This document provides information about Charles Sanders Peirce, an American philosopher who developed a theory of semiotics, or signs. It summarizes Peirce's three main types of signs: icons, which resemble what they represent; indexes, which are physically connected to what they represent; and symbols, which represent objects through social convention rather than resemblance or physical connection. The document then gives examples of each type of sign and discusses how formal analysis and semiotic analysis can be used to understand visual images. It also introduces the concepts of synchronic and diachronic analysis for understanding meanings generated by images over time or within a single moment.

1. Art 100
UnderstandingVisual Culture
MODULE 7.1
CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS

2. Charles Saunders PEIRCE (“purse”) (1839-1914)
American thinker, mathematics, science, logic, semiotics
http://www.iupui.edu/~peirce/

3. three types of signs
types
 icon: represents the object
through some similarity or
resemblance
 index: represents the
object by being a physical
trace of it
 symbol: represents the
object by convention
(social agreement)
examples
 smiley face,
representational art
 fingerprint
 example of symbol:
pretty much all of language, in
which words have no necessary
relationship to the concept they
represent

4. explanation of three of Peirce’s sign types

5. index: a type of sign that is physically connected
to its making

6. index: a type of sign physically connected to its making

7. Robert RAUSCHENBERG, AutomobileTire Print, 1953
paint on 20 sheets of paper mounted on fabric, 16 1/2 in. x 264 1/2 inches, SFMOMA,
© Robert Rauschenberg Foundation / Licensed byVAGA, NewYork, NY
use of indexical marks in art

8. GabrielOROZCO
Chicotes (Whips)
2010
installed at theTate Modern
use of
indexical
marks in art

9. Christoph NIEMANN, Coffee, NewYorkTimes blog, December 2, 2008

10. synchronic [syn=together]

11. synchronic
Both formal and semiotic analyses are synchronic in nature: they
consider meanings generated by an arrangement of elements within
a single moment in time.

12. Synchronic
understanding
of a tree’s
functions

13. diachronic
understanding
of a tree
[dimension of
time is
present]
Dia=across or through time
Diachronic analyses take into account meanings generated over
time, including the accretion and depletion of meanings.

14. Diachronicdia=across

15. Diachronic analysis
takes change into
account.
Meanings of cultural
objects are dynamic
over time.
New meanings
accrue to images,
old ones fall away
and have to be
painstakingly
recovered, if at all.

16. looking at a visual image
 start with your reactions and impressions
 then ask yourself: how is the overall form is
put together?
 formal elements to consider
 composition
 line
 color
 shape
 size
 texture

17. make a list of all formal elements. these, along with
the subject matter, will become your signifiers.
write them down in a column on the left. in a column
on the right, list the possible signifieds that
correspond to these signifiers.
now, look at the whole list of signifieds together.
how do they add up to a meaning?
Semiotic Analysis

19. SIGNIFIERS:
SIGNIFIEDS:

20. Ganesha with His Consorts
Central India, early 11th century
(41 3/8 x 27 x 13 in.)
Sandstone
But, what if we don’t know
what is signified? Or, what if
we get it wrong?

21. Ganesha
 elephant-headed god
 son of Shiva and Parvati
 god of wisdom and learning
 “remover of obstacles”

22. Sandro Botticelli, Primavera (Allegory of Spring), c. 1482, o/c, 80 x 124 inches

23. Sandro Botticelli, Primavera (Allegory of Spring), c. 1482, o/c, 80 x 124 inches
Zephyr
Chloris
Flora
Venus
Cupid
TheThree Graces
Mercury

24. possible interpretations
 for a small, elite public who would
understand all of the mythological allusions
from their reading of Greek and Latin classics
that were coming back into fashion in the
Italian Renaissance
 for an even smaller, and more elite public
who would understand this as an allegory of
neoPlatonist thought, moving from sensual
enjoyment to divine contemplation

25. possible interpretations 2
 Christian allegory of life cycle
 commemorative of peace treaty brokered by
Lorenzo de Medici in the Spring of 1480,
bringing two years of war to a close

27. Galloping HorseTreading on a Flying Swallow
(a.k.a. “Flying Horse”)
Han Dynasty (Eastern Han)
1st c. AD
14” H 18” W
bronze

29. warfare and cultural
exchange
 Horse-riding nomadic tribes were raiding China's borders
beginning as early as the 6th century B.C.E.
 The problem grew worse over time and was not resolved
by the building of the GreatWall along China's northern
border.
 The Han Chinese knew they needed to develop cavalry
(mounted troops) in order to fight back effectively.
 But this meant gaining access to good horse breeding
stock.

30. horse trading
 EmperorWudi (reigned 140 - 86 B.C.E.) of the Han dynasty
sent expeditions westward for the purpose of purchasing
horses.
 In Ferghana (part of present-day Uzbekistan,Tajikistan, and
Kyrgyzstan) his envoys found a new breed of horse,
superior to the native Chinese horse, and finally managed
to purchase some.
The strength and speed of Ferghana horses impressed not
only the Chinese military, but painters, sculptors and poets as
well. It was a common subject of poetry and art during the
Han Dynasty.