Introduction:
The Old
Guitarist is a piece of artwork, created by Picasso in 1903; it is one of the
most prominent paintings in the Italian’s ‘blue period’ which started in 1901
and ended in 1904. I discovered the image on www.pablopicasso.org, which features a range of his artwork, famous quotes and a biographical
section. I plan to, analyse the image with semiotics in mind, linking this to
the subject of death; using various theorists, composition, paradigmatic and
syntagmatic, as well as the referent etc.
The image depicts a blind, almost skeletal
individual playing solemn music on the streets of Barcelona
Semiotics is defined by Louise Cummings in
her book ‘The Pragmatics Encyclopaedia’ (2009) as ‘a discipline that aims to
study, classify, and explain signs as they are used in intellectual and
artistic forms, from gestures and words’ (insert page number). In essence,
semiotics is more than just the ‘study of signs,’ the unique interpretations
offered by individuals, demonstrates that there are no boundaries to analysis;
every interpretation brings a new perspective and life to the image. Through
semiotics we delve deep into the implied and the hidden meaning, attempting to
decipher how the artist wishes us to view their creation.
Context:
The ‘blue
period’ began as an unorthodox tribute to Picasso’s friend Carlos Casagemas- a
Spanish art student who committed suicide at the age of just twenty one. Many
of Picasso’s paintings highlighted the abject penury that some people were
forced to endure, he often attempted to sympathise with the sick and those who
were cast away by society. The protagonist in the Old Guitarist painting is a
blind man, who appears lonely and separated from others. Picasso’s friend
Carlos, was a troubled young artist, many of his paintings featured similar
individuals to the man depicted in the Old Guitarist- whose state of mind
appeared to be fragile. Perhaps Picasso through the illustration, was conveying
how Carlos felt during this period of his life- it is possible that loneliness
and separation are contributing factors to Carlos’ death.
The hermeneutics of this painting, is
complicated due to the subtle notion of death. Without prior research, an
individual may be unable to fathom how the artwork is related to this subject.
However, the name of the painting, gives us identifiable clues, through
denotation and connotation. The adjective ‘old’ from a denotative point of
view, is ‘having lived for a long time’ we know that once we have been alive
for a considerable number of years, death becomes closer and inevitable. From a
connotative perspective, a stereotypical outlook suggests that once an
individual becomes ‘old’ they no longer have the zest for life, that youth once
afforded them. Their mental capacity is not as alert as it once was, the body
becomes weaker and the senses begin to deteriorate. Some may arrive at the
conclusion that with age the body begins to ‘die.’
Language and the sign
Semiotics
requires us to interpret the sign, and conjure up phrases and words that are
implicit rather than explicit; this allows to us to define an image exactly how
we wish to. For example, as cited in the book ‘Visible Signs’ (Crow, D, 2010)
the French artist Rene Magritte painted a smoking pipe with accompanying
language that translated to ‘this is not a pipe’ (1928). Magritte often chose a
repertoire of standard objects such as an egg, a shoe, a hat and a candle; and
then debated if the names that society has labelled them is indeed correct. In
essence, there is no reason why an egg isn’t in fact a table. Invariably, many
people will view this argument as illogical, but it does teach us subtly to
look behind the denoted meaning and search for what the object represents.
David Crow points out that the arbitrary nature of the sign, often decides the
language that we use to describe it (p21).
Gill Branston and Roy Stafford (2010)
highlight in the Media Students Book that ‘semiotics does not assume that the
media works as simple channels of communication, as windows on the world.’
(p12). This quote highlights the intrinsic connection between the Old Guitarist
and the subject of death. Semiotics does not hold a mirror up to the world,
every interpretation will be different and unique; it is impossible for
different people to share the exact same explanation.
Saussure, Pierce, and the referent
Saussure (1857-1913) composed the notion of the signifier and
the signified. The signifier refers to the form to which the sign takes, and
the signified is the concept that it represents. (Berger, p22). For example, in
the Old Guitarist the signifier is the guitar, it signifies the representation
of music and the signified can be interpreted as the hope which music can
bring. Interestingly, the brown guitar, is the only part of the image that is
not painted in monochromatic shades of blue. This further reinforces the idea
of the symbolic nature of the guitar, music can be comforting, and can be a way
of immersing yourself within a completely new universe. Therefore, the guitar
requires a different colour, to separate the sombre mood along with the
connotations of death that the rest of the painting emits.
In addition, the Guitar is the referent in
the image. The referent can be defined as a ‘state of affairs in the world
outside of language.’ (Baldick C, 2008) Furthermore, because music represents
expression in an alternative way to language, it can be concluded that it
exists in a world outside of language, as it enhances meaning in a creative
fashion.
Peirce’s (1926-1999) theory of the iconic,
symbolic and indexical nature of signs, is an interesting phenomenon when
considering semiotics. Iconic signs are defined as ‘resembling reality,’ and
‘symbolic signs are based on agreement about what certain connections between
sign and reality mean.’ (C.M.J. Van Woerkum and M.N.C Aarts, 2009, p 434-436).
For example, in the painting the Old Guitarist, the iconic signs are the
haggard look on the protagonist, his skeletal body frame and his ripped
clothing. This all adds to the realistic representation of a homeless person or
busker, which is what we assume the man is in the painting. Symbolically it can
be concluded that the image represents a time period, possibly the 19th
century when abject penury and a poor quality of life became a common
occurrence in England and other European nations. In addition, the average life
span was considerably shorter than it is today, and therefore, death at an
early age was a common occurrence due to factors including: poor diet, lack of
medicine and poor lifestyle etc.
Indexical signs are ‘casually connected
with what it serves to indicate’ (Moore, Bergmann and Dotterer, 1942, pp
367-375). Therefore, the indexical signs relate to the subtle notion of death,
the sombre mood created by the monochromatic shades of blue, and the haggard,
depleted protagonist are all examples of indexical signs.
Photographic Conventions
Composition
describes the placement of objects in the image. It guides the audience to the
most important part of the image, which in the case of the Old Guitarist is the
guitar. As mentioned previously, the symbolic nature of the guitar is such that
it requires a prime location in the image; to give the object a sense of
importance.
The rule of thirds is designed for the artist
to place points of interest in the intersections or along the lines of the
image; which allows the viewer to interact with it more naturally. Typically, a
viewer will focus their attention on one of the intersection points, in the
case of the Old Guitarist this would be the haggard protagonist. Therefore,
through the rule of thirds Picasso has attracted the attention of the audience
to the protagonist, further reinforces the links that death has in the image.
Conclusion
In
conclusion, through semiotics I have explored how death is linked to the
Picasso painting the Old Guitarist. I used Saussure’s theory of the signified
and the signifier to explain the relationship between objects in the image and
the subject of death. Peirce’s iconic, indexical and symbolical theory
established the connections between enhanced meanings and how death could be
applied to his theory.
Investigating the correlation between
language and the sign, enabled me to decipher how the arbitrary nature of
language, dictates to us how we should interpret the image; but without
language the image is open to our own interpretation. Rene Magritte’s’ idea of
distorting the meaning of the pipe enables us to understand, the importance
that language plays in comprehending the meaning of an image. Therefore, once
language has been either manipulated or discarded in this context, it opens up
additional interpretations for the viewer to consider.
In addition, I have explored how certain
photographic conventions highlight the subject of death and how they are
conveyed by the artist.
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