This thesis examines the portraiture of Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun and Adélaide Labille-Guiard within the context of their time. Analysis of specific portraits in American collections is provided, along with an examination of their careers: early education, Academic Royale membership, Salon exhibitions, and the French Revolution. Discussion includes the artists' opposing stylistic heritages, as well as the influences of their patronage, the French art academy and art criticism. This study finds that Salon critics compared their paintings, but not with the intention of creating a bitter personal and professional rivalry between them as presumed by some twentieth-century art historians. This thesis concludes those critics simply addressed their opposing artistic styles and that no such rivalry existed.

The metamorphosis and transformation of forms as metaphors continued to be the focus of my work. The use of modular forms with lightweight materials increased mass and volume in my work. The reconstructing and reassembling of sculptures formed with modules was an excellent vehicle for the content of metamorphosis and transformation. The focus of this problem was to create a series of multi-media art pieces that were each composed of a number of modules.

I has been almost four years since this change of perception from "belief" to "disbelief." Looking back I can say this shift can be characterized as "belief" standing for an idea of art which requires it to represent a singular closed reading, while "disbelief" stands for a realization of an art which corresponds more with the complexities of social interaction and produces work with an array of possible readings. Or more simply stated, "belief" requires the desire to destabilize meaning. Or even more simply stated, "belief" equals "truth," while "disbelief" equals the absence of "truth."