Chapter 4 Meaning Of Art

Submitted By daisyvg323
Words: 350
Pages: 2

Deriving Meaning
Chapter four helps us understand the methods that artist use when creating an artwork. That helps us extract what the artist is trying to portrait in their artwork. Because sometimes words may say one thing but they may mean something totally different to what it may be referring. Words may be easier to understand a then a piece of art. Words may be a little help to help define what is meant of the piece of art but again the words may have some special significance that others may not understand the meaning of the art. To this, one must understand the content of the artwork to understand the piece being interpreted.
Artist helps the viewer by using iconography, which has symbols or metaphors in the piece of artworks that the artist chooses to portray; the purpose of iconography is to identify, classify, and explain these objects. Iconography is particularly important in the study of religious and allegorical painting, where many of the objects that are pictured crosses, skulls, books, or candles, for example have special significance, which is often obscure or symbolic. But these symbols may also change or viewers may see it differently depending on the physical surrounding. For instance the current coat of arms of Mexico has been an important symbol of Mexican politics and culture for centuries. The coat of arms depicts a Mexican Golden Eagle perched on a prickly pear cactus devouring a snake. To the people of Tenochtitlan this would have strong