Tuesday, January 23, 2007

The Language of Art History

Iconology: the study of visual images

Icon: an image that possess a specific literary meaning.

The Frame: a term used by the Fench Philosopher, Jaques Derrida. What is external?
What is internal? How far are we able to interpret anything?

Discourse: a term used by the French philosopher, Michel Foucault. There are so many competing statements concerning the truth that there is no absolute truth.

Structuralism: the ingredients in the picture are treated as signs for something outside the picture. They present a narrative structure.

The signifier: the image in the canvas.

The signified: the meaning it carries. The mood we might feel when we look at a painting relates to something we know that is not inside the painting, but comes instead from our own life.

History of Art: a students handbook by Marcia Pointon (simplified by moi)

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