I would like to examine the relationship between the growth of the total visits to the Smithsonian Museums (or another Museum) and the growth of the American population. Does this growth reflect the Museums actually getting more people to attend, or a constant number when factoring in population growth?
http://newsdesk.si.edu/about/stats
I really enjoyed this article much more than the past two. It was clear and applicable to every day life. It reminded me of a project I am working on right now in my Renaissance art class. I am researching Renaissance coins; English ones in particular. These coins are a combination of words, numbers, and images. All three of these elements relate to one another.
In an article called Counting Out Their Coins (which I can forward to anyone who is interested), it states: “The truth is that coinage, in the early sixteenth century, was notoriously unstable, imprecise, and problematic.”
In sixteen-century Europe, coins circulated freely. They had an ambiguous nature due to their not uniform nature (thank goodness for the Euro!). Coins had no geographical boundaries. They had no exact exchange values. A cornucopia of different coins were drawn to trade centers.
Art and money have always had intersecting paths. To this day, art and money are one. Art has a monetary value in markets. Money and patrons affect art’s pictorial style. Artists have always played with ideas of signifying functions of money in their art. Art and money can become visually one to two ways: money depicted in art or art imprinted on money.
Money further had, and still has, depictions of designs or people displayed on it. In this example, Queen Elizabeth has her profile portrait displayed for people onlooking (image). Around her reads (text), something to the affect of, “Elizabeth, Queen of England, Church of England… etc.” It has a monetary value inscribed as well (numbers).
By looking at the coins from the Renaissance and the interactions of images, numbers, and words, we are able to put into practice what Tufte is saying and catch a glimpse into a different era.
Arrows show connection. Arrow graphs can be used to show information connections between different events, inspiration, or people.
All in all, I do not like linking graphs. For me, they are too confusing and do more for aesthetics than for actual information display. Does that mean that they are meaningless? No! They have a time and a place to be used. I personally believe that other ways of graphing can present information in a more understandable and presentable way.
I find arrow mapping very confusing. Like the small line graphs from last week, these arrows and text try to convey a big amount of information in a little amount of space. Take Verrocchio’s sketch of a horse as an example: Because the definitions of connections are so small, viewers tend to only see the horse as a whole. This makes for an interesting artwork, but in my mind, an unproductive linking image. Further, the examples graphing modern art were highly confusing due to congestion for information and seemingly unorganized data.
I was listening to a Ted Talk the other day on missing links in Darwinism (http://blog.ted.com/2009/05/19/darwin_validate/). For me, this tied together why we need linking diagrams (although they are not my favorite). These linking diagrams allow for connections to be seen, however complex and unappealing the information display may be.
Tufte ends this chapter by explaining how Galileo mapped specific information “as detailed annotations.” He did so by describing and articulating each and every link between connections. Although this makes for a complicated image, it works well to explain in detain connections between items.
This is Durer’s self portrait as a 13 year old goldsmith apprentice. He signs the work with year and what he was doing at the time.
This shows Durer finding the source of his “melancholy” or modern day depression. It was thought to come from the appendix. He maps his body through his emotions.
Durer’s famous 1500 portrait. He not only maps himself in a year, but as Christ by drawing visual comparisons.
Durer’s first attempt at mapping a Rhino (an animal he has never seen before). He maps nature with accompanying text (and his famous signature).
“If you look after truth and goodness, beauty looks after herself.”
Eric Gill
Tufte defines intense observing as “the wide-eyed observing that generated empirical information.” He wants to examine in the book how “seeing turns into showing,” as well as helping us readers successfully produce and consume images.
Tufte argues that all explanatory images should be mapped. This could be by scale, explanation, overlay, numbers, text or image. I thought it was interesting that he said all images should be mapped, but this could be accomplished through images.
Art is always diagramed to convey messages, even if it is not shown as explicitly as text or a scale. As an art history major, all of my examples are probably going to be art. I am specializing in Northern Europe studies from 1450-1600. So my examples will probably be from this period as well. Sorry about that. But, an example of this interesting concept would be personal devotion objects. They were layered with imagery that were direct references to scriptural doctrine. Pictured below is the Merode Altarpiece which is a small triptych. The images were decoded messages.
Vase with white flowers: Virgin Mary’s womb with pure Christ blossoming
Blocked fireplace: No fires of passion, virginity of Mary
Small cherub descending from the window: enroute to Mary’s womb
The clean brass vessel hanging in the wall: uncooked
The ruffled pages of the Bible: Christ’s presence coming (“I am the Word.”)
All of these images speak to legitimizing Mary’s virginity and purity.
Through visual images and decoded messages, artists and literally anyone can convey explicit messages through images.
For my visual analysis, I picked a woodcut broadsheet from 1529 by Georg Pencz. It is called The Content of Two Sermons. It visually displays all of the important spiritual messages from the Protestant revolution. Although it has accompanying text, it is not required to understanding the meaning of the work.
Although we have all probably seen this, I believe this exposes and explores the way our culture views advertising in an idealistic way. Also, to pose a question, how does this sell Dove as a brand? What are they trying to associate themselves with?
“We erect monuments so that we shall always remember and build memorials so that we shall never forget” – Arthur Danto
I visited the Vietnam Memorial in elementary school. I descended the V-shaped slope, running my fingers tips along the cold stone. I felt the soft rhythm of the indented names run up my arm. As I hit the middle of the V, the slope began to increase so I stopped. I looked at the dates and began to ponder the implications of the names carefully carved onto the stone.
My grandmother was accompanying me that day. Her brother had served in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot. He flew into the battles to pick up the injured and took them to the hospitals. He had to choose who to take and who to leave. As you can imagine, this had serious implications to his mental health for the rest of his life. When he left for the war, he had recently graduated from an ivy league school. He was bright, funny, and had a zest for life. My grandmother always explained Uncle Bill to me this way. The Uncle Bill I knew lived on the streets. He refused to move into a decent home, although he had the money. He slept with a knife under his pillow and stole food from all-you-can-eat buffets. His eyes were kind but fearful.
Those names changed for me after hearing stories of pre-war Bill. The names signified the dead while the structure addressed the living.
I love this memorial. It shows physically the deep dark scar that was impressed upon this country after the war; not only of the dead, but the living and all of the families. A few years after it was erected, grass began to grow up to the edge of it. This signifies the country healing, although there is still a scar (which goes along with the quote which says we will always remember).
It was and still is a highly contested work of art. It was designed by Maya Lin (who was actually in her undergrad at the time of its design). She was a Chinese-American woman. My favorite part of the article was how it explained how Maya was considered an “other,” and that is why she could successfully relate with the vets who felt “othered” after the war.
I believe it was most contested due to is lack of a certain “stance,” if you will, on the war. This goes to further show the ambiguous nature of the war. It was not a victory, nor was it a defeat. It was not a unified fight as it was protested, but we did go as a country.
I would like to agree with the article that this monument is not a modernist sculpture. It has a distinct form for a reason and is site-specific. (Modernists did use quite a bit of black stone and linear designs such as the memorial, but they have a different feel).
Again, I love this memorial. I believe it embodies how confusing the war was and the “otherness” which came after.
There is a strong role of visuals in our lives. Images are everywhere we look. This article emphasizes the importance of being able to analyze and reason with visual modes of argumentation. This article recognizes that some theorists believe that visuals cannot make arguments. It states that there is limits of verbal persuasion that visual meanings can help hold up.
This reading can be divided into four sections:
1.Theory of visual argument
CONTEXT- “Context can involve a wide range of cultural assumptions, situational cues, time-sensitive information, and/or knowledge of a specific interlocutor.”
2.Lucidity of visual meaning
3.Varieties of visual context
4. Complexities of notions of representation and resemblance
For the sake of this analysis, I am going to focus my discourse on the first point of the theory of visual argument. I am an art history major and as such, I strongly believe that the best way to argue is through visual means.
What struck me as the most interesting part of this article was the emphasis on “CONTEXT.” There as been a movement in the field of art history regarding context. By looking at context, one is able to see how the people who commissioned or originally viewed the artwork would have viewed it.
My favorite example of this context theory would be the traditional Catholic altarpieces. Altarpieces are now viewed in museums. They are placed on a wall next to other priceless works, and are venerated for their aesthetic qualities. When they were commissioned, (if we put them in their original CONTEXT) they would have been shown on top of the altar at the apex of a cathedral or basilica. They would have been viewed during the taking of the sacrament and were meant to evoke your contemplation of Christ’s sacrifice. With the Catholic belief of transfiguration, when you take the bread and wine, you are literally making yourself at one with Christ. This would then make you view the altarpiece as a reminder of Christ’s sacrifice. Although beautiful, it would have meant something totally different.
I believe we must take into account CONTEXT in order to view visuals in the light of the culture which produced them. If anyone is interested, I can provide more examples from the history of art. Below I have pictures an appropriated Seven Sacraments for modern day visual culture. It is interesting how things change….
parapluie123 