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The tissue‐specific heart decellularized extracellular matrix (hdECM) demonstrates a variety of therapeutic advantages, including fibrosis reduction and angiogenesis. Consequently, recent research for myocardial infarction (MI) therapy has utilized hdECM with various delivery techniques, such as injection or patch implantation. In this study, a novel approach for hdECM delivery using a wet adhesive paintable hydrogel is proposed. The hdECM‐containing paintable hydrogel (pdHA_t) is simply applied, with no theoretical limit to the size or shape, making it highly beneficial for scale‐up. Additionally, pdHA_t exhibits robust adhesion to the epicardium, with a minimal swelling ratio and sufficient adhesion strength for MI treatment when applied to the rat MI model. Moreover, the adhesiveness of pdHA_t can be easily washed off to prevent undesired adhesion with nearby organs, such as the rib cages and lungs, which can result in stenosis. During the 28 days of in vivo analysis, the pdHA_t not only facilitates functional regeneration by reducing ventricular wall thinning but also promotes neo‐vascularization in the MI region. In conclusion, the pdHA_t presents a promising strategy for MI treatment and cardiac tissue regeneration, offering the potential for improved patient outcomes and enhanced cardiac function post‐MI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes Italian artist Auro Lecci's contribution to pioneering media art, beginning with his paintings and ending with his computer artworks (1969–1972). As the author suggests, Lecci's paintings were already characterized by an algorithmic method that the artist went on to develop in his computer-generated works. The paper first discusses the plotter drawings Lecci created at the Computing Center of the University of Pisa (CNUCE), and then focuses on his last computer art project, made at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, to suggest connections between Lecci's work and artificial intelligence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When deaths among the enslaved and crew occurred during the eighteenth-century voyages of the vessels of the Middelburg Commercial Company, many of the officers who kept logbooks aboard drew skulls and crossbones, crosses, hourglasses, and other icons to mark those deaths. While some scholars have previously noted those icons preserved in the margins of 109 logbooks in the Zeeuws Archive in Middelburg, the Netherlands, this first comprehensive description and analysis of that iconography of death contributes a novel dimension to our understanding of the Atlantic slave trade. Many of the icons relate to memento mori symbolism that emerged during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Dutch vanitas paintings and quotidian objects to emphasize the evanescence of mundane existence lived without spirituality, helping to reconcile the conspicuous consumption of material goods extracted from a global colonial empire with a Calvinist piety that abjured earthly possessions. The iconographical analysis reveals seventeen types of icons, ranging from basic marks such as an X to combinations of skulls, crossbones, hourglasses, and wings. Moreover, it reveals which icon types appear most commonly, how they changed over time, how they varied among logbook authors, and how they differed for deaths among the enslaved and crew. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Successful restoration of two shell paintings from the Warring states period. • Identifying the mineral type of the pigment and obtaining its spectral information. • In-depth explanation of the picture details and discussion of its significance in early art history. The use of shells as a medium for painting is an exceptionally rare discovery in archaeology, representing a art form that has been largely overlooked. In this study, we present two shell paintings of the Warring States period (476–221 BCE) discovered in Zhongshan State, Hebei, China. Employing various techniques, including microscopic observation, computed tomography (CT), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), multispectral imaging, and Raman spectroscopy, we non-destructively unveil the exquisite images obscured by soil and reveal the unparalleled shallow relief technique employed in their creation. The identified pigments for the different paintings include cinnabar, charcoal black, and malachite. These elaborate depictions offer insights into the costume, rituals, life, hierarchy, and art of the Warring States period. The meticulous use of prominent lines emphasizes color patches rather than the brushstrokes relied upon in later stereotypical Chinese painting, significantly reshaping previous notions about the early development of Chinese painting. This unique expression undoubtedly refreshes our understanding of early ancient art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can art and visual images meant for public consumption (museums, galleries, social media platforms) serve as a critical form of health communication for breast cancer patients? For their clinicians? For the population at large? Art history research methods are applied to a range of breast cancer images in western art in order to understand what the images communicate to us about patient experience, agency, and inequity in health care at the time of their construction. The following is a selective look at western art as it reflects and informs our understanding of breast cancer over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose: Art education is one of the areas of the curriculum in the development of various individual characteristics and capabilities. Art, with its profound impact and appeal, can serve as an effective tool for gaining a deeper understanding of basic medical science courses, including anatomical sciences (anatomy, histology, and embryology). The study was designed to assess the influence of creative painting on the teaching of anatomical sciences, emphasizing a social, individual, and spiritual approach to encourage forward-thinking and imaginative skills in medical students. It seems that when students of medical sciences become familiar with the clinical considerations and personal, social, and spiritual consequences of the subject while teaching their course material, they will try to learn the material more accurately and multi-dimensionally. Materials and methods The present research-educational study was designed with a qualitative-quantitative approach and in it the art of painting was used as an educational intervention. At first, after the introduction of anatomical sciences and the presentation of the objectives of the lesson, interested medical and pharmacy students of Ramsar Medical Sciences Campus were asked to choose a topic from anatomical sciences in a group or individually. Then, by connecting it with the clinical points in the textbooks, the following personal, social, and spiritual challenges are displayed by maintaining the scientific content in the form of a purposeful painting. After several meetings about the topics, the paintings meeting the desired criteria were selected and the paintings were displayed to the public. During the exhibition, the correctness of the way of conveying the target message was interpreted and analyzed from the point of view of the audience. Finally, the attractiveness of education and the level of learning among students were investigated. The evaluation of the results was done in two quantitative and qualitative methods, and in the quantitative method, a researcher-made questionnaire was used. The quantitative part was descriptive-analytical and the qualitative part was based on content analysis. To check the validity of the conducted study, Anderson et al.'s five-step criteria including study validity, democratic validity, results validity, dialogue validity, and persuasive validity were used. Results: The results showed that the integration of art and education can be useful. Most of the students believed that with this method, the educational atmosphere was happier and more attractive for them (54%). 90% of students had increased learning of anatomical concepts. Students stated that they had more enthusiasm (81%) and motivation to learn (72%) lessons and learned the concepts of anatomical sciences in a more permanent way (63%). While learning the material, they were more curious to know, on the one hand, what clinical challenges are significant in the topic in question, and on the other hand, what social, personal, and spiritual consequences these problems will face the patient. All this made them more analytical thinking (79%). This method increased creativity (75%) and spirit of cooperation (75%) in most students, and 77% of students preferred it to other educational methods. Also, students' motivational, team, and communication skills increased by changing the study method and creating a multi-dimensional view of issues. Conclusion: The use of creative drawing in the teaching of anatomical science concepts was able to encourage the students of medical sciences to learn and increase their enthusiasm by creating a happy and attractive educational environment, raising the spirit of teamwork in them and increasing creativity, communication skills, and analytical thinking in them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new edition of Kafka's Drawings adds new material to the well-known fact that, in addition to his interests in both art history and the art of his own time, Kafka was a highly original draughtsman himself. Yet, it also shows that he stopped practicing these skills well before time of what he called his breakthrough to "the only way writing could be done." Nonetheless, the pictorial arts kept playing a decisive role not only in his writings, but also for his writing. In his novel The Trial, caricatures, paintings, photographs, and even cinematographic techniques interrupt and divert the written word revealing hidden layers of the story. While still firmly rooted in the tradition of alphabetic writing, his work registers—like a seismograph—the effects of new media of data storage and transmission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study describes the development of a paint-based toolkit, which explored how thinking through the act of painting, colour choices and mark-making might enhance meaningful conversation. Painting methods were valuable in creatively engaging patients and staff in co-design activities and helped them consider the focus topic of what 'care' looked like and meant to them. As such, we illustrate how a 'simple' creative activity can be used to help uncover different perspectives and sense-making around a shared focus. We hope that such an approach may support people to come together to help challenge the boundaries of what insight-driven healthcare might look like. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To describe the application of selected creative and participatory research methods in nursing science. Design: Research methodology paper. Methods: Researcher‐initiated role play, stimulated recall interviews, the Storycrafting method, painting and drawing. Altogether, 11 children (5–7 years old) and 12 parents participated in the research. Results: Each small group (n = 3) acted differently during the data collection. Not every child wanted to play, draw or tell stories, but they all expressed their views through some method. Although the same themes emerged from children's narratives, they could not have been verified by just one method. Conclusions: Using creative and participatory methods and the principles of studies of child perspectives are applicable ways of conducting research in nursing science. Children must be treated as individuals during the research process, and they must have opportunities to use several communication methods to express their views. Implications for the profession and patient care: Understanding different ways to interact with children and hear children's views will help nurses to encounter children. Impact: In this article, we present a valid way of conducting research with children. By following our protocol, nursing research from a child perspective can be implemented. Reporting Method: Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ). Patient Contribution: The child participants were involved in choosing physical places for data collection and the usage and order of the selected methods. Both the children and the adult participants took part in interpreting the research data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a response to the lack of academic attention paid to the relationship between lesbian spectatorship and aesthetic perceptions of paintings, this study is an inquiry into the Taiwanese lesbian experience of viewing paintings containing female figures. Descriptions and themes regarding the phenomenon were generated through semi-structured, in-person interviews with twenty participants according to phenomenologist van Manen's existential methods. Each participant took part in a minimum of two interviews. The first aimed to explore their previous experiences of viewing original paintings. The second examined how participants selected and made sense of the images of paintings they had chosen. The findings showed that, firstly, participants were able to draw connections to themselves, other women, and the spaces occupied by women in a wider patriarchal society through the act of viewing female figures in paintings. Secondly, participants demonstrated a high awareness of issues surrounding gender and other inequalities, which they often derived from female figures in paintings that they selected. The experience of viewing paintings can be considered a safe place of self-discovery, thereby promoting paintings as a platform for initiating discussions related to social and gender issues. Thus, this study not only sheds light on a group of people underrepresented in the visual arts and art education, but it also offers a unique, intimate understanding of the lived experiences of Taiwanese lesbians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the survey of biodiversity of actinobacteria associated with mosses (Taxithelium nepalense (Schwägr.) Broth. and Barbula indica (Hook.) Spreng.), certain strains of pigment producing actinobacteria were isolated and purified on SCA and incubated at 30°C for 1 week. Based on deep-shade color of actinobacterial pigments, 4 strains were collected and used for painting color preparation. To evaluate the antimicrobial activities, the crude extracts were prepared from 4 actinobacterial strains and tested with Escherichia coli PSRU-01 and Staphylococcus aureus PSRU-01. The results indicated that the crude extracts of C7, C13, C15 and D13 could not inhibit growth of E. coli PSRU-01, but S. aureus PSRU-01 was inhibited. Two fungal testers, including Colletotrichum sp. PSRU-01 and Fusarium sp. PSRU-01, were completely inhibited by the crude pigment extracts of C13, C15 and D13. Based on phylogenetic results, the actinobacterial strains were closely related to Streptomyces californicus (C7, 100% identity), Streptomyces bungoensis (C13, 99.8% similarity), Streptomyces humi (C15, 99.9% similarity), and Streptomyces rectiverticillatus (D13, 99.8% similarity). They also shared phenotypic characteristics with Streptomyces. The cultivated cells of actinobacteria on broken-milled rice were used for pigment extraction and followed by determination of the extracted pigments for mixing with acrylic color in the shade violet, green, orange and pink colors. Application of actinobacterial pigments in painting is the first report and it is an innovative utilization of actinobacterial pigments in non-scientific field in Thailand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes Chinese video artist Zhang Peili's latex-glove-themed paintings and conceptual art from the 1980s. It argues that they are an important intervention into post-socialist China's politicized discussions on art's role in society. Building on Mel Chen's discussion of animacy hierarchies as sociopolitical constructs, the article reads Zhang's latex gloves as animate—transgressing boundaries of "aliveness" between humans and objects. It locates Zhang and his art collective, "Pond" Society, amid mid-1980s discourses on art's emotional contagiousness, highlighting that the Chinese art establishment's insistence on Realism and on the Maoist art methodology of "immersion into life" (shenru shenghuo) reflected anxieties about "healthy" art making that could promote national progress. Zhang's series of X? glove paintings from 1986 onward represent strategic promotions of his medical conceptualization of art. Zhang was infected during the 1988 Shanghai hepatitis A epidemic, and his subsequent glove-themed work called for an embrace of viral life. The figure of the glove was also central to Zhang's first two video works, including Document on Hygiene No. 3, which signals a shift away from the insistence that art should reinforce the artist's authority. Instead, Document uses the gloved hand to reflect on where, in a society obsessed with purity and in an art world obsessed with radicalism, we might fundamentally locate agency. This article shows that the history of contemporary Chinese art cannot be understood without considering artists' responses to, and contributions in shaping, the deeply politicized notion of hygiene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author writes about the recent exhibition of Botticelli's art, primarily focused on his drawings, that was presented at the San Francisco Legion of Honor. Botticelli lived in Florence during the Early Italian Renaissance. A brief overview of Botticelli's life and his times is provided. Although he was well regarded as an artist during his lifetime, his art was largely forgotten for nearly four hundred years. Botticelli's reputation grew during the twentieth century and he continues to command our attention. This essay explores the psychological reasons for our attraction to his art. Botticelli was highly talented at drawing and painting the human form, and he gave creative emphasis to the eyes. His emphasis on both may not have been entirely coincidental. He seemed to have known that appreciation of art occurs within a field including the artist, their creation, and the viewer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cet article vise à explorer les processus psychiques à l'œuvre dans le travail créatif de Jean Olivier Hucleux, artiste de la deuxième moitié du XXe siècle, qui a su, en créant des reproductions picturales hyperréalistes, générer des expériences d'inquiétante étrangeté chez son public. Il se propose également de considérer les opérateurs psychiques qui ont concouru au virage artistique de Hucleux au début des années 1980, pour tenter d'en comprendre la logique et les fonctions au regard de l'ensemble de son processus créateur. Nous travaillerons à partir de l'histoire de Jean Olivier Hucleux, de l'étude attentive de ses œuvres, ainsi que des multiples entretiens, documentaires, articles qui portent sur son travail. La méthode est celle de l'approche clinique de la création qui ne réduit pas l'analyse d'œuvre à une simple application de la métapsychologie, mais s'intéresse aux processus psychiques impliqués dans les multiples dimensions de l'acte créateur (corporelle, représentationnelle, fantasmatique, sociale, interrelationnelle, émotionnelle, transitionnelle, auto-sensuelle...). Cet article met en évidence un processus créateur caractérisé par la répétition d'une expérience physique éprouvante où, jusqu'à l'épuisement, le peintre dépasse ses limites de tolérance afin d'atteindre un espace où « il n'y aurait plus de langage ». Ce dispositif créateur d'abord marqué par une impitoyable contrainte à créer et nous conduisant à repérer dans son œuvre des formes primaires de symbolisation, va prendre un décours plus tranquille au sein d'un espace transitionnel où ces signifiants énigmatiques, ces affects primitifs et ces sensations non remémorées, trouveront la possibilité de se cacher/d'être retrouvés par et dans l'acte créateur. Au milieu des années 1980, un procès pour contrefaçon va représenter pour Hucleux une étape importante dans le réaménagement de cette contrainte à symboliser où des « expériences d'envisagement » pourront être réactualisées de manière ludique et interactive, là où elles surgissaient de façon mécanique et solipsiste dans la première partie, hyperréaliste, de son œuvre. L'œuvre de Hucleux est-elle un travail de survivance psychique, aux limites de la folie d'auto-emprise ou peut-elle se comprendre comme une expérience limite d'exploration de processus archaïques ? À l'écoute de l'œuvre et de son auteur, il est en tout cas possible d'entendre la manière dont sa quête artistique ne s'intéresse qu'aux formes et aux impressions liées aux expériences d'accordage avec l'environnement et ses visages, nous retraduisant, au moyen de la remise en scène de la rencontre d'un double figé, mortifié, les silences et les malaises en attente d'être symbolisés. L'étude du travail créateur de Hucleux constitue un dispositif unique d'exploration de la vie psychique d'en deçà de la symbolisation secondaire, c'est-à-dire de cette trame de l'expérience où les sens et les affects irriguent le fonctionnement mental sous la forme de chaînes associatives formelles, au risque de l'écart intersubjectif. This article sets out to explore the psychic processes involved in the creative work of Jean Olivier Hucleux, an artist of the end of the 20th century, whose hyperrealistic pictorial reproductions have been able to generate experiences of the "uncanny valley" in his audience. This article also considers the psychic operators that participated in Hucleux's artistic shift in the early 1980s, in an attempt to understand its logic and functions in relation to the whole of his creative process. We makes use of Jean Olivier Hucleux's life story, and the careful study of his works, as well as the many interviews, documentaries, articles that relate to his output. The method is that of the clinical approach to creation, which does not reduce the analysis of the work to a simple application of metapsychology, but which is interested in the psychic processes involved in the multiple dimensions of the creative act (corporal, representational, fantasy, social, interrelational, emotional, transitional, auto-sensual...). This article highlights a creative process characterized by the repetition of a trying physical experience where the painter goes beyond his limits of tolerance in order to reach a space of exhaustion where "there would be no more language". This creative practice, first marked by a ruthless constraint to create and leading us to identify primary forms of symbolization in his work, will take a more tranquil course within a transitional space where these enigmatic signifiers, these primitive affects, and these unremembered sensations will find the possibility of hiding/being found by and in the creative act. In the mid-1980s, a lawsuit for counterfeiting allowed Hucleux to take an important step in the reorganization of this constraint to symbolize, whereby "experiments of envisioning" could be updated in a playful and interactive way, in contrast to the mechanical and solipsistic nature of his first, hyperrealistic, period. Is the work of Hucleux a work of psychic survival, at the limits of the madness of self-control, or can it be understood as a borderline experience of exploration of archaic processes? Listening to the work and its author, it is possible to hear the way in which his artistic quest is only interested in forms and impressions linked to experiences of attunement with the environment; His faces translate, by means of the re-staging of the meeting of a frozen, mortified double, the silences and uneasiness waiting to be symbolized. The study of Hucleux's creative work constitutes a unique window through which we can explore psychic life on this side of secondary symbolization: that is, this weft of experience where the senses and the affects irrigate the mental functioning in the form of formal associative chains, at the risk of intersubjective deviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

C. R. Leslie's influential biography of John Constable highlighted that his friend's artistic strengths stemmed from his unprecedented geographical "confinement." The unpublished draft preface, however, compared Constable with a "voyage of discovery." Attending to Leslie's conflicting images of confinement and remoteness enriches our understanding of how Constable's rhetorical preoccupation with the local was a response to his place within expanding global artistic, social, and economic networks. His conception of the English landscape was constructed against a background of exploration, colonization, and international commercial expansion, the negotiation of these realities animating his paintings, prints, and public theorizing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer art has recently become a vital part of the artistic process of creating digital versions of illustrations. Digital painting is an example. It has become a new phenomenon in Chinese art, transforming technique, aesthetics and culture. Thus, this study determines the impact of digital tools on the digital painting skills of students with different painting levels. The study involved 90 students from the Zhengzhou Preschool Education College in China. The study used a quasi-experimental design with a single-group pre-test/post-test design. The research findings indicated that there were improvements in painting skills for the groups with poor and medium achievements. The considered painting skills included composition, colour theory, interpretation and creativity. The resulting data validate the positive impact of digital tools on learning and creating paintings. The research described in this article is valuable for creating and implementing innovative courses in digital painting. Future studies should focus on the design and development of computer-aided painting courses and their impact on art students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysing art that emerges from remediation can be a form of critical pedagogy in and of itself. This article focuses on art forms that involve remediation as a strategy of the critical pedagogy of “unlearning imperialism” (Azoulay 2019). The aim is to examine the role of the adaptive process of artistic remediation (by which new media technologies incorporate, reinterpret, and reference older media forms) in conceptualising and developing a critical and engaged approach in the classroom to the inequities in knowledge production, mediation, and sharing. The strategic approach to unlearning imperialism is combined with Ariella Azoulay’s idea of “potential history”. This frames the analysis of three artworks that are, in different ways, linked to photography, either as photography-to-painting or painting-to-photography remediations. The first artwork discussed is Roxana Manouchehri’s Power (2014), a neo-Victorian photography-to-painting remediation depicting Queen Victoria and Princess Tadj es-Saltaneh; the second and third artworks are Jan Banning’s Immigrant (Jamaican) Olympia with Dutch Servant (2011) and Raeda Saadeh’s Who Will Make Me Real? (2003), both painting-to-photography remediations of Édouard Manet’s 1863 oil painting Olympia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is the first systematic survey of a large corpus of zinc white (ZnO) artists' materials. Zinc white is a white pigment developed within the wave of 19th-century technological developments in the paint industry. The composition, particle morphology and size, and luminescence of 49 zinc white samples from artists' materials were characterized, including three references of known synthesis methods (indirect and direct) and synthesized by the authors (ZnO nanosmoke). The corpus included historical and modern zinc white pigment powders and paint materials from the leading European and American color manufacturers. The study aims to characterize and evaluate the variability of the properties of zinc white and its paint formulations. The reference materials presented properties in agreement with the literature: indirect ZnO exhibited submicron prismoidal blue-luminescent particles of higher purity than direct ZnO, which had larger acicular green-luminescent particles. ZnO nanosmoke presented acicular (tetrapod-like) blue/green-luminescent nanoparticles. Composition, particle morphology, size, and documentary sources suggested a production via the indirect method for the analyzed corpus. However, the luminescence behavior was more complex to interpret. The fundamental emission of ZnO was not always detected, even in pure ZnO powders. Three trends were identified: smaller ZnO particles for the most recent samples; green luminescence connected to larger particle size; fewer trace elements, and of the same type (i.e., lead, sulfur) for historical materials. Another interesting finding was the detection of hydrozincite in some powders, likely a degradation product of ZnO. In terms of methodology, cathodoluminescence proved a valuable tool for pigment identification. The study provides a database of zinc white references for pigment and artwork analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When appreciating a painting, people often classify it into a style. The extent to which the painting is regarded as a typical example of the style is called its style prototypicality. The authors propose a method of quantifying style prototypicalities and conduct an experiment to validate this method using the drift rate parameter of the drift diffusion model. This parameter is calculated using participants' decision-making response times. The authors find a positive correlation (r =.88, p <.001) between the drift rates and the quantified prototypicalities for the paintings used in this study, confirming the psychological appropriateness of the proposed quantification method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paintings can exert a strong effect on their viewers by creating atmospheres. But how is it possible for a painting to create an atmosphere? My goal in this paper is to provide a partial answer to this question by focusing on the depiction of light. I argue that paintings can elicit experiences of atmospheres in part because they can depict pictorial space as filled with ambient light that has a distinctive phenomenal character. It is in virtue of this distinctive phenomenal character that the depicted ambient light can make a significant contribution to the overall phenomenal character of the experienced atmosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artist have taken different starting points as reference points that allow them to express herself during the creation process of their work of art. The impact of art on people in a social sense can be counted among these reference points. The social impact situation has resulted in art turning into a propaganda tool and influencing the masses. This research includes examples of the stages that art goes through in terms of visual language formation and the artists' search for a unique way out. The research was carried out through literature review, one of the data collection techniques, and the collected information was brought together, mainly by reference to the works of foreign authors. The problem of the study is how the concept of art, in theoretical terms, turns into a propaganda tool with examples from various periods and geographies. The findings obtained at the end of the study were focused on works of art that turned into propaganda tools based on the concept of art, artists' search for identity and the principles of influencing the masses. As a result, it has been concluded that the concept of art can be considered as contemporary for every artist in their own period, that it does not cover a specific period, and that in every period there are works of art that turn into different means of expression depending on the relationship between art and politics, and this understanding continues today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald's deep connection to his hometown of Winnipeg, which greatly influenced his artistic development and subject matter. Topics include his preference for painting local scenes, particularly in his neighborhood of St. James-Assiniboia, his meticulous documentation of his own residence and surroundings, and his pursuit of capturing the essence of everyday life through his modernist approach to art.

The origin of utopia narratives is based on mythical legends and religious texts. In these narratives, the ideal life of the old world and the phenomenon of paradise are emphasized. Utopia narratives depict a perfect world set in past times or living in an uncertain future. Dystopian discourses and apocalyptic narratives are closely related to each other and have been influenced by utopian narratives. Apocalyptic and dystopian descriptions describe the place and time when it is difficult to live in all aspects, like hell. Apocalyptic descriptions as a religious discourse and dystopian narratives as political discourse emphasize the chaotic collapse of society and states, from the degeneration of ancient civilizations to the hedonistic consumerism of today's capitalist societies In both discourses; It is told that a series of events explained by prophecies such as terrible disasters, epidemics, wars and famine befell authoritarian civilizations that resort to ruthless methods and raging and deviant societies. The general framework of apocalyptic images in Western painting is based on the text in the New Testament from the Bible writer St. John’s Apocalypse / Book of Revelation. The apocalypse phenomenon and descriptions in Western civilization have been dealt with from a religious point of view for a long time; In today’s world, it has begun to be defined as a concept that includes the destruction of states and societies as a result of sociological, economic and political extremism. The aim and scope of this study is to examine the concept of apocalypse in Western art from the 13th century to the present day, and to identify the artists who painted apocalyptic narratives associated with religious and dystopian discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article translated from the German original, author Kathrin Asper explores Frida Kahlo's life and art—the scars and cuts of life, both physical and emotional, that were balanced by the light side of existence. Suffering the consequences of polio contracted as a child and a streetcar accident that left her with lifelong pain, Kahlo found herself through painting, using her experience as a palette. The themes of her art include suffering, transience, and nearness to death as well as the cuts of her husband's, Diego Rivera's, love affairs. Rarely were these experiences portrayed without the juxtaposition of the bright, beautiful, and colorfulness of life, however. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam held a major exhibition of the artwork of Johannes Vermeer from February 10 to June 4, 2023. Twenty-eight of his paintings were gathered in one place, the largest exhibition ever of his oeuvre. The author not only went to this exhibition but also traveled to Vermeer's hometown of Delft where the artist spent almost his entire life. In addition to reviewing the design and layout of the exhibition as well as the art shown, he discusses the importance of Delft as a location along with significant events in Dutch history at that time. The psychological effects of looking at Vermeer are considered, with attention to Vermeer's use of colors, perspective, themes, and light. Vermeer's capacity for opening an observer to introversion is elaborated through a discussion of the archetypal dimensions of his art as well as his innovative understanding of how to represent pregnant moments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past thirty years, scholars of Arab cultural politics have struggled to articulate modern Palestinians' unique ways of viewing the medieval past. Al-Andalus in particular fascinates authors and visual artists of Palestine. Our current theoretical framework within Arabic literature is poorly adapted to the sweeping historiography that these authors and artists create. This article revises the academic consensus that nostalgia is the organizing principle for Palestinian expressions of Andalusi identity. It provides a new way to understand the relationship between modern Palestinian poetics and the idea of a past Arab Iberia. Shifting from the affective theory of nostalgia that culminated in the early 1990s, I argue that Palestine's version of al-Andalus in the twenty-first century works primarily as an artistic technique of reading Maghrebi texts rather than as an idyllic geographic place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the image reconstrual of Shan Gui 山鬼 in the multimodal translation from the poem Shan Gui to three renowned paintings, i.e., Li Gonglin's 李公麟 (date unknown; 1049–1106), Fu Baoshi's 傅抱石 's (1945) and Xu Beihong's 徐悲鸿 (1943), within the framework of social semiotics, and to explore the reason why the image changed through recontextualization. It is found that the image of Shan Gui reconstrued by Li looks like a detached sprite; Fu is a sentimental goddess, while Xu is a mundane human girl. Contextual factors, including scholastic explanations of the poem, the individual orientation of painters, and their media choices, contribute to such image divergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the introduction of Catholic religious paintings in China from the late Qing Dynasty to the early Republic. Topics include the distinctive characteristics and substantial output of the Fu Jen Catholic paintings, the reasons behind the university's pursuit of traditional Chinese Christian paintings, and the differing reactions from Western and Chinese audiences rooted in cultural and theological disagreements on visual modernity and syncretism.

This article analyzes pictorial representations of the natural world in Blindness (1995), by José Saramago. It covers the moment when an anonymous character describes some paintings he saw in a museum just before he went blind. Some of them are pastorals, suggestive of the lives of the characters before they became blind; but there are also descriptions of paintings that mirror the desperate situation analogous to the situation of the blind people in the asylum. As far as intermedial ecocriticism is concerned, I rely mainly on Jørgen Bruhn's article "Towards an Intermedial Ecocriticism," and when referring to culture, nature, and animals, I count on Raymond Williams' and Greg Garrard's concepts. Claus Clüver and Liliane Louvel become the main voices when analyzing the intermedial references to painting in the literary text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on Édouard Manet's painting "A Bar at the Folies-Bergère," specifically exploring the significance of labeled bottles in the artwork. It delves into the intellectual property elements represented by the bottle labels, including the artist's signature, the world's "first" registered trademark (Bass's red triangle), and the trade dress of Champagne.

The purpose of the article is the systemisation and analysis of the available biographical information about Antonio Solario, also known as Lo Zingaro or "The Gypsy" - a representative of Italian fine art; comprehending the problems of interpreting the artist's creative works and defining his place in the artistic environment of the Italian Renaissance. For this purpose, historical-cultural and chronological research methods were used, as well as systematisation, art history analysis and figurative-stylistic analysis. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that for the first time, data from scientists of different centuries about the life and work of the Italian artist Antonio Solario has been introduced into the Ukrainian scientific realm, and for the first time an attempt has been made at a comprehensive attribution of four works by the artist. The conclusions made were that the article systemises, specifies and analyses the data on the main stages of the artist's biography, taking into account that there still exist discrepancies in the information about his origin and places he stayed. Within the framework, the fact of the existence of a large number of contradictory data about him as an outstanding representative of the Italian Renaissance has been established and these contradictions have been characterised according to the chronological principle. It is noted that the artist has Venetian origins and at different periods of his life worked in Naples, the Italian region of Marche and on the territory of present-day Great Britain. Several hypotheses about the origin of the nickname "Lo Zingaro" are considered separately. The main stages in the evolution of the artist's creative manner are described - from early Venetian influences to the formation of a mature Neapolitan style that organically combined the achievements of Renaissance masters. It was found that his development was influenced by the creative style of such Italian Renaissance artists as Perugino, Pinturicchio and others. It is summarised that the figure of Antonio Solario personifies the multidimensional processes in the art of the Italian Renaissance and provides a number of areas for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the article is to analyse the romanticised artistic image of Esmeralda in the works of nineteenthcentury artists - one of the key characters of Victor Hugo's novel Notre Dame de Paris (1831) as a typical example of French literature of the Romantic period. This work is characterised by grotesqueness, hyperbole, conflict, and a tendency to dramatic moments in the plot construction, which is embodied in the figure of Esmeralda, a freedom-loving and charismatic Roma dancer. As a symbol of the two fundamental vectors of social development, which consisted in the struggle between good and evil, she captured the imagination of nineteenth-century artists, encouraging them to develop creatively and convey their feelings through visual tools in a romantic and realistic way. To this end, the following research methods were used: the historical method, which allowed to conduct study in accordance with the period of writing the novel and the works of art; the comparative method for comparing works of art united by a common storyline; the art historical analysis for establishing a number of stylistic and compositional features of each work. The scientific novelty is that for the first time a number of nineteenth-century paintings depicting the heroine of Notre Dame de Paris, Esmeralda, has been classified. The criterion for this selection was visual poetisation of the image of Esmeralda. Conclusions. The analysis of works by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, William Gale, Eugene Henry, Friedrich Kraus, Joseph van Lerius, Lionel Royer, Carl Steuben proves the attention of these and other artists to the figure of Esmeralda from Victor Hugo's novel Notre Dame de Paris. In the analysed paintings, the image of Esmeralda reflects the key features of the romantic worldview: the cult of feelings, attention to inner experiences of an individual, fascination with demonic female images, among others. The pictorial interpretations of Esmeralda's image by Romantic artists allow us to better understand the plot trends inherent in the Romantic period, and also to depict the external and internal beauty of women in the trends of Realism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study is to establish the technique of creating four miniature portraits by Rosalba Carrera (1673-1757) from the collection of the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Art (The Khanenko Museum) using optical and physicochemical methods and to introduce the results into scientific circulation. The methodology of the work is to use modern methods of analysing works of art in different spectral ranges, including microscopic, ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) studies, X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). The scientific novelty is that for the first time a comprehensive study of miniature portraits of the famous Venetian artist Rosalba Carrera from the Khanenko Museum collection is presented, which establishes the technological features of creating miniatures on ivory and their design using various materials, the author's techniques of applying the image of portraits and the identification of pigments of the paint layer. Conclusions. As a result of the research, it was found that ivory was used as a basis for creating the miniatures. Infrared light studies have shown the absence of preliminary drawings, author's changes of composition and hidden signatures on the miniatures. The XRF method confirmed that copper substrates, gilded silver frames, and Venetian glass coverings were used in the design of the art objects. It has been established that the portraits were painted with watercolours using the author's spot method, and the pigments in the paint composition identified by ATR-FTIR correspond to the time of creation of the miniatures in the second quarter of the 18th century, which coincides with the museum attribution. The results obtained can be useful for art historians, restorers, and technology experts for the attribution/re-attribution of works of art of the 18th- 19th centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the article is to review portrait miniatures in museum collections as a refined art of the 16th - 19th centuries, which is closely related to the history of monarchs and aristocracy. It also reflects the aesthetic preferences of customers of portrait miniatures, artistic trends in the outlined period and scientific and technological possibilities of miniatures production. The research methodology consists in applying a number of approaches. The method of source analysis was used to analyze the literature on the topic of the article. An interdisciplinary analysis, in particular biographical and cultural research methods, came in handy when studying actual material. The historical approach and theoretical generalization made it possible to formulate conclusions and highlight the prospects for further development of the topic. The scientific novelty consists in the examination of portrait miniatures of museum collections as a component of cultural heritage and an important pictorial document of the cultural history of Europe in the 16th-19th centuries. Conclusions. As a separate form of art, portrait miniature in European countries, primarily in England, began to take shape in the 16th century, reaching its apogee in the 18th century. and, unable to withstand competition with photography, became part of the historical and cultural heritage. At the beginning of the 19th century, we observe the popularity of portrait miniatures in America, where this form of art has become quite a profitable business. The article focuses on the fact that initially portrait miniatures became parts of the collections of the customers themselves. Subsequent generations of collectors formed more extensive collections of works of art, among which portrait miniatures served as part of a large artistic complex. Such collections include the collection of Rosalind and Arthur Gilbert the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the collection of portrait miniatures of the Vinnytsia Regional Art Museum. It is also important from the point of view of the connections between the cultural history of Ukraine and the European context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the work is to update the tools of realism as one of the main methods of preserving classical traditions in the art of painting by the representative of Kyiv artist Olga Karpenko. The methodology of the work is based on the use of a holistic method for a comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of modern painting and the manner of O. Karpenko as its segment, a chronological method for the sequential consideration of the stages of the formation of the artist's personal creative style, a comparative method for comparing the characteristic features of the author's creative manner of different stages, an iconographic method for the analysis of individual works. The scientific novelty of the investigation is determined by the fact that in modern art literature there are currently few studies devoted to the realistic manner in the work of modern domestic artists, and in the context of the work of O. Karpenko, the question has not yet been asked in this way. The bibliography of the subject is very limited, so each new exploration is an important step in filling this lacuna. Conclusions. The creative work of the Kyiv artist Olga Karpenko is one of those cornerstones on which you can build a comprehensive idea of the trends in the development of modern national painting. It is multicomponent, synthesises manifestations of stylistic features of various manners, directions, combines manifestations of various types of art, techniques. Among the main distinctive features of O. Karpenko's manner is that she belongs to those representatives of the younger generation who try to preserve the traditions of academic painting, which is facilitated by the appeal to a realistic manner. It is the analysis of the role of realism in the creative manner of the artist that is the main goal of this investigation, which is designed to actualise the problem of the role and place of realism as a way of seeing the world in the modern artistic space. At the same time, there is the problem of experimentation in creativity and the coexistence of a realistic manner with a tendency to experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the article is to identify features and regularities in representation of part of collection of the Dnipro Art Museum of the verge of 19th and 20th centuries, presented in the block of the main museum exposition "Modern. Avant-Garde. Symbolism" from 19 May 2018 to 23 February 2022. The research methodology is based on the application of a systemic approach in a combination of general scientific and special methods of cognition, such as analytical, formal-stylistic, systematisation, and generalisation. The application of the specified methods and approaches contributed to a profound study of the identified issues and made it possible to formulate reasoned conclusions. The scientific novelty of the work lies in a comprehensive approach to the analysis and generalisation of a range of issues regarding the peculiarities of the representation of fine art pieces at the turn of the 20-21 centuries presented in the block of the permanent exposition of the Dnipro Art Museum "Modern. Avant-Garde. Symbolism". Conclusions. Based on the results of the present research, the author can state that permanent exhibition hall of the Dnipro Art Museum "Modern. Avant-Garde. Symbolism", which consisted of four thematic blocks, is an example of a successful combination of expositional and scientific work, which made it possible to represent the relevant section of the museum collection at a decent level. One of the notable features is the non-trivial solution of exhibition space in colour, which was characterised by accented contrasting zoning. Among the notable features, the author notes the balance found between the demonstration of artworks of recognised masters of the modernist era and representatives of the regional art centre. The inclusion in the main exposition of a number of paintings by the local symbolist artist Mykhailo Sapozhnykov contributed to a certain extent to the integration of his figure and creative work into the line of Ukrainian fine art development in the first third of the 20th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to the analysis of the specifics of the image of representatives of the Roma community in the fine art of Europe. The contribution of innovative Roma artists, such as Alfred Ullrich, Dan Turner, Delaine Le Bas, Oden Gyudy and others, who paved the way for self-presentation of the Roma people and formed a new image of their community. The role of modern Roma artists in the establishment of Roma identity and the use of new forms of art to convey complex realities of today's Roma communities has been studied. The article analyses the creative work of leading contemporary Roma artists. In particular, Damian Le Bas, Emilia Rigova, Den Turner, Selma Selman and others, who using the artistic tools, by combining the traditional Roma art with modern techniques, reflect the Roma mentality. The purpose of the article is actualisation of Roma images in the works of art of the late 20th - early 21st centuries. Research methodology. To understand and realise the purpose, the cultural and historical approaches were used, and to study the evolution of Roma artistic images the research methods were used, such as chronological method, art analysis, among others. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that transformation of the presentation of Roma people in the European art of the late 20th - early 21st centuries century was comprehensively investigated for the first time. The contribution of modern Roma artists to the formation of a new image of their community was analysed. The obtained conclusions assume that, based on a number of specific examples, it was established that Roma people at different times, as well as in the modern period, were and are the objects of the increased interest of artists due to peculiarities of their origin and migration within the territory of Europe, as well as the specifics of ethnogenesis, original material and spiritual culture, ethnic unity and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Viewing art inspires creativity, which can encourage learning in art education. A previous study revealed that the type of artwork and the way art is viewed affects adults' inspiration; however, no study exists concerning the way children are inspired by viewing art. Thus, the current study aimed to examine whether children's age group/grade level, art style (figurative or abstract), and artwork creators (children or adults) influence children's inspiration, and whether the effects of the art style and creators vary by children's age group/grade level. An online questionnaire survey was conducted with the help of 600 pairs of parents and their elementary‐school‐aged children. They were asked to view eight paintings that differed in terms of the artists and their individual style and they then rated their inspiration experience when viewing each artwork. The results revealed that children were more inspired when viewing abstract, rather than figurative, paintings, and the effect of the type of painting differed in the third and sixth grades. Additionally, children gained more inspiration by viewing paintings created by children rather than by adults; a difference observed in all grade levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]