Art for the Elm City: Public art in New Haven, Connecticut

Abstract

This dissertation identifies and investigates the development, content, placement and scope of imagery associated with the city of New Haven, Connecticut, as expressed in the medium of public art, monuments and memorials. Utilizing public art to analyze the construction of the city’s composite identity is a fresh approach to writing local history in the twenty-first century. Consisting of a narrative and a catalog of 470 works of public art, this dissertation offers insight into the conditions and sometimes competing interests that structured the production, placement and uses of public art in the context of one urban space, over the course of almost two centuries. The result is an image of a city shaped by sensitivity to place, supported by self-selected episodes from local and national history.

First Advisor

Robert Russell

Date of Award

1-1-2016

Document Type

Dissertation

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