On pictures and the words that fail them
By: James Elkins.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 326
Subjects: Pictures.; Image (Philosophy); Interpretation (Philosophy)
Description: On Pictures and the Words That Fail Them provides detailed, incisive critiques of fundamental notions about pictures: their allegedly semiotic structures; the "rational" nature of realism; and the ubiquity of the figure/ground relation.

Elkins then opens the concept of images to non-Western and prehistoric ideas, exploring Chinese concepts of magic, Mesopotamian practices of counting and sculpture, religious ideas about hypostasis, philosophical discussions concerning invisibility and blindness, and questions on the limits of the destruction of meaning.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 285-315) and index.