Shameless Promotion

This coming Friday at 6 pm in the Tappan basement is the History of Art Honors Symposium.  I happen to be one of the poor suckers presenting, so here is a brief explanation of what my fellow thesis writers have been working so hard on:

Genevieve King, “Ideology and the Idyllic: Painting Anarchy in Paul Signac’s Au Temps d’Harmonie”

– Gen’s thesis is on a beautiful topic that, frankly, I am pretty jealous of (I had originally wanted to do something similar).  Her’s deals with a Signac painting called In the Time of Harmony and its relationship with anarchist Utopian thought at the end of the 19th Century in France.  Its a complicated subject, as anyone who has even glimpsed at the constantly changing politics of 1800’s France knows.  Her thesis has a landscape, it has propaganda by the deed, it has the Paris Commune.  Its got everything.

Jessica Larson (me), “Shear Power: Scandalous Women and the Coiffure à la Titus”

– My thesis is on a short-lived haircut from the French Revolution.  Originally men wore it in an attempt to imitate ancient Roman emperor styles, but women took it as their own and chaos ensued.  Surprisingly, men in 18th Century France didn’t like it when women cut off all of their hair.  And Napoleon definitely didn’t like it.

Sarah Rabinowe, “Illuminating Jurisprudence: Judges and Judgement in the Wolfenbüttel Sachsenspiegel“

Sarah’s topic is crazy complicated and I am so impressed with anyone that does something outside of Modernism.  As my stupid, Modernist mind understands it, her thesis presentation is on how judges are portrayed in a specific medieval legal code.  There are lots of parallels between the gestures of judges and those in Christ imagery.  It is very exciting and the images are amazing.

Melinda Stang, “Rally Round the Flag: Propaganda in Britain During the First World War”

– Melinda’s thesis presentation is on the English propaganda that was produced by Wellington House during WWI.  It is very nice to see someone doing a thesis on something English and post-1900 for once.  Her presentation largely deals with the ways in which the English propaganda bureau manufactured ideas of nationalism through visual imagery.  It is very well done and has crazy diagrams.