Iconography/Iconology- Lecture notes
Iconology
One of the things that came up last week when we were looking at semiotics was how metaphor is used in visual communication – which leads nicely into this week’s session on Iconology.
Where we were looking last week at different theories which claim to explain how words and images communicate meaning (how we translate words and images into meanings through a shared knowledge of coded systems), today we’re looking at how broader meanings, and different nuances of meaning, can be communicated within these signifying systems. Iconology is about how we use individual – as well as collective – understandings and interpretations to seek a depth of meaning and nuances of meaning beyond that first level of semiotic communication. So, where Semiotics tells us that the phonemes (‘codes’) ‘r’ ‘e’ ‘d’ make up a bigger word (‘code’) ‘red’ which we have learned to associate with the colour we all think of when we hear the word ‘red’, iconology delves into the symbolic, cultural and, at times, idiosyncratic meanings associated with ‘red’. In this session we’ll consider what is being communicated within the context of particular examples of visual communication, and how, as interpreters and creators of graphic design/art/animation, we can play with that ‘gap’ between reading and interpretation (between the page/screen and its audience) to creative effect. The study of meaning contained within in a particular work of art or design, and the branch of art history that addresses the description, analysis and interpretation of images. Meanings are not always immediately obvious - this can enhance their impact.
Historical and theoretical context - Erwin Panofsky - iconologist - Studies in Iconology (1939).
Using visual evidence to 'unlock' meaning.
Iconology : Iconology is the study of the meaning contained within the symbols in a particular work of art.
Culturally specific. It examines the symbol on more than its face value and tries to find meaning by reconciling it with its historical
context. To find out about the ORIGINS, purpose and meaning of something.
Looking as opposed to just seeing.
Metaphor - where meaning is derived through association, comparison or resemblance.
The Arnolfini Wedding Portrait, Jan Van Eyck, 1434
This painting is a great example of an iconological mystery, but great for practicing iconological analysis (art historians have had a field day with this painting!).
Erwin Panofsky
German art historian and iconologist (wrote Studies in Iconology in 1939) – regarded the role of iconology as being, ‘to identify and describe’. Considered the ‘conventional significance’ attached to the symbols in a work of art/design, and the significance of a common currency of cultural experiences through what might be considered familiar motifs and themes.
He systematised iconological analysis into three layers or strata:
1. PRIMARY/’NATURAL’ Simple identification through familiarity, perception of the work’s pure form. We can
say what we see and begin to understand it on a very basic level.
2. SECONDARY/’CONVENTIONAL’ Linking of artistic/design motifs with themes, concepts, conventional
meanings. Recognising a degree of allegory and metaphor within shared conventions of meaning. Beginning to
bring in your own knowledge of the themes/motifs and their contextual circumstances.
3. TERTIARY/’INTRINSIC’ Perhaps the most contentious level of interpretation. At this deepest level, the
intrinsic meaning associated with themes and motifs – within a specific context – is apprehended. At this level we begin to ask questions about the content and what it might allude to, as well as the ideas that are more immediately apparent. Further, what does it mean to us as an individual when we bring our own personal experiences and knowledge into play?
Panofsky’s three strata continued...
Think of the example we looked at of a man tipping his hat as he walks down
the street. How can we apply these three strata to this gesture? –
1. What do we see? A man tipping his hat. We know it’s a man, we know that’s a hat, we see that he’s carrying out a gesture which involves removing his hat and placing it back on his head. We can begin to recognise and understand that this is probably a friendly gesture through the fact that he also smiles etc....
2. What does it mean? We know, through our understanding of cultural conventions, that this gesture is a greeting, and a polite and friendly one.
3. A sort of synthesising or bringing together of the above strands of understanding, to asks, ultimately, what does this all mean?. What deeper meaning can we understand? We might be able to learn something aboutthe background, education, characteristics etc. of the man as a result of
viewing this scene. Considers it as part of a historic, geographic, cultural, social environment or context.
