 and 1599 three letters were sent from Safiye Sultan of Ottoman Turkey to Queen Elizabeth I. These extant letters account for various luxury goods sent to Queen Elizabeth I. Safiye’s actions were politically motivated as the gifts were used to foster a relationship with England.

In the end, my paper will demonstrate that medieval Islamic women indeed participated in all realms of the gift exchange, from political to personal to charitable. The patronage of Zubaydah, Sayyidah al-Mushtaq, and Safiye Sultan ensured their autonomy, legacy, and agency, which ultimately left a lasting mark on the visual history of Islamic culture.

This paper presents a comparative analysis of the medical illustrations in the Vienna Dioscorides and its subsequent Arabic translations, focusing on the evolution of medieval herbal illumination traditions. Pedanius Dioscorides’ De Materia Medica has long been regarded as the foundational text in the history of herbal medicine and illustration. Through the Juliana Anicia Codex, Dioscorides’ work introduced visual aids that balanced practical botanical knowledge with mythological and superstitious elements. These early illustrations, though advanced for their time, were shaped by the scientific limitations of medieval Europe and served as both medicinal guides and cultural symbols. In contrast, Arabic translations of Dioscorides, produced after the text’s acquisition by the Islamic world in the fifteenth century, reveal a distinct shift towards more scientifically accurate botanical representations. The Arabic illuminations reflect the intellectual growth of the Middle East, where botanical and medical knowledge became increasingly systematic. These manuscripts emphasized greater precision in plant depiction while retaining some degree of naturalism, blending scientific accuracy with aesthetic and symbolic functions. This paper explores how these changes in the visual representation of plants reflect broader cultural and intellectual shifts, emphasizing the role of illuminations not only in the identification of plants but also in enhancing the reader’s experience. Illuminations served multiple functions, including decoration, reinforcement of empirical knowledge, and even subliminal learning, thus shaping the way herbal knowledge was transmitted and understood across different regions. By tracing the evolution of these illuminations, this study highlights the intersection of art, science, and culture in the medieval period, offering insight into the epistemological transformation of botanical knowledge in both Europe and the Islamic world.

Libraries and archives across Europe and the United States are home to countless Arabic materials that have yet to be catalogued and are thus inaccessible to scholars and historians who would study them. This catalog investigates one example of such materials by sharing the historical context and content of Nuove Accessioni Cartelle 15, a collection of 28 lithographed prints currently housed at the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, or BNCF. The works making up Nuove Accessioni Cartelle 15 were printed between 1852 and 1869 and were gifted to King Vittorio Emanuele II in 1869 by Musa Castelli, the founder of al-Matba’a al-Kasteliya, or the Castellian Press. They were part of a larger donation of over 200 items containing books, pamphlets, and posters. The developing printing industry in Cairo was commission-based, accounting for the wide variety in the contents of the materials produced by the Castellian press. These prints represent a sample of Castelli’s work, which were donated to Italy for scholars to study, so they demonstrate the same variety. Among the prints are Qur’an verses, bible verses,ʾadʿiyah, poems, a Hilye, historical documents, and more. The style of the prints also varies considerably in size, composition, and style of calligraphy. All the prints that bear the name of an artist were drawn by Ahmed Hejazi Ismail, so the variation in style is a result of the differing wishes of commissioners, rather than differing artists. Many works make use of muthanna, or mirrored writing, and many contain calligrams. This catalog provides a brief visual description as well as information about the content of each print, and transcriptions if applicable. It identifies and begins investigating these prints so that they may be cataloged in full by their home library and aims to make this fascinating historical resource available for further study.

In 1893, at the Chicago World Fair, the Sultan Abdülhamid II of the Ottoman Empire showcased his collection of fifty-one albums containing over 1,800 albumen prints of Ottoman architecture, military, and educational institutions. These prints were meant to present a modernized and reformed image of the Ottoman Empire under his rule, and were a response to the western, orientalist belief at the time of the Empire being in a pre-modern and ‘backward’ state. The albums, curated in its entirety by the Sultan, were documentary in essence and meant to taxonomically depict specific visual aspects of the empire. Despite his best efforts, the Sultans’ attempt at presenting modernity failed, due the albums’ strict aesthetic guidelines and inability to connect to a candid reality of progressive modernity. The albums reached a global audience at the World Fair and have thus remained the primary reference made by art historians when discussing early Ottoman photography. They do not however, represent the full truth of photography in the Ottoman Empire as a documentary, utilitarian, naturalistic, and perhaps even artistic form. This research focuses on a collection of albumen prints by the Abdullah Freres, who were also the largest contributors to the Abdülhamid albums. Their collection of photographs titled The Sweet Waters of Europe, speaks to a side of Ottoman photography often overlooked in conversations of the representation of the Empire in early photographic methods. By focusing on this collection, I analyze the ways that practicing photographers sought to capture true modernity of the Empire, and the potential these images had to influence and refute the orientalist views of western audiences.

In the eighteenth century, the increase in foreign curiosity and the “diffusion of ‘oriental’ goods on the domestic market” in Europe often led to distorted fabrications of Eastern culture. The term turquerie specifically characterizes works that freely imitated the fashion and customs of the Ottoman Empire: such images were prone to exoticism, frequently in an erotic fashion. This paper discusses the conflict between authenticity and artificiality through an analysis of the pastel turquerie works by Jean-Etienne Liotard. Liotard, a master of crafting his own cultural identity, can be hailed as more reliable in his depictions of Ottoman culture than his contemporaries: though always drawing from his European perspective, Liotard demonstrates an empirical eye for documenting dress, objects, and setting, rather than resorting to a generalized, stereotypical exoticism. The paper concentrates on the comparison of two works completed in pastel, a medium celebrated for its rich color and luminosity: Woman in Turkish Dress, Seated on a Sofa, 1751-52 and Marie Fargues, the Painter’s Wife, 1756-58. The compositions are nearly identical. In the later version, however, Liotard weakens his color palette, adds a Chinese-style porcelain vase, and emphasizes the contrast in shadows. The paper argues that, with these alterations, Liotard conforms to the commercialization of ‘otherness’ in Europe and increases the performative nature of the Turkish image. Ultimately, the paper aims to illustrate how Liotard, renowned for his attention to observation and his emphasis on foreign identity, is equally subject to the fashionable, typical conflation of ‘otherness’ sweeping Europe, from which he has traditionally been excluded due to his empirical aesthetic.

In this paper, I will use the Teakwood Room located on the Lawrence University campus as a material culture case study. Originating from the woodcarving studio of American designer Lockwood de Forest, in Ahmedabad, India, the room arrived in New York and made its journey to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Once at the exhibition, it was purchased by Alice G. Chapman who took the room back to her Milwaukee home where it would reside until her death in 1935. It was then moved to the Milwaukee-Downer College campus before they merged with Lawrence in 1964. As the room eventually settled at Lawrence, myths and misunderstandings about its origin became more common, with the original story being largely obscured and forgotten. Instead, new narratives took its place, relying on western ideas regarding authorship and imperialist ideologies.

Within this case study, I seek to answer the following question: How has the denotation of the Teakwood Room as a social commodity contributed to the mistranslation of its history and materiality since 1893? In exploring this question, I will be interrogating how the room has been represented, discussed, and treated since its conception to explore the larger nuances that have been obscured from its formal recorded history. By using several theoretical and historical secondary sources, along with primary source representations of the room, I will argue that the Teakwood Room has historically been misrepresented since its conception due to the inability of Western audiences to read the materiality of the room without pre-existing social and colonial biases. The room’s history is fragmented and mythologized because it has been mistranslated and identified as a commodity within the social sphere of Western capitalist ideologies. All of this can be traced back to the removal of the room from its original context.