The role of number in visual representation
From the perspective of the culture of numbers the visual arts dispose of a tabula rasa, a blank space which can be filled with any sort of representation suitable to the medium used, with the implicit understanding that it will be intelligible to those who are likely to look at it. What may be represented must fit into the cognitive framework of the local culture, and may be further subject to political or religious restrictions. The representation will be a part of a symbolic universe in which numbers have their own part to play. There is no need for a literate culture, in the strict sense, and even where numbers can be represented in writing, their symbolic representation in the field of art is by no means limited to the standard written forms. From the time of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) different flowers were used to symbolise the twelve months – which in Chinese are simply named after the numerals from one to twelve – so that the magnolia, for instance, connotes the number, two, or the chrysanthemum, the number, ten (Medley 1982: 412). This does not mean that every representation of a chrysanthemum connotes ‘ten’: this depends upon the context. In an appropriate case the standard written form for ten could conceivably connote a ‘chrysanthemum’.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.