2 Developing Visual Literacy

Learning Objectives 1 of 2 Describe the relationship between words and images. Distinguish between representation and abstraction. Discuss how form, as opposed to content, might also help us to understand the meaning of a work of art.

Learning Objectives 2 of 2 Explain how cultural conventions can inform our interpretation of works of art.

Introduction 1 of 2 In order to get the most out of art appreciation, you must describe why you "like" a work and how it communicates to you rather than just "I like this work."

Introduction 2 of 2 Making sense of Willem de Koonig's North Atlantic Light requires visual literacy. The title helps us recognize what looks like a sailboat at the painting's center. Closer observation can reveal details about light reflecting from the sky into the sea. Critical thinking aids in the interpretation of complicated works.

Willem de Kooning, North Atlantic Light. 1977 Willem de Kooning, North Atlantic Light. 1977. Oil on canvas, 6' 8" × 5' 10". Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Acquired with the support of the Rembrandt Association. © 2015. Photo Art Resource/Scala, Florence. © 2015 Willem de Kooning Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. [Fig. 2-1]

Words and Images 1 of 4 Magritte's The Treason of Images depicts a reproduction of an image of a pipe found in tobacco ads of his time. The caption, translated as "This is not a pipe," refers to the fact that this image is not actually a representation of a pipe. Both images and words symbolically refer to things in the world, but are not the things themselves.

René Magritt,. The Treason of Images, Ceci n'est past une pipe. 1929 René Magritt,. The Treason of Images, Ceci n'est past une pipe. 1929. Oil on canvas, 21-1/2 × 28-1/2". Los Angeles County Museum of Art. © 2015 C. Herscovici/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. [Fig. 2-2]

Words and Images 2 of 4 Shirin Neshat's series, Women of Allah, combines words and images. Rebellious Silence shows a woman wearing a chador that covers everything but her face. A rifle divides the Farsi poem written on her face. The subject matter only hints at the complexity of its content, which relies on the context of the viewing party.

Shirin Neshat, Rebellious Silence, from the series Women of Allah. 1994. Gelatin silver print and ink, 11 × 14". © Shirin Neshat, courtesy of Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels. Photo: Cynthia Preston. [Fig. X-X]

Words and Images 3 of 4 In Islamic culture, calligraphy is the chief form of art and pious writing is sacred. Until recent times, every book began with the bismillah. The Triumphal Entry from Firdawsi's Shahnamah shows a beautiful example in the top right-hand corner.

Triumphal Entry, page from a manuscript of Firdawsi's Shahnamah, Persian, Safavid culture. 1562–83 Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper, 18-11/16 × 13". Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Francis Bartlett Donation and Picture Fund, 14.692. Photograph © 2015 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. [Fig. 2-4]

Words and Images 4 of 4 Islamic culture concerns itself largely with the word of the Qur'an and images are absent in most architecture. Depiction of living creatures was frowned upon; a page from a copy of Nizami's Khamseh shows the heads of humans have been erased. Iconoclasts wished to destroy images in religious settings and appeared at various periods in Christian history.

Page from a copy of Nizami's Khamseh (Quintet) illustrating a princely country feast, Persian, Safavid culture. 1574–75. Illuminated manuscript, 9-3/4 × 6". India Office, London. © British Library Board, I.O. ISLAMIC 1129, f.29. [Fig. 2-5]

Representation and Abstraction 1 of 5 Vocabulary has been developed to describe how closely an image resembles visual reality. Art can be representational, portraying objects in recognizable form. Realism occurs when the image resembles what the eye sees. An work is photorealistic if it is so realistic that it seems like a photograph.

Representation and Abstraction 2 of 5 Art can be abstract when it resembles its real-world subject less. It can be called nonobjective if it does not refer to the natural or objective world at all.

The Creative Process 1 of 2 Abstract Illusionism: George Green's …Marooned in dreaming: a path of song and mind Green's distinct style is characterized by images of abstract sculptural forms that seem to float free from the painting's surface. This work begins with a single sheet of raw birch, painted with a highly illusionistic trompe-l'oeil frame.

George Green. …marooned in dreaming: a path of song and mind, in progress. 2011. Top: Raw birch ground before painting. Middle: Second stage, painted frame and mat. Bottom: Third stage, painted frame and seascape. Courtesy of the artist. [Fig. 2-7]

George Green. …marooned in dreaming: a path of song and mind, in progress. 2011. Second stage, painted frame and mat. Courtesy of the artist. [Fig. 2-8]

The Creative Process 2 of 2 Abstract Illusionism: George Green's …Marooned in dreaming: a path of song and mind A photorealistic seascape, based on a photograph, is then painted inside the frame. Then, the entire composition is overlaid with scrolls, arabesques, and planes of color, a visual representation of music.

George Green. …marooned in dreaming: a path of song and mind, in progress. 2011. Third stage, painted frame and seascape. Courtesy of the artist. [Fig. 2-9]

George Green. …marooned in dreaming: a path of song and mind. 2011 George Green. …marooned in dreaming: a path of song and mind. 2011. Acrylic on birch, 4' × 6' 10". Courtesy of the artist. [Fig. 2-10]

Representation and Abstraction 3 of 5 Albert Bierstadt's Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast was criticized for being more fanciful than realistic, despite its representational appearance. Since Bierstadt had never visited Puget Sound, his work is naturalistic rather than realistic. While it is based in realistic elements, its composition is formulaic.

Albert Bierstadt, Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast. 1870 Albert Bierstadt, Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast. 1870. Oil on canvas, 4' 4-1/2" × 6' 10". Seattle Art Museum. Gift of the Friends of American Art at the Seattle Art Museum, with additional funds from the General Acquisition Fund, 2000.70. Photo: Howard Giske. [Fig. 2-6]

Representation and Abstraction 4 of 5 Wolf Kahn's Afterglow I is more abstract naturalism, featuring a less descriptive landscape with trees. Old Mick Tjakamarra's Honey Ant Dreaming also shows a landscape, but along the rules of Aboriginal symbolism. Landscapes were thought to depict a record of the Ancestral Being's passing.

Wolf Kahn, Afterglow I. 1974. Oil on canvas, 41-1/2" × 5' 6" Wolf Kahn, Afterglow I. 1974. Oil on canvas, 41-1/2" × 5' 6". Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Kahn. Art © Wolf Kahn/Licensed by VAGA, New York. [Fig. 2-11]

Old Mick Tjakamarra, Honey Ant Dreaming. 1982 Old Mick Tjakamarra, Honey Ant Dreaming. 1982. Acrylic on canvas, 36 × 27". © Aboriginal Artists Agency Limited. Photo: Jennifer Steele/Art Resource, New York. [Fig. 2-12]

Representation and Abstraction 5 of 5 Old Mick Tjakamarra's Honey Ant Dreaming also shows a landscape, but along the rules of Aboriginal symbolism. Ceremonial paintings on rocks and the ground were made for centuries in Australia's Western Desert region. This work shows Papunya Tula, where three colonies of ants appear at center.

Form and Meaning 1 of 3 Form refers to everything from the materials used to create a work to the way it employs formal elements into the composition. It often opposed to content, or what the work expresses or means.

Form and Meaning 2 of 3 Kazimir Malevich's Black Square was an attempt to free art from objectivity. The work shows a black square set on a white one and was originally exhibited in the gallery space as though it were a religious icon in a traditional Russian home. The work is minimal, parodic, and totally abstract.

Kazimir Malevich, Black Square. ca. 1923–30 Kazimir Malevich, Black Square. ca. 1923–30. Oil on plaster, 14-1/2 × 14-1/2". Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. Inv. AM1978-631. Photo © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/Jacques Faujou. [Fig. 2-13]

Form and Meaning 3 of 3 Beatriz Milhazes based Carambola on a square, influenced by Malevich. Even the geometrical composition's circles were intended to contain squares. She cites color as creating conflict and movement and references forms of Brazilian culture in the piece.

Beatriz Milhazes, Carambola. 2008 Beatriz Milhazes, Carambola. 2008. Acrylic on canvas, 4' 6-7/8" × 4' 2-5/8". Courtesy of James Cohan Gallery, New York and Shanghai. [Fig. 2-14]

Convention, Symbols, and Interpretation 1 of 6 Interpretation of a work relies on its cultural context. Art historian Kenneth Clark compared the images of Apollo and an African dancing mask. He was able to decode conventions of Greek sculpture, but misinterpreted the meaning of the African mask through his ethnocentric reading.

Apollo Belvedere (detail), Roman copy after a 4th-century BCE Greek original. Height of entire sculpture 7' 4". Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican City. © 2015 Photo Scala, Florence. [Fig. 2-15]

African dancing mask from Ulivira, Lake Tanganyika. Lateral view African dancing mask from Ulivira, Lake Tanganyika. Lateral view. Wood, Height 24". The Courtauld Gallery, London. ©The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London/Bridgeman Images. [Fig. 2-16]

Convention, Symbols, and Interpretation 2 of 6 Iconography is a system of visual images widely understood by a given culture or group that is carried forward through generations. Symbols represent something other than their literal meaning. Over time, the meaning of an image can still change or be lost within a culture.

Convention, Symbols, and Interpretation 3 of 6 Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife Giovanna Cenami by Jan van Eyck has a repertoire of symbols that would have been understood by the contemporaneous viewer, but are lost today. From a Muslim perspective, its elements would be nonsensical.

Jan van Eyck, Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife Giovanna Cenami. ca. 1434. Oil on oak panel, 32-1/4 × 23-1/2". National Gallery, London. Inv. NG186. Bought, 1842. © 2015 National Gallery, London/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 2-17]

Convention, Symbols, and Interpretation 4 of 6 It was recently discovered that Jan van Eyck's painting represents a betrothal rather than a marriage. The artist has also painted himself as witness, inscribing "Jan van Eyck was here" above the mirror.

Jan van Eyck, Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife (detail). ca. 1434 Jan van Eyck, Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife (detail). ca. 1434. Bridgeman Images. [Fig. 2-18]

Convention, Symbols, and Interpretation 5 of 6 Jean-Michel Basquiat pays tribute to jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker in his Charles the First. Iconography includes a crown representing African-American heroes. The large "S" stands for Superman as well as SAMO, the artist's "tag." "X" has multiple meanings as X-Men, hobo signs; negation and affirmation.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Charles the First. 1982 Jean-Michel Basquiat, Charles the First. 1982. Acrylic and oil paintstick on canvas, three panels, 6' 6" × 5' 2-1⁄4" overall. © 2015 Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat/ADAGP, Paris/ARS, New York. [Fig. 2-19]

Convention, Symbols, and Interpretation 6 of 6 Western viewers of the Buddha may not understand that the position of the Buddha's hands carries iconographic significance. Mudras refer both to general states of mind and specific events in the Buddha's life. The Amida Buddha represents the promise of being reborn into Paradise and escaping endless rebirth.

Buddha (Amida), Japan. ca. 1130 Buddha (Amida), Japan. ca. 1130. Wood with gold lacquer, 37-1/4 × 27 × 17". Seattle Art Museum. Gift of the Monsen Family, 2011.39. Photo: Elizabeth Mann. [Fig. 2-20]

The Critical Process: Thinking about Visual Conventions 1 of 2 Two views of the signing of peace treaties in Kansas in 1867 present the same content, but different form. John Taylor's illustration is based on sketches done at the scene while Howling Wolf's work was completed about a decade later. "Ledger" drawings were created on blank accountants' ledgers.

John Taylor, Treaty Signing at Medicine Lodge Creek. 1867 John Taylor, Treaty Signing at Medicine Lodge Creek. 1867. Drawing for Leslie's Illustrated Gazette, September–December 1867, as seen in Douglas C. Jones, The Treaty of Medicine Lodge, page xx. © 1966 Oklahoma University Press. Reproduced with permission. All Rights reserved. [Fig. 2-21]

Howling Wolf, Treaty Signing at Medicine Lodge Creek. 1875–78 Howling Wolf, Treaty Signing at Medicine Lodge Creek. 1875–78. Ledger drawing, pencil, crayon, and ink on paper, 8 × 11". New York State Library, Manuscripts and Special Collections, Albany. [Fig. 2-22]

The Critical Process: Thinking about Visual Conventions 2 of 2 Does the difference in the way both artists depict space suggest greater cultural differences? Howling Wolf depicts the scene from above and Taylor's viewpoint is limited to the grove. Native Americans are portrayed individually and identifiably in Howling Wolf's work.

Thinking Back 1 of 2 Describe the relationship between words and images. Distinguish between representation and abstraction. Discuss how form, as opposed to content, might also help us to understand the meaning of a work of art.

Thinking Back 2 of 2 Explain how cultural conventions can inform our interpretation of works of art.