International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

The study and conceptualization of visual representation were primarily associated with art and art history prior to the twentieth century, and drew on the analytical tools of iconology with a focus on the artist's intention and perception (→  Iconography ). With the advent of →  semiotics , followed by other theories of the visual, the twentieth century marked a broadening in conceptions of visual representation from the realm of art to the realm of the everyday. Studies of visual representation have expanded to include the images that surround people everyday. This includes studies of images in film ( Metz 1990 ), the use of photography ( Sontag 1979 ), advertising ( Goffman 1979 ), scientific imagery ( Latour & Woolgar 1986 ), learning and development ( Kress 1996 ), and the representation of social identities ( Hall 1997 ). This expansion of the domain of the visual has influenced how visual representation is theorized and approached, including a shift in focus from the image to contexts of production and viewers. Today a range of theories is applied to understanding the visual, including theories drawn from anthropology, art history, cognitive psychology, cultural studies, linguistics, psychoanalytical theories, and sociology. Studies of visual representation have shown that the visual is central to the cultural construction of social life. People's everyday experience ... log in or subscribe to read full text