The Elements Of Visual Analysis

by Helmers, Marguerite

• ISBN13: 9780321165251
• ISBN10: 032116525X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-12-06
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

The Elements of Visual Analysis introduces students to the essential techniques and critical terms for analyzing and writing about visual culture. Using a combination of images, readings, and extensive definitions, this book develops students' skills in analyzing two- and three-dimensional visual artifacts and experiences. Designed primarily for courses in composition, rhetoric, and communications, The Elements of Visual Analysis will also fit any disciplines interested in engaging in serious analysis of visual phenomena. Book jacket.

Table of Contents

Preface for Instructors	vii
Preface for Students	xi
1 Visual Culture: The World of Images and Texts	1	(25)
What Are You Looking At?	1	(3)
Experimenting with Image, Word, and Sound	4	(1)
Text and Image	5	(13)
First Reactions: Emotion	9	(1)
First Rereading: Formal Elements	9	(1)
Second Level of Rereading: Publication	10	(1)
Third Level of Rereading: Process of Creation	10	(1)
Fourth Level of Rereading: Rereading Emotion	10	(8)
Writer at Work: "Photographs, Writing, and Critical Thinking," Carol P. Hovanec and David Freund	11	(2)
Image: "Ready for Sabbath Eve in a Coal Cellar, A Cobbler on Ludlow Street," Jacob Riis	13	(1)
Writer at Work: "Telling Tales on Canvas: Landscapes of Frontier Change," William Cronon	14	(4)
Image: Westward the Course of an Empire Takes Its Way, Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze	18	(1)
Rereading "Telling Tales on Canvas"	18	(3)
Step One: Storytelling	19	(1)
Step Two: Historical Context	20	(1)
Step Three: Formal Elements	20	(1)
RE-VISION	21	(1)
Prewriting Questions	21	(1)
IN FOCUS: IMAGES AND ANALYSIS	22	(1)
ON DISPLAY: PETER PAN	23	(3)
2 The Elements of Critical Viewing	26	(32)
A New Language	26	(3)
Step-by-Step Analysis	29	(25)
Step One: Record Your Initial Impression	30	(1)
Step Two: Place the Image in Context	31	(2)
Step Three: Describe the Image in Detail	33	(8)
Step Four: Identify Symbolic Elements	41	(4)
Step Five: Distinguish Absences	45	(3)
Step Six: Examine the Self as a Viewer of Images	48	(1)
Step Seven: Consider the Image's Effect on the Viewer	49	(1)
Step Eight: Research the Image	50	(1)
Step Nine: Prepare an Interpretation	51	(3)
RE-VISION	54	(2)
Prewriting Questions	54	(2)
IN FOCUS: IMAGES AND ANALYSIS	56	(1)
ON DISPLAY: ICONS	56	(2)
3 Picturing Place	58	(25)
Natural and Vernacular Landscapes	58	(2)
Natural Landscapes: Yellowstone National Park	60	(6)
Image: The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, 1872, Thomas Moran	65	(1)
Rereading Thomas Moran's Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone	66	(1)
Vernacular Landscapes: Gettysburg National Military Park	67	(10)
Writer at Work: "Sacred Ground: Americans and Their Battlefields," Edward Tabor Linenthal	69	(10)
Rereading "Gettysburg"	76	(1)
RE-VISION	77	(2)
IN FOCUS: IMAGES AND ANALYSIS	79	(2)
Prewriting Questions	80	(1)
ON DISPLAY: MONUMENTS	81	(2)
4 Picturing People	83	(30)
Smile and Say "Cheese"	83	(2)
Snapshots of Family and Travel	85	(6)
Portraiture	91	(11)
Writer at Work: "The Dark Side of Landscape," John Barrell	94	(1)
Image: Haymakers, George Stubbs	94	(8)
Rereading The Dark Side of the Landscape	102	(1)
The Politics of Race and Imagery	103	(3)
Documentary Photographs	106	(2)
RE-VISION	108	(1)
IN FOCUS: IMAGES AND ANALYSIS	109	(1)
Prewriting Questions	110	(1)
ON DISPLAY: WORKING	110	(3)
Glossary	113	(7)
Bibliography	120	(7)
Index	127