This document provides an introduction to semiotics through discussing Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Sanders Peirce. It explains that Saussure viewed language as a system of arbitrary signs composed of a signifier and signified. Peirce identified three types of signs: icons which resemble what they represent, indexes with a physical connection, and symbols based on social convention. Examples are used to illustrate how these theories help understand meaning in visual art through analyzing how color, marks, and images take on different meanings based on context.

1. Class 6.1
Introduction to Semiotics

5. Ferdinand de Saussure
Born Geneva, Switzerland, 1857
Trained in ancient and modern languages at the University of Geneva and
later, the University of Leipzig.
Taught in Paris and Geneva.
Died in 1913.
FERDINAND DE SAUSSURE

6. Taught at University of Geneva,
during academic years 1906-7,
1908-9, 1910-11.
First published 1916 by a team of
students who carefully collated their
lecture notes.
Course in General Linguistics

7. Saussure attacks this older
conception of how language works

8. and proposes a new alternative

9. Key implications of this shift
▪ 1. The sign is arbitrary.
▫ There is no necessary link between a
particular set of sounds and the concept it
designates.
▫ The sound and concept are united within the
confines of a particular language and culture.
▫ In English the rooster says “cock-a-doodle-
do”; in French “cocorico”; in German “kikiriki.”

10. Key implications of this shift
▪ 2. The sign creates meaning differentially,
in relation to other signs.
▫ Dog is not cat, not chipmunk, not chocolate
chip cookie.
▫ Meaning is context-dependent.
▫ “You dog!” might sometimes refer to a dog,
other times to a human.

11. sign
▪ Sign=signifier + signified
▪ Signifier (discrete visual element)
▪ Signified (meaning)

12. can be laid out like this:
signifiers: signifieds:

13. Why are we studying this theory of
language in art class? Does this
mean visual imagery is like a
language?
To some extent,
yes.

14. How do these insights help
us to understand the
language of visual imagery?
Let’s work with an example: the semiotics of the color red.

15. What does red
mean in this
context?

16. What does red mean in this
context?

17. What does red mean in this
context?
Jessica Alba for Campari
Limited edition calendar,
2009

18. There is no simple equation (signifier (red)=signified (x).
The signified depends in part upon the context in which you
find the signifier.

19. So, what do you think red means in these next examples?

20. Mark Rothko
Untitled, 1960
oil on canvas
56 1/8 x 54 1/8
inches

21. Gerhard Richter, Party, 1963
Oil, nails and cord on canvas and newspaper
72 x 60 inches

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

23. 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
• example of icon: smiley
face, representational
art
• example of index:
fingerprint
• example of symbol:
pretty much all of
language, in which words
have no necessary
relationship to the concept
they represent

24. explanation of three of Peirce’s sign types

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

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

27. Robert RAUSCHENBERG, Automobile Tire 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 by VAGA, New York, NY
use of indexical marks in
art

28. Gabriel OROZCO
Chicotes (Whips)
2010
installed at the Tate
Modern
use of
indexical
marks in art

29. Christoph NIEMANN, Coffee, New York Times blog, December 2, 2008

30. quick review
• Saussure:
• it links sounds (or images) with mental concepts
• language is arbitrary and culturally bound
• terminology
• every sign consists of two parts:
• a signifier (pattern of letters, sounds, or forms)
• a signified (a set of concepts and associations that those
forms trigger in the viewer's mind

31. quick review
• Peirce ("Purse")
creates terminology for different types of signs
they are differentiated based upon the relationship of the sign
to reality
• symbol (all of language): arbitrary relationship to what it
represents; to understand you have to know the convention
• icon (would include a lot of imagery): in some way looks like
what it represents
• index: is a physical trace of the process that produced it