Art Appreciation
Group 4:
Iconic Plane
Iconic Plane or the Image Itself
What makes an Image “Iconic”?
Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and Edvard
Munch’s The Scream have all achieved something
that most paintings—regardless of their art historical
importance, beauty, or monetary value. They
communicate a specific meaning almost immediately
to almost every viewer. These few works have
successfully made the transition from the elite realm
of the museum visitor to the enormous venue of
popular culture. This prompted me to ponder the idea
of iconic images.
icon
1. a ·picture, image, or other representation.
2. Eastern Church. a representation of some
sacred
personage, as Christ or a saint or angel, painted usually
on a wood surface and venerated itself as sacred.
3. a sign or representation that stands for its
object by virtue of a resemblance or analogy to it.
4. Computers. a picture or symbol that appears on
a monitor and is used to represent a command,
as a file drawer to represent filing.
5. Semiotics. a sign or representation that stands
for its object by virtue of a resemblance or
analogy to it.
To be truly iconic an image must also
carry with it some connection to a larger
contextual meaning. For example, Warhol’s
soup can is not just a soup can. It
symbolizes the artistic movement out of
which it arose and tells us something about
the times in which it was created. Thus, an
image to be truly iconic is that it must
represent something beyond what is
pictured to some significant subset of the
population.
ICONIC PLANE
This level is still part of the semiotic approach
since it is still based on the signifier-signified
relationships. The only difference is that it has to
do with the particular features, aspects, and
qualities of the image.
This image signifiers are
about celebrating a war’s
end and the excitement of
what post-life offer.
The image is regarded as an “iconic sign”,
which means – beyond its narrow association
with religious images in the Byzantine style –
that is unique, particular, and highly nuanced
meaning, as different from a conventional
sign, such as traffic or street sign that has a
single literal meaning agreed upon by social
convention.
Empress Theodora and her
retinue, mosaic,
6th century; on the south
wall of the apse, church of
San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy.
Signifier-signified Relationships
Signs are made up of both signifier and signified.
Signifier is the sign’s physical or material form
whereas signified is the meaning conveyed by the sign.
However, the relationship between a signifier and
signified is arbitrary since various signifiers can be
used to indicate the same signified concept.
• In the basic semiotic plane which
deals with the material aspects of the
work and in the iconic plane which
deals with the features of the image
itself, one can see that cannot be
separated from the signified, concrete
fact or material data cannot be
divorced from value.
CHOICE OF SUBJECT
It refers to the main idea that is presented
in the artwork.
It bears SOCIAL and POLITICAL
implications.
It brings the essence of the piece.
GUSTAVE
COURBET
a FRENCH
REALIST ARTIST.
He chooses to paint
WORKERS and
ORDINARY People.
His choice of the
subject involves a
personal statement of
what appears typically
in his surroundings.
THE STONE
BREAKERS
(1849)
One of his famous paintings shows case realism.
He expressed the feeling of exhaustion of the society’s
hardship.
He uses the French People as a POLITICAL
ENTITY. He shows sympathy for the workers and
disgusts the upper men.
Presentation of the Image & it’s
Relationship to the Viewer
Parisian Life aka “Interior d’un
Café” by Juan Luna features an
interior scene in a café with a
woman seated prominently on a
banquette and three men at the
far left corner.
 Subject-viewer relationship implies the facial expression,
body language, costume and accessories, natural or social
background and all possible nuances in which the subject
potentially addresses to the viewer.
The painting portrays
contemporary social norms,
gender politics and national
allegory. The woman in the
painting is believed to be a
prostitute which is a subject
of the male gaze.
Women in Paris were seen as a threat to the status quo if
they didn’t conform to the traditional role of a femme
honnête (respectable women) they were seen as a
courtisane or prostitute who bore the stigma of infecting
men with a venereal disease, thus embodies femme fatale
(dangerous woman) which represents both desire and death
(loved and loathed at the same time).
Parisian Life mirrors the constructions of
masculinity and civility among three men
wearing European clothes. Despite the civilized
middle-class body, their brown faces discloses
their racial identity. Their eyes are fixated on
the woman which appears to be an erotic
encounter as their gazes are filled with desire
which personified moral disintegration.
Positioning
1) Frontal
2) Profile
3) Three-fourth and the signification
that arises from these different
presentations.
•Luna’s Tampuhan (1895)
- brings to the fore the artist’s
sensitivity to language.
Some artists use cropping as a device to imply
the extension of the figure into viewer’s space.
A painting may expand or multiply its space by
having not just one integral image but several sets
of images in montage form, from the same of
different times and places.
May occur in temporal sequence to constitute a
narrative or may take the form of simultaneous
facets or aspects of reality.
Relationship of Figures to One Another
In portraits the gaze of subject directed not only
important in defining the relationship of subject and
viewer but also describing the pictorial space.
A Woman with
Chrysanthemum
In cropping figures intended to create a
random, arbitrary effect as against the
deliberate and controlled.
Isolate segment of the object (hand or feet) in
order to draw attention to its physical qualities.
Relationship of the figures to one another
relationship the way they are composed
whether;
1) Massed figure
2) Isolated figure
3) Juxtaposed figure
1) Massed
figure
2) Isolated figure
3) Juxtaposed
figure
Painting
May expand or multiply its space
May occur in temporal sequences
 Serial images
Style of Figuration
- It implies a particular re-presentation
of the world view, if not ideology.
- has 4 types:
1. Classical Figuration
2. Realist Figuration
3. Impressionist Figuration
4 Expressionist Figuration
Classical Figuration
Basically follows the
proportion of 7 and half to
8 heads to entire figure in
its pursuit of ideal form, as
in a formal studio portrait
with the subject enhanced
by makeup, all
imperfections are
concealed.
Aphrodite of Cnidus
created by Praxiteles
Realist Figuration
Based in keen observation
of the people, nature and
society in the concern for truth
of representation, thus
creating portraits of individual
without glossing over physical
imperfections and defects or
exposing the environmental
squalor that arises from social
inequalities.
Los Trabajadores (The
Workers), 2005
by Susan Contreras
Impressionist Figuration
It is fluid and informal,
often catching the subject
unaware like a candid
camera.
By Fongwei Liu
Expressionist Figuration
Follows emotional
impulses and drives, thus
often involving distortion
and clashing of colors that
came from strong
emotion.
The Scream
created by Edward
Munch
SUMMARY
The Iconic Plane or the Image Itself
 This level is still part of the semiotic approach
since it is still based on the signifier-signified
relationships. The only difference is that it has to do
with the particular features, aspects, and qualities of
the image.
 The iconic plane includes the choice of the subject
which may bear with social and political implications.
Also, part of the iconic plane is the positioning of
the figure (frontal, in profile, three-fourths, etc.)
that implies its bearing to the meaning of the work.
This is important not only in defining the
relationships of the subject and the viewer but also
in describing pictorial space. Also takes into
account the relationship of the figures to one
another, whether massed, isolated, or juxtaposed in
terms of affinity or contrast. The style of figuration
or the proportion of the body deals with the image
itself.
REPORTERS:
• Lendio, Hannah Mae
• Manco, Arwela
• Montecillo, Rosaree
• Navales, Namier
• Navarro, Eunice
• Tan, Cara