GE ELECT 8 - Reading Visual Art | Alice Guillermo’s Reading the Image

MY INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the lesson, the students must be able to:

1. Understand Alice Guillermo’s purpose on her work, Reading the Image.
2. Distinguish the basic documentary information of an artwork.
3. Differentiate the four planes of analysis.

MY LEARNING ESSENTIALS

READING THE IMAGE by Alice Guillermo

Alice Guillermo–a Palanca Awardee—is a researcher, art critic, professor, and renowned writer. In her work titled ―Reading
the Image, she provided guidelines for analyzing or interpreting images, whether from ads, paintings, or text. She said that art should be
placed in society and history because the two are always connected." According to Guillermo, the basic documentary information of
artwork includes the following:
 GE ELECT 8 - Reading Visual Art | Alice Guillermo’s Reading the Image

A. Title of the work

B. Artist
C. Medium and Technique
D. Dimensions/ Measurement
E. Date of the Work
F. Provenance
Some examples based on the Spoliarium (can be seen at the National Museum of the Philippines).
 GE ELECT 8 - Reading Visual Art | Alice Guillermo’s Reading the Image

A. Title of the work – Spoliarium

B. Artist - Juan N. Luna
C. Medium and Technique - Oil on canvas
D. Dimensions/ Measurement - 4.22 m × 7.675 m (13.8 ft × 25.18 ft)
E. Date of the Work - 1884
F. Provenance - Madrid, Spain (currently in National Museum of the Philippines)
According to Guillermo, understanding the work of art may involve considerable research because the work's meaning can grow
with time. Viewing it becomes a process of continual discovery. For example, Michaelangelo completed "The Creation of Adam" in
1512. However, in 1990, Dr. Frank Lynn Meshberger wrote his analysis claiming that the background outlining God and the angel
resembles the human brain. Before 1990 or even in Michelangelo's biography, he never said anything about it.
Art's meaning is a mix of intellectual, emotional, and sensory significance that the work conveys. Views may respond to works of
art differently, thereby bringing in the breadth of his cultural background, artistic exposure, training, and human experience in a dialogic
relationship with the artwork. Therefore, the painting is the dialogue between the artist and the viewer. A work of art may accommodate
several meanings, and it may not be absolute. Any interpretation is valid, but it needs to prove a point.

LET’S PRACTICE!
Directions: Provide the documentary information of the following artworks.

ARTWORK DOCUMENTARY INFORMATION

Title of the work:

Artist:
Medium and Technique:
Dimensions/ Measurement:
Date of the Work:
Provenance:
 GE ELECT 8 - Reading Visual Art | Alice Guillermo’s Reading the Image

Title of the work:

Artist:
Medium and Technique:
Dimensions/ Measurement:
Date of the Work:
Provenance:

Title of the work:

Artist:
Medium and Technique:
Dimensions/ Measurement:
Date of the Work:
Provenance:

FOUR PLANES OF ANALYSIS

A. Basic Semiotic Plane
Semiotics is the study of signs. According to Umberto Eco, "Semiotics is concerned with everything that can be taken as a sign." The
Swiss scholar Ferdinand de Saussure presented many concepts and definitions used by modern semioticians. Saussure described a
symbol as any movement, action, illustration, sequence, or occurrence conveying significance. He described language as the structural
system or grammar of speech and language as the decision taken by a person speaking to communicate that relevant data. He looked at
the signs concerning language. His emphasis is not on the basic language structures but also on signs and their significance. He analyzed
the meaning of symbols through the langue and parole, and langue as the system of signifier/signified or linguistic signs. It includes the
 GE ELECT 8 - Reading Visual Art | Alice Guillermo’s Reading the Image

rules that govern a specific language, like grammar. Parole is the practical application of the system within a particular language or the
articulation through spoken words or written expression. He has also established two key concepts in contemporary semiology. The
signifier is about the physical aspect, the actual spoken or written word.
Meanwhile, the signified or the mental construct is a symbol's idea or meaning. It implies the examination of time, convention,
and practice. It also relies on its connection and its variation from other words. Saussure concluded that the sign is a whole resulting
from the signifier's association with the signified. An example is the word "tree; it is a sign that represents the "idea of a tree." According
to Eco, signifier has the following three types:
A. Icon–is physically the meaning that is represented. For instance, a drawing of a bicycle represents an actual bicycle.
B. Index–demonstrates what it represents. An index describes the relationship between the signifier and the signified. Without
the presence of the signified, a signifier cannot exist. In this case, we sometimes use smoke to represent fire.
C. Symbol–has no similarity between the signifier and the signified. One should learn the link among both, culturally. A symbol
is not logically related to what it stands for. It is often linked to the idea that it embodies over time. For example, the alphabet
and letters alone do not mean anything.

B. Iconic Plane
The iconic plane remains a part of the semiotic method because it is still based on a significant relationship. However, the iconic
plane is not the material components of the work treated in the fundamental semiological plane; it deals with the unique attributes, parts,
and characteristics of the picture. The image is an "iconic sign, which means beyond its narrow association with religious icons in the
Byzantine style; it has a unique, specific, and highly nuanced meaning. It is distinct from a traditional sign, such as a road sign with a
single literal meaning. The iconic plane involves selecting the subject with political and social impacts. An example of art history is
workers and ordinary people's choice by the French realist Gustave Courbet in his works, instead of the Olympian gods and goddesses
or the Greek and Roman ancestry heroes’ foundation of classic and university art until the 19th century. The positioning, frontal,
profiling, three-fourths, etc., of the figure or pictures and the implications of these varying presentations are also the iconic plane's focus.
Does the artwork demonstrate a primary theme with the essential character, or is it decentered and the structure asymmetrical? How can
these illustrations make a difference in terms of significance? Does it look formal or unintentional to the person or subjects? How would
I characterize the central character's role: calm, confident, dismissive, aggressive, or distant?
The iconic plane is a significant aspect of the iconic plane in the figure's style. The symbolic form is not simply caprice, trendy, or
personal compositions of the artist; it entails a specific representation or perception of the environment or world views, if not philosophy.
 GE ELECT 8 - Reading Visual Art | Alice Guillermo’s Reading the Image

C. Contextual Plane
In the contextual plane, you put the work in context and its relationship to society. It is often helpful to know society's history and
economic, political, and cultural conditions; national and world art and literature; mythologies; philosophies; and different cultures and
world views. Here, you come from the fundamental semiotic and iconic planes. One may obtain awareness and perspectives into the
original artwork's historical and social sense through research. The audience needs to draw the discussion between art and society. Art
derives its creativity and power from its social environment, being a cultural force and the impetus for transformation.
D. Evaluative Plane
An art critic should determine what is considered a value in your nation. Is it depicted in the artwork? What are the underlying social
issues conveyed in the painting? It is concerned with an analysis of a work's values. It is impossible to determine without learning the
piece. The assessment encompasses form and content. However, this segment is conservative theoretically because of philosophical
division. The semiotic analysis connects meanings, the material traits, and the concepts and values of the specific picture symbol that is
an art piece, including the basic semiotic plane, iconic plane, and contexts. Meaning is rooted in the content structure at all times.

IN YOUR OWN WORDS!

Directions: In your own words, discuss the features in an artwork which are needed to be emphasized in each of the four
planes of analysis.
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 GE ELECT 8 - Reading Visual Art | Alice Guillermo’s Reading the Image

MY REFLECTIONS
Reflect on the learning that you gained from the lesson about the elements of art by completing the given chart.
What were your misconceptions about the topic prior to taking up What new or additional learning have you gained from this lesson
this lesson? in terms of skills, content, and attitude.
I thought… I learned that…