Visible signs (book)

Author : David crow

Publisher : Ava publishing sa 2003 Singapore 

Distributer : Thames and Hudson 

In London 

"as consumers of visual art we have become highly sophisticated readers of signs and signals. We decode meaning from compositions with subconscious ease. It is important for artists and designers to have an understanding of how meaning is formed and the way that readers can be led to meaning through juxtaposition of words and images, our visual language."

Page 8/9

"a sign is something which stands to somebody for something in some respect or capacity"

Page 25

"the meaning of any sign is affected by who is reading that sign. Pierce recognised a creative process of exchange between the sign and the reader." 

Page 54

"the consistent use of soft focus for example in film and advertising has found it's way into our consciousness to a degree that it is universally read as sentimental or soft-hearted"

Page 57

 Jefkins, F. Advertising Writing (1976)

Brooklyn Princess | AW14 TV advert | boohoo.com (possible artefact)

Lindt LINDOR: Mastering Irresistibly Smooth (possible artefact)

Reading Images (book)

Reading Images The Grammar of Visual Design
Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen



"We believe that visual communication is coming to be less the domain of specialists, and more and more crucial in the domains of public communications."
page 3


"Visual language is not transparent and universally understood but culturally specific."
page 3

The Photography Reader (book)

Index pages :

semiotics :

109-45 : Semiotics
112, 138-45 : photography and fetish
111, 114-25 :Rhetoric of the image
112, 130-7 :Structure of representation
111, 126-9  Symbolic power of the image

115-16, 166-7, 175-6 : signs



Codes and Rhetoric :
(Part Three)

Victor Burgin wrote an essay "Thinking photography"

Bignell, J. (1997) Media Semiotics, an introduction



Roland Barthes
Rhetoric of the image

" because in advertising the signification of the image is undoubtedly intentional "
page 114

Victor Burgin
Looking at photographs 

"With most photographs we see, this decoding and investiture takes place instantaneously, unselfconsciously, 'naturally' ; but it does take place "
page 133


Andy Grundberg
The Crisis of the real

"What structuralist linguistic theory and semiotic sign theory have in common is the belief that things in the world - literary texts, images, what have you - do not wear their meanings on their sleeves. They must be deciphered, or decoded, in order to be  understood. "
page 166

Bibliography

Books :

Semiotics The Basics 2nd Edition
Daniel Chandler
Routledge Taylor and Francis Group London and New York
2002


Introducing Semiotics
Paul Cobley and Litza Jansz (author / artist )
Icon books Cambridge, UK
1999


Pictograms Icons and Signs A Guide to information graphics
Rayan Abdullah and Roger Hubner
Thames and Hudson London
2006


Mythologies
Roland Barthes
Paladin London
1973


On Photography
Susan Sontag
Penguin Books London
1978 (?)


The Objects of Affection Semiotics and Consumer Culture
Arthur Asa Berger
Palgrave Macmillan New York
2010


Researching the Visual Image, Objects, Contents and Interactions in Social and Cultural Inquiry
Micheal Emmison and Philip Smith
SAGE Publications London
2002


The Photography Reader
Liz Wells
Routledge London
2003


Visible Signs An Introduction to Semiotics
David Crow
AVA London
2003

Symbols and allegories in Art
Matilde Battistini
Getty Publications
2005


Reading Ads Socially
Robert Goldman
Routledge Oxfordshire
1992


Reading Images The Grammar of Visual Design
Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen
Routledge London
1996


Deconstruction and the Visual Arts
Peter Brunette and David Wills
Cambridge University Press Cambridge
1994


Signs and Symbols Their Design and Meaning
Adrian Frutiger
Ebury Press London
1998

Symbols and Allegories in Art (book)

Symbols and Allegories in Art
Matilde Battistini
Getty Publications America 2005

"carnation, symbol of fidelity in love."
page 19
check out the language of flowers

"The mirror, which represents sight"
page 38
painting : allegory of the five senses, by Sebastian Stoskopff


"the soap bubbles symbolize the fleeting nature of earthly existence"
page 78

"Youth is represented by a happy young couple"
page 95
painting : the three ages of man by Titian

"the wolf, endowed with very keen visions, forms the figures eye."
"the lion symbolizes strength and virtue attained through effort"
page 106
painting : Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Earth,1570


"the snake symbolizes evil."
page 119


"the rose petals are symbols of love"
page 131

"the peacock is a symbol of rebirth and redemption."
page 147

"the pearl necklace and earring give the portrait a sexual connotation: we recognize the figure to be female"
page 206
painting : Water  by Giuseppe Arcimboldo

"the sea of clouds is a symbol of the Sublime, that peculiar "feeling" one gets when contemplating nature"
page 231

"the masks symbolize falsehood and lies"
page 234

"the strawberry and cherry are traditional symbols of lust"
page 257

"the mirror, principal attribute of the proud"
"the chest contains gold and jewelry. The iconography of this vice partly follows that for vanity."
page 279

"the red dress embroidered in black is another distinct attribute of Wrath, which brings grief and tragedy."
page 281

"gold coins are a typical attribute of greed."
page 285

"the feather, jewels, vials of perfume, and cut flowers are typical attributes of Vanitas."
page 292

"the jewels on the table are symbols of the Blessed Virgin's purity"
page 302
painting : Woman Weighing Pearls by Jan Vermeer

"the scepter alludes to royal power"
page 332
sculpture : Giuliano de' Medici by Michelangelo

"the bowl of jewels has been interpreted as an allusion to fleeting happiness, the only kind that can be attained on Earth."
page 344

"Precious objects, gold coins, and jewels are clear reminders of the vanity of external wealth"
page 365