Art, Word and Image ─ Two Thousand Years of Visual/Textual Interaction

What does it mean to say that a painting has been “invaded” by language? Art, Word and Image answers this question by exploring how visual images and writing can work in dialogue in an artwork. Whether the picture frame is encroached upon by doodlings, as with Adolf Wolfli’s seemingly irrational scribbles, or a plea to spirituality is blazoned across a vast canvas, as in the moving images of Colin McCahon, we can be sure that words here have a special meaning, one beyond everyday communication. Art, Word and Image, one of the first books to examine the use of language in art, is constructed around three major chronological essays by renowned scholars John Dixon Hunt, David Lomas, and Michael Corris. Their essays chart the use and significance of words in art—from Classical Greece through the middle Ages and Renaissance to modern digital media. The three central essays comment upon a variety of movements, and woven throughout are more than 300 images from many very well-known artists, including Picasso, Max Ernst, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, Paul Klee, and Jasper Johns. Also featured are shorter essays that spotlight work by some artists who engage substantially with the intersection of the visual and written. Art, Word and Image will be an influential volume in art criticism, providing the framework for future scholarship in the field.