Capstone Proposal:

For my capstone project, I would like to pursue the mystery that is what makes an artist
influential. Is it purely just skill, timing, or something else? I would like to dig deep into trends
within history to find out how we continue to follow in the footsteps of history today, and
additionally, I would like to look at how cultural events can change art, such as the effect of
westernization in japan on art, or post war art movements such as east side gallery in berlin. I
will be researching disciplines such as art, art history, sociology, cultural studies, and language. I
am planning on using excursion as an opportunity to see my topic in action. Throughout my life,
I have always been interested and attracted to the arts. Whether that be through theater, makeup,
or painting, it has found a way every time to sneak its way into my life. As I explored influential
works of literature in English 12, I began to wonder about the influence of certain artists, and
why exactly they became so influential. Was it timing? Coincidence? Logic? I plan to explore
these topics through my Capstone project, following some common scholar names such as
András Szántó, Dmitri Vrubel, Franz Kafka, and Kevin McCarthy.

Annotated Bibliography:

McCarthy, Kevin F, et al. A Portrait of the Visual Arts. Rand Corporation, 12 Aug. 2005.

- Defining WHO artists are

- Focuses on looking at artists now as opposed to trying to decipher what dead artists may
have been motivated by
- Art history / art / sociology

Eisman, April A. “East German Art and the Permeability of the Berlin Wall.” German Studies

Review, vol. 38, no. 3, 2015, pp. 597–616, www.jstor.org/stable/24808963. Accessed 1

May 2023.

- talks about the berlin wall and the significance of the war relating to the movements of art
in germany - lots of opportunity to explore in berlin on excursion!
- Art history
Miki, Tamon. “The Influence of Western Culture on Japanese Art.” Monumenta Nipponica, vol.

19, no. 3/4, 1964, p. 380, https://doi.org/10.2307/2383178.

This article takes a deep dive into the shift of westernization in Japan, the effect on
Japanese art, and it opens a door into how cultural changes can affect art culture. This source
looks into the disciplines of both cultural change/history and art history.
 - Culture change / art history
Moyer, Jonathan D., et al. “CONCEPTUALIZING INFLUENCE.” JSTOR, 2018,

www.jstor.org/stable/resrep16778.6.

- Talks about common trends when dealing with power and influence in modern society
- sociology

Capistrano-Baker, Florina H. “WHITHER ART HISTORY? Whither Art History in the

Non-Western World: Exploring the Other('S) Art Histories.” The Art Bulletin, vol. 97, no.

3, 2015, pp. 246–257, www.jstor.org/stable/43947739.

- compares/contrasts non-western art to art in america, and explores other cultures’ art
- Culture / art history

KNIGHT, BARRY. “The Society We Want.” JSTOR, Bristol University Press, 2017,

www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv43vv1s.9.

- Talks about the kind of society that the society itself wants, or rather why we should be
able to choose what we want in a society
- sociology