Aesthetics and Visual Culture

Iconology/Iconography

“What You See is What you Get”(An Introductory Methodology)

• A structured method for looking at a painting.

• 1.The type of painting or genre

• 2.The central or basic subject matter

• 3.The location or setting of a particular scene

“What You See is What You Get”

• 4. The Historical Period which the work depicts.

• 5. The Season or Time of Year Shown.

• 6. The Time of Day Portrayed.

• 7.The Particular Instant Captured by the Work in Question.

• All We Need to Know is Contained in the Painting Itself.

Landscape

Self- Portrait

Nude

Still Life

History Paintings

Everyday Scenes

Abstract

Historical/Celebrity Portraiture

• Depends on us having prior knowledge of the subject.

• This is especially true of the Canonical Works of Western Art which depend on a working knowledge of Judeo-Christian scripture and tradition.

• Working knowledge of Symbols and Attributes.

Crucifixion

Iconic Analysis

• A Painting is a complicated and challenging text, built up of layers of meaning.

• Symbols are deliberate.

• The Painting can be examined to reveal evidence not only about themselves, but about the life, times and values of the cultures they represent.

This painting is believed to be a portrait of Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife in a room, presumably in their home in the

Flemish city of Bruges. It is considered one of the most original

and complex paintings in Western art history.

Symbols

• Shoes/Clogs - Symbolize holy ground. The are also a wedding gift to the bride and a symbol of domestic tranquility and stability.

•Dog - Loyalty OR Lust (wanting to have a child)

Window - One the man's side, this shows he has access to a life outside.

• Bed - One the woman's side, the bed symbolizes her fertility and the marriage bed. She should stay home and be domestic and make babies.

Also, notice the color and elaborateness of the bed. The color of red show lust and passion and the glamor of the fabric and folds and trimmings show a significant amount of wealth.

Symbols• Clothing - Along with the bed, if

you can see out of the window outside you can tell that it is summer. The subject are dressed in their finest, trimmed in fur and fold, every stop is pulled out. These people want every viewer to know how much many they have.

Artist's Signature - It's in the back, it says "van Eyck was here, 1434." As I mentioned before, this is part of the marriage certificate argument. It is also unique that van Eyck paints himself into the picture but he is not painting (he is also seen in the mirror reflection with one more viewer).

• Dress - The woman is not pregnant. The current queen was pregnant so it was fashionable to look like her. I have also heard that the large amount of fold in the front of the dress was fashionable for saints.

Cherries - One the tree out the window, they show purity and innocence.

Oranges - Symbolise Eden before man, innocence and purity. In the Netherlands (van Eyck) oranges displayed wealth. In Italy (Arnolfini) oranges show fecundity.

Symbols• Chandelier & Candle -

Elaborate chandelier (wealth), the candle is part of a Flemish marriage custom to have a candle lit during the day. It could also be the presence of God in the painting.

• White Cap - Purity on her head

• Open Curtain - More on the fact that he is free to go out in the world is she is stuck in the bed. Also, their marriage is now public.

•

• Convex Frame Mirror - Each medallion has a scene from the passion of Christ, salvation for the sitter

Symbols

• http://sciencestage.com/v/192/the-arnolfini-wedding-portrait-van-eyck-netherlands-imagery-x-ray-animation.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Arnolfini_Portrait,_d%C3%A9tail_(6).jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Arnolfini_Portrait,_d%C3%A9tail_(3).jpg

Erwin Panofsky

Iconology

• The branch of art history which “concerns itself with the subject matter or meaning of works of art.

• Icon means “Image”

• Iconology literary means, “the study of images.

Iconology

• 1. Primary or Natural Level

• (factual and the expressional)

• We can identity only the very basic subject-matter of a painting.

• What is shown and what atmosphere the subject matter communicates.

Iconology

• 2. Secondary or Conventional Level.

• We have to know the conventions in use in order to understand a painting.

• We can tell the difference between a casual meal and the “Last Supper”.

• This level brings our existing literary, artistic and cultural knowledge into play.

Iconology

• 3.Intrinsic Meaning or Content• This level reveals the underlying basic attitudes

of a nation, a period, a class, a religious or philosophical persuasion.

• For example, the Arnolfini portrait tells us a great deal about attitudes toward marriage, religion, wealth and domesticity in 15th Century Flanders as a whole, rather than being just a picture of the Arnolfini bedroom in particular.

Iconology

• This level shows us that we often communicate far more than we deliberately intend.

• To analyze then, means we look deeply rather than just see superficially.

Iconology

• Cultural Obsession with the cult of the dead rock star.

• Death and rock celebrity often go hand in hand.

• Dying young seems to give the charismatic performer some kind of eternal life.

Iconology

• We must be careful not to fall into the trap of reading a text from 1969 as if it were a painting from medieval Europe.

• Panofsky’s method may be inappropriate for use with contemporary visual texts.

• The lesson here is to be aware of over interpretation.

• To look at the Abbey Road photograph is to ask, “What does this photograph tell us about the zeitgeist of Britain in the late 1960’s?

Icons

• Icons are said to make present of the heavenly reality they depict.

• The intention of the artist is to suggest spiritual beauty, transfiguration and saintliness.

Icons

Icons of Popular Culture

Iconology

• Today we have much in common than we had suspected with the people of centuries ago. We have found new idols to worship.

• The rigorous analysis of the content of a visual text can reveal unexpected meanings from the text itself and also unexpected aspects of ourselves.