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Interpreting Art through Metaphors
Author(s) -
Parsons Michael
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
international journal of art and design education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.312
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 1476-8070
pISSN - 1476-8062
DOI - 10.1111/j.1476-8070.2010.01621.x
Subject(s) - metaphor , argument (complex analysis) , meaning (existential) , literal and figurative language , visual thinking , linguistics , visual rhetoric , visual language , epistemology , philosophy , rhetoric , biochemistry , chemistry
This article argues that much of the meaning of artworks comes through metaphors, though we do not always recognise them as such. The argument draws on the work of Lakoff & Johnson, who assert a similar claim about metaphors in general (especially in language). It analyses the notion of a visual metaphor, gives a number of illustrations and claims that, contrary to linguistic metaphors, there can usefully be more than one visual metaphor (‘mixed metaphors’) active in a visual image and that visual metaphors can be interpreted in both directions. Verticality is presented as one basic metaphor in visual images.