Activity Guide by Tilly Woodward
Curator of Academic and Community Outreach
Often artists use symbolism to create and convey meaning in their work. A symbol is when one thing stands for another. Artists use colors, shapes, and marks symbolically, as well as the representations of objects, animals, and nature. Let’s look closely at four historic and contemporary artworks and see what symbols we can find.
Look
What symbols do you see? What clues do they give about the meaning of the artworks?
Albrecht Dürer created St. Jerome in His Study in 1514, a time when books were still rare and few people knew how to read. This engraving uses a variety of symbols to celebrate the importance of faith and learning. St. Jerome is bathed in light, head aglow with enlightenment. In his room we see a variety of tools and books, as well as a crucifix, skull, a dog and a lion. The crucifix represents the faith that guides his study. The skull could represent death, but also knowledge. Dogs are often symbols for loyalty, and lions are the kings of beasts, often representing majesty, courage, justice and Christ. Do you see other symbols in this engraving?
Carl Gottlieb Guttenberg’s engraving, The Tea Tax Tempest, was created in 1778, during the American Revolutionary War. Take a look! Can you find Father Time, a globe, a teapot, a snake, a rooster and a lion? Father Time is bent over a globe, and is using a Magic Lantern to project an image which he is showing to people that represent different continents. What continents do the people represent? The teapot, which represent the American colonies, is in the center of a circle of light, and people from different continents are watching from the dark. France is represented by the rooster busy fanning the flames with a bellows. England is the forlorn lion, barely visible under the cloud of steam. How is this lion different than the lion in St. Jerome in His Study? Can you find other symbols?
In this painting, Coronation of the Virgin, the artist uses color and shapes symbolically. Look at the way gold leaf is used to accentuate the holy figures. Notice how Jesus is framed by a triangle, representing God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The triangle is located in a circle with no beginning or end, representing the wholeness of God. Divine light shines out from the circle. There are lots of other symbols in this painting. What are some you see?
This triptych, Man, Spirit, Mask, by Willie Cole is a self-portrait. If you look closely, you’ll see his face in the both the left and right panels. The face on the left is upside down. When you look at the triptych, what else do you see? Some people see tribal markings in the face on the left. Some people see a shield or mask on the face on the right but some people also see a boat. Some people think the middle panel looks like a boat, too, but others see it as an iron. All of those observations could be correct — that’s one of the great things about a work of art!
When Willie Cole visited the Grinnell College Museum of Art, he talked about the multiple meanings in this print related to heritage. He was thinking about tribal markings, slave ships, and irons when he made this artwork. Irons could be the irons of bondage, but also the appliance for pressing clothes. Or the way irons can scorch or brand a person. Willie Cole talked about how people make assumptions based on race, and don’t really see a person- some times people see a mask that obscures you, and sometimes a mask may protect you. It is also a story of love about his grandmother, who took in ironing to make a living. When he was young, Willie Cole used to sit beneath the ironing board and enjoy the smell of steam, starch and cotton, and the safe and loving feeling he got from being near his grandmother, and to this day he remembers her when he irons his clothes. So it is an artwork representing both great sorrow and great love.
Think
What are some symbols you can think of? Make a list! Letters & arrows are symbols. What else? Shapes like circles can mean wholeness. A triangle like the one in the Coronation of the Virgin can represent strength or balance or the Christian Trinity. Colors like red may represent passion. Blue could represent calm. A bird could represent freedom.
What symbols would you use to represent yourself? Make a list!
Create
Make an artwork that incorporates symbols that represent what you love about yourself and what is important to you in your life. You could cut out pictures and shapes and collage them. You could draw or paint. Think about how you would arrange your symbols to make your artwork compelling. Will the symbols overlap? Will some symbols be repeated? Will some be larger than others?
Share & Write
Share your artwork with another person, and see if they can guess your symbols. Write about your symbols so people can de-code your artwork.