Art Appreciation - The Three Planes of Visual Communication

Visual communication

conveying information and ideas through visual elements such as images, symbols, and colors.

Semiotic Plane

focuses on how signs and symbols create meaning.

Semiotics

the study of signs and how they communicate ideas.

Ferdinand de Saussure

(1857-1913) was a Swiss linguist who introduced a foundational concept in structural linguistics and semiotics. His sign theory is commonly called the Saussurean Model of the Sign.

Sign

the basic unit of meaning in language.

Two Parts of Signs

Signifier, Signified.

Signifier

physical form of the sign. It is what we perceive, such as a sound, word, or image.

Signified

It is the concept or meaning that the signifier represents.

Iconic Plane

how images resemble what they represent. Also about visual similarity between the sign and its meaning.

Charles Sanders Peirce

(1839-1914) was an American philosopher who built on Saussure's ideas. He developed a theory about signs, known as Peircean Semiotic.

Icons

signs that resemble the objects they represent.

Indexes

signs that have a direct connection to their objects through a causal or physical relationship.

Symbols

signs that have an arbitrary relationship to their object.

Contextual Plane

understanding the bigger picture, considers the historical, cultural, and social context of the image which helps us understand the deeper meaning or message.

Erwin Panofsky

(1892-1968) was a German art historian who popularized the iconographic method in the 1930s using medieval and renaissance art of Western Europe.

Three Steps of Iconographic Approach

Primary Level (Pre-iconography), Second Level (Iconography), Third Level (Iconological Analysis).

Primary Level (Pre-iconography)

most basic level of understanding. It focuses on the basic elements of the artwork, such as its composition, color, and style.

Second Level (Iconography)

recognizing and interpreting symbols and specific themes in artwork to understand their deeper meanings.

Third Level (Iconological Analysis)

examines the deeper symbolic and cultural meanings behind the artwork, taking into account its iconographic context and broader historical and cultural aspects.