This document discusses semiotics and the different types of signs according to Charles Sanders Peirce: icons, indexes, and symbols. It provides examples of each, explaining that icons represent objects through resemblance, indexes represent objects through a physical connection, and symbols represent objects through social convention. The document then discusses how these concepts are relevant to understanding the language of visual imagery and discusses examples of how the meaning of signs like color depends on their specific context.

1. René MAGRITTE (Belgian, 1898-1967)
The Key to Dreams, 1930
Oil on canvas, 31 7/8 x 23 9/16 inches
© Estate of René Magritte / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York /
ADAGP, Paris
Art 100
Semiotic
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
 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

4. explanation of three of Peirce’s sign types

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

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

8. 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

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

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

11. 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

12. 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

13. Older conception

14. …gives way to the new.

15. sign
 Sign=signifier + signified
 Signifier (discrete visual element)
 Signified (meaning)

16. 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.”

17. 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.

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

19. 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.

20. Whatdoesredmean
in thiscontext?

21. What does red mean in
this context?

22. Whatdoesredmeaninthiscontext?
Jessica Alba for Campari
Limited edition calendar, 2009

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

24. So, what do you think red means in these next examples?
Sometimes red is just red.

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

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

27. Jeff KOONS
Balloon Dog (Magenta)
1994-2000
high chromium stainless

29. Richard SERRA, Torqued Ellipse, 1996

30. Damien Hirst, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, 1991

31. Piece, as installed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

32. What are the key signifiers in this piece?

33. detail of mouth