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Chapter 2 - Developing Visual Literacy
Table of Contents
Key Points
Describe the Relationship Between Words and Images
- Images & Words can refer to sights or experiences, but they are not the sights or experiences themselves
- Words explain what we see or experience
- To fully articulate an artwork's content we must use words
- Subject matter of the work is what the image literally depicts
- Content is what the image means
- In Islamic Culture words take precedence over images
- Goes back to the Qur'an is which Muhammad said depicting living things is (basically) evil
- Words represent the world in the abstract whereas images represent the world or reproduce its image
Distinguish Between Representation and Abstraction
- Representational artworks portray recognizable forms
- The closer to what we see in reality the more it is an example of realism
- A work is Abstract when it less resembles the real world
- When a work does not refer to the natural or objective world at all, it is said to be completely abstract or nonobjective
- Naturalism is a brand of representation in which the artist retains realistic elements, but presents the visual world from a disctintly personal or subjective point of view
Discuss How Form, As Opposed To Content, Might Also Help Us To Understand the Meaning of a Work of Art
- Form is the overall structure of an artwork
- Includes aspects such as the artwork's materials and organization of its parts into a composition
- Form is opposed to content which is what the work of art expresses or means
- All forms suggest meaning
Explain How Cultural Conventions Can Inform Our Interpretation of Works of Art
- Cultural conventions are often carried from one generation to the next via iconography
- Iconography is a system of images whose meaning is understood by a certain cultural group
- Images used in iconography represent concepts or beliefs beyond literal subject matter
- For instance, a green dress meaning fertility in 1400s Europe may be used in art