Chapter 2 – Developing Visual Literacy

1. How does subject matter differ from content?

2. What is representational art?

3. What constitutes an artwork’s form?

4. What is iconography?

Communicating with the Visual World• We are surrounded by images, but how do we “read” visual

information?

• What terms, phrases, concepts, and approaches do you use to think critically about visual images? What prior knowledge is helpful to understanding the artists intention?

• A great thing about art is that there is not a clear answer to everything. It is the job of the artist to steer the viewer in the right direction. The job of the viewer is to use visual literacy to think critically about the work.

• Sometimes the intention of the artist is not clearly communicated- it is ok to disagree or not understand something.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

• That being said, it seems rather inadequate to describe artwork by simply saying, “I like this painting.”

WHY?

What is it that first catches your eye, and keeps your interest when you look at an artwork? Is it the color, the size, the texture, what it is about?

Likewise- it is OK to NOT like a work for art- but you need to be able to articulate why. Be descriptive in your criticism!

Essential Concepts in Visual Literacy

Consider these ideas when thinking about how to read images:

• Relationships among words, images and objects in the real world

• The distinctions among form and content in art

• Subject matter= what it depicts; Form=what it is; content= what it means

• The idea of representation

• Conventions in art

• Iconography

Subject Matter

• The subject matter of a work is what the image literally depicts.

• Examples of common subject matter are people (portraits), landscapes, and animals.

• In Vincent van Gogh’s Self Portrait, 1889, the subject matter is himself (right).

Form

The form of a work of art is simply what it is.

Examples of forms include painting, drawing, sculpture, video, photography, prints….

The form of the artwork on the right, van Gogh’s Fields and Cypresses, is a painting.

Content

Content is what the image means.

Words that accompany a work of art- its title, for example-can go a long way to understanding meaning.

Van Gogh’s Starry Night, right, is arguably his most famous painting. Looking at the work,what do you think the contentis?

Analyzing the Content of Starry Night

Starry Night depicts a bright, swirling sky full of clouds and stars. It also depicts the view outside of his room in an asylum. This context adds a layer of emotion to the meaning of the work.

An in depth analysis of this painting is included in a link in the chapter folder.

Words and Images

Belgian artist Rene Magritte offered a lesson in visual literacy in his painting The Treason of Images (right). The caption under the pipe reads “This is not a pipe”-which at first seems contradictory. We tend to look at images as if they are real- but of course it is just a representation of a pipe.

Lorna Simpson. Necklines. 1989.Three silver prints, two plastic plaques. 68 ½ x 70 in.How does the meaning of the words affect your interpretation of the images?

Shirin Neshat. Rebellious Silence, from the series Women of Allah. 1994. Gelatin silver print and ink. 11 x 14 in.

How do you “read” this portrait if you are unable to understand the written text? How do you understand it after?

The text inscribed on the image is a Farsi poem by Iranian poet Tahereh Saffarzadeh. It expresses the belief, of many women in Islam, that the chador (the traditional covering extending from head to toe) conceals her sexuality and prevents her from becoming a sexual object. In this sense, the chador is liberating, and within this context she feels truly equal to men.

Triumphal Entry(page from a manuscript of the Shahnamah of Firdawsi), Persian, Safavid culture. 1562–1583. Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper. 18 11/16 x 13 in.

Sacred text with a decorated design to enhance its beauty: the representation of living things, especially humans, is not allowed in Islamic culture

Does this image refer to anything specifically?

Or is it a visual arrangement of shapes and colors?

Or…. Is it both?

Representation and AbstractionImages represent the world, or reproduce its appearance. A traditional goal of visual art has been to portray the way the natural world looks like. Some artists are less interested in representing the world as it appears, and a vocabulary has developed that describes how closely, or not, the image resembles visual reality itself.

Generally, we distinguish a work of art as belonging to one of three groups:

• Representational

• Abstract

• Nonrepresentational (or Nonobjective)

Representation vs. Abstraction

• Representational art portrays natural objects in a recognizableway. The work actually looks like what it represents.

• The less a work of art resembles real things in the real world,the more it is said to be an example of Abstract art.

• People often seek to recognize things in art or relate them to other things (think of ink blot tests) as a way to understand the work- is it actually there?

The more the representation resembles what the eye sees, the more it is said to be an example of realism.

When a work is so realistic that it appears to be a photograph, it is said to be photorealistic.

Chuck Close, Mark, 1978-79, oil on canvas

This is not an exact representation of the rocky mountains, but is still representational. This subcategory of representationalism is called naturalism. The artist retains apparently realistic elements, but presents the visual world from a distinctly personal or subjective point of view.

Albert Bierstadt. The Rocky Mountains, Lander’s Peak. 1863.Oil on canvas. 73 ½ x 120 ¾ in.

This painting is an example of an abstracted landscape- it is a simplified view of a tree line in bright colors.

Wolf Kahn. Afterglow I. 1974. Oil on canvas. 42 x 66 in.

Nonrepresentational Art

• Nonrepresentational, or nonobjective works of art do not refer to the natural or objective world at all.

• These works of art are primarily concerned with questions of form.

• Form is the overall structure of a work of art. This is generally opposed to the overall content of a work of art, but all form has meaning, and with nonobjective art, the form is the meaning.

Form and Meaning

The work of contemporary Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes is an example of nonobjective art. It is based on formal relationships and the square. She adds shapes and colors in geometrical compositions that echo Brazilian culture, like costumes and exotic plants. She says that color adds conflict and movement.

Beatriz Milhazes, Carambola, 2008, acrylic on canvas, 4 ft 6 7/8 in x 4 ft 2 5/8 in

Meaning and Culture

• Our understanding of a work of art is highly dependent on understanding its cultural context.

• Without considering or respecting cultural context, we make ourselves vulnerable to understanding the artwork only through our own cultural prejudices. We are ethnocentric.

Iconography

• Within understanding the artistic goals of different cultures, we can begin to examine an individual culture’s iconography.

• Iconography is a system of visual images, the meaning of which is widely understood by a given culture or cultural group.

• These visual images are symbols, that is, they represent more than their literal meaning.

This iconic statue represents far more than a robed woman holding a torch

upwards.

For over 100 years this work of art has stood for hope, the promise of a

brighter future, and freedom.

What are other examples of contemporary iconography? Think of

symbols we use daily in our culture that are widely understood.

The Statue of Liberty, neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, a gift from the people of France to the people of the

United States, designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and

built by Gustave Eiffel

Contemporary Iconography

• The rainbow: symbol of the LGBTQ community and Pride

• The apple: symbol of Apple technology and products

• The thumbs up: symbol of Facebook “likes”• The mermaid: symbol for Starbucks and coffee

Jan van Eyck, Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife Giovanna Cenami, c. 1434. Oil on oak panel, 32 ¼ x 23 ½ in.

What does this painting mean to you today? Can you pick out any symbols, and have they changed meaning?

Meaning in Jan van Eyck’sGiovanni Arnolfini and His Wife Giovanna Cenami

• Represents an engagement

• Chamber bed= “furniture of estate”, represents wealth

• Green dress represents fertility

• She is not pregnant; the dress accentuates her stomach, which was a standard of female beauty

• The dog represents loyalty (marriage fidelity)

• Candle in the chandelier represents Christ

• Shoes removed represents God’s commandment to remove shoes on holy ground

• Hands touching was a mutual agreement to wed

Jean-Michel Basquiat. Charles the First. 1982.Acrylic and oil paintstickon canvas, three panels. 78x 62 ¼ in. overall.

Combination of personal and iconic iconography

Subject matter is “royalty, heroism, and the streets”- Basquiat

Meaning in Jean-Michel Basquiat’sCharles the First

• Homage to jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker

• Crown: personal iconography- symbol of his own and his heroes success

• “s” for superman and heroes, thor, x men

• X= symbol for crossed out (negative), and “OK” or allright

• Feathers and cherokee- Parker’s love song, and the trail of tears