The Language Of Images

"A remarkably rich and provocative set of essays on the virtually infinite kinds of meanings generated by images in both the verbal and visual arts. Ranging from Michelangelo to Velazquez and Delacroix, from the art of the emblem book to the history of photography and film, The Language of Images offers at once new ways of thinking about the inexhaustibly complex relation between verbal and iconic representation."—James A. W. Heffernan, Dartmouth College

This book deals with two fundamental issues in the semiotics of the image. The first is the relationship between image and observer: how does one look at an image? To answer this question, this book sets out to transpose the theory of enunciation formulated in linguistics over to the visual field. It also aims to clarify the gains made in contemporary visual semiotics relative to the semiology of Roland Barthes and Emile Benveniste. The second issue addressed is the relation between the forces, forms and materiality of the images. How do different physical mediums (pictorial, photographic and digital) influence visual forms? How does materiality affect the generativity of forms? On the forces within the images, the book addresses the philosophical thought of Gilles Deleuze and René Thom as well as the experiment of Aby Warburg’s Atlas Mnemosyne. The theories discussed in the book are tested on a variety of corpora for analysis, including both paintings and photographs, taken from traditional as well as contemporary sources in a variety of social sectors (arts and sciences). Finally, semiotic methodology is contrasted with the computational analysis of large collections of images (Big Data), such as the “Media Visualization” analyses proposed by Lev Manovich and Cultural Analytics in the field of Computer Science to evaluate the impact of automatic analysis of visual forms on Digital Art History and more generally on the image sciences.

Picturing the Language of Images is a collection of thirty-three previously unpublished essays that explore the complex and ever-evolving interaction between the verbal and the visual. The uniqueness of this volume lies in its bringing together scholars from around the world to provide a broad synchronic and diachronic exploration of the relationship between text and image, as well as a reflection on the limits of representation through a re-thinking of the very acts of reading and viewing. While covering a variety of media—such as literature, painting, photography, film and comics—across time—from the 18th century to the 21st century—this collection also provides a special focus on the work of particular authors, such as A. S. Byatt, W. G. Sebald, and Art Spiegelman.

This book, first published in 2004, develops a theoretical concept for understanding the Roman art of images.

A CD-ROM which has over 500 images that can be used for the activities in the book is also included. In the introduction, the author articulates several strong reasons for using images in the language classroom. He also provides a brief history of the image in language teaching, along with some tips for finding images to use. The rest of the book is divided into two parts: one organised around activity types, the other arranged by image type. Chapter 2, Interpreting images, invites students not only to describe pictures, but also to use their own thought processes. This chapter has some unique activities, including 'Out of focus', where students look at distorted pictures and attempt to determine what the original image was. In Chapter 3, Creating images, students are put in touch with their creative sides through drawing, photography and collages. Chapter 4, Imaging, is the final chapter in the first section of the book. It involves students' imaginations, engaging their mental imagery. In 'Questions to a portrait', students look at a and generate a series of questions to ask, along with possible answers. The second section of the book begins with Chapter 5, Signs, symbols and icons. Here, students explore masks, stamps, hand gestures, flags.

Images of English was the first book to focus exclusively on opinions about the language as they have evolved through time. Through the use of abundant quotations, Richard Bailey lets voices from the past speak to our present assumptions and challenges the notion of English triumphalism throughout the world and the ages. The book offers a unique historical perspective on attitudes towards the language. We see that journalists who fill anxious columns on slow news-days with fulminations on linguistic deterioration are embellishing centuries of complaint; that women who campaign for a language free of patriarchy and suited to themselves express a yearning first conveyed long ago; that teachers who recommend the vigour of Anglo-Saxon words are sustaining an idea that emerged four hundred years ago in notions about racial purity.

This book discusses text and image relationships in the history of art from ancient times to the contemporary period across a diversity of cultures and geographic areas. Focusing on the use of words in art and words as art forms, thematic chapters include "Pictures in Words/Words in Pictures," "Word/Picture Puzzles," "Picture/Word Puzzles," "Words as Images," "The Power of the Word," and "Monumental and Moving Words." Chapter subsections further explore cross-cultural themes. Examining text and image relationships from the obvious to the elusive, the puzzling to the profound, the minor to the major, the book demonstrates the diverse ways in which images and writing have been combined through the ages, and explores the interplay between visual and written communication in a wide range of thought-provoking examples. A color insert is included. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.