6. Reuse in A&D

Abstract

Reuse in Art and Design is about repurposing and reusing images. Throughout history people have reused images and sculptures, as well as parts of images and sculptures, in order to create new artistic expressions, and also new information. This book includes short presentations of some two- and three-dimensional images and found objects that have been reused and repurposed in architecture, art, books, design, learning, and sculpture.

Full text

Reuse in A&D
Rune Pettersson

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Reuse in Art and Design
The illustration on the cover is part of an image from my video
program “Life Patterns” presented at the first international ex-
hibition “The Video Show” in London, may 1975. My “multime-
dia project” was one of two invited contributions from Sweden.
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this
work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee pro-
vided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or com-
mercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full
citation on the first page.
Institute for Infology
ISBN 978-91-85334-40-5
© Rune Pettersson
Tullinge 2024

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Preface
Repurpose and reuse means that a product, that is used in its
original function, can be used again for another purpose.
My book Reuse in Art and Design is about repurposing and
reusing images. Throughout history people have reused images
and sculptures, as well as parts of images and sculptures, in order
to create new artistic expressions, and sometimes also new infor-
mation.
A “work of art” used to be an artefact, a physical object, un-
til the French artist Marcel Duchamp invented the term ready-
made, in the early 1900s. The readymade concept suggests that
anything may function as an artwork if, for instance, an artist
chose it and sign it, or if an established gallery, or a museum ex-
hibits it.
This book includes short presentations of some two- and
three-dimensional images and also some found objects that have
been reused and repurposed in architecture, art, books, design,
learning, and sculpture.
In this book I have reused both pictures and text segments
from some of my own earlier books, especially the tenth book,
Predecessors and Pioneers, in my book series Information De-
sign Library. All these books are available on ResearchGate.
Previous editions of this book were published every year
2019–2023. When there is no information about the name of a
photographer, an artist, or a draftsman in a caption, that picture
is my own photo, or my own drawing or sketch.
Tullinge, Sweden
Rune Pettersson, Ph.D.
Retired Professor of Information Design

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Contents
Preface 3!
Contents 4!
Introduction 8!
Basic shapes 10!
Lines 10!
A large turf mound 11!
The winter solstice 13!
Neolithic rock designs 14!
Southern Scandinavia 18!
Circles 21!
The anatomy of the circle 21!
Circles in nature 23!
Circles and buildings 24!
Use of circles as symbols 28!
Road signs 31!
Squares 33!
Anatomy of the square 34!
The golden rectangle 35!
Squares and buildings 37!
Use of squares as symbols 40!
Some road signs 41!
Triangles 43!
The anatomy of the triangle 43!
Triangles and buildings 46!
Triangles in modern buildings 50!
Use of triangles as symbols 50!
Some more road signs 51!
The pedestrian information sign 52!
Drawings and prints 55!
Biblia Pauperum 56!
Albrecht Dürer 60!
A period of transition 60!
Realistic sharpness 61!
Revolutionary graphics 63!
Erik Dahlbergh 67!
A military cartographer 67!

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Visual propaganda 68!
Staffage 71!
Drawings and photos 74!
Early days 75!
Silver grains 76!
Digital images 77!
Classification systems 80!
Billions of photos 82!
Books 87!
Liber Chronicarum 88!
Emblematum Liber 92!
Orbis Sensualium Pictus 99!
Modern textbooks 102!
Paintings 104!
Albertus Pictor 106!
Leonardo da Vinci 109!
A Renaissance Man 109!
Mona Lisa 110!
Peter Paul Rubens 115!
Johannes Vermeer 118!
Photographic realism 118!
Image design 119!
Architecture 123!
Gianlorenzo Bernini 125!
Architecture in Rome 125!
Design of motion 126!
Design of sound 127!
Frank Gehry 129!
Adolf W. Edelsvärd 132!
Building of the Swedish National Railways 132!
The first Main Lines 133!
Station buildings 134!
Cottages for lengthmen 137!
Sculpture 141!
Michelangelo 141!
Auguste Rodin 144!
Marcel Duchamp 147!

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Abstract movements 147!
Bicycle Wheel and Bottle Rack 148!
Fountain 151!
Rrose Sélavy 154!
Context of a message 155!
Salvador Dalí 156!
Emerging modern art 156!
Retrospective Bust of a Woman 158!
Venus de Milo with drawers 159!
Lobster Telephone 160!
Pablo Picasso 162!
Glass of Absinthe 162!
The Bull’s Head 163!
Jean Tinguely 165!
Robert Rauschenberg 168!
Combines 168!
A few examples 169!
BMW art car collection 170!
Design 172!
Light design 173!
Light beams 173!
Human vision 173!
The Ghent Altarpiece 174!
The Assumption of the Virgin 176!
Ecstasy of St. Theresa 178!
The Sower 180!
Pier Giacomo and Achille Castiglioni 183!
Shiro Kuramata 184!
Patterns 186!
Pattern language 186!
Experienced practitioners 187!
Pottery 189!
Textiles 192!
Mosaics 196!
Wallpapers 196!
A modular concept 197!
Learning 200!
Elementary school 201!
Middle school/Junior high school 202!

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University courses 203!
Artistic work and design 204!
ID Library 206!
References 207!
Literature 207!
Picture credits 229!
Appendix: Main concepts 237!

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Introduction
Reuse means that a product, that is consumed in its original
function, can be used again for another purpose. In general, re-
cycling is environmentally friendly. In art, communication, de-
sign, information, and literature there are several opportunities
for reuse, both of ideas, images, materials, and segments of texts.
An active reuse of images and texts has been around for many
hundreds, or thousands of years. Many products are based on
previous work. Reuse can be both illegal, and legal.
All of us must respect copyright as well as other laws and
regulations that are related to communication, design, distribu-
tion, production, storage, and any use of information and learn-
ing materials. This concerns the use of artwork, illustrations,
logos, lyrics, music, photographs, specific sounds, symbols, texts,
trademarks, video recordings, and any other creative elements.
It is also important to honour business agreements, and respect
the ethical guidelines.
All pictures in this book are repurposed and reused. Many
of the pictures are provided by Wikimedia Commons, and they
are free to use. A few drawings, a few photographs, as well as all
text are my own. In a few instances I have not been able to find
“free” pictures, but in these cases I have provided addresses on
the Internet. There are references to all pictures in this book at
the end, in the main section “Picture credits.”
The rights of copyright holders are protected according to
agreed ethical rules, international conventions, and terms of de-
livery. Full copyright protection for a “work,” or a “production”
requires creativity, fixation, and originality. This protection is in-
ternational. The name of the copyright holder must be stated in
each published document containing pictures and texts
For literary works the copyright protection duration is the
length of the authors’ life, plus another 70 years. In many coun-
tries, all kinds of pictures with artistic or scientific merit also en-
joy protection for 70 years after the death of the copyright holder.

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Drawings usually belong to this category. In most cases we need
to get permission from the copyright holder/s to do any manipu-
lation with the pictures.
Modern computer-based graphical systems have a lot of
built-in possibilities for manipulating images. However, usually
we need permission from the copyright owner, and–from an eth-
ical point of view–also from any person in the picture. In news,
information design, and instruction design, readers and viewers
expect pictures and images to represent the truth in a correct
way.
The copyright symbol, ©, with the letter C inside a circle, is
used in a copyright notice. Since 1989 it is optional to use a cop-
yright notice. The Berne Convention makes copyright automatic.
Copyright is a legal right created by the law of a country that
grants the creator of an original work exclusive right for distribu-
tion and use of her or his work. A similar symbol is the sound
recording copyright symbol, ℗, with the letter P inside a circle.
A citation is a reference to a published, or an unpublished
source. It is important to identify references in academic writing,
as well as in scientific and technical writing. We use citations to
direct readers to previous discussions and sources, and to be
honest. There are many different systems to make references to
the work of others. Each citation system has its advantages and
disadvantages.
A counterfeit is a product that is said to be identical to an
original of some kind, usually for dishonest or illegal purposes.
Plagiarism is copying ideas or work by another person, without
a reference to the source. Counterfeit and plagiarism occur in ar-
chitecture, art, design, literature, research, technology and more.
The plagiarist is a person who uses another person’s ideas
or work, and pretends that it is her or his own ideas or work.
Thus, plagiarism is the opposite of a forgery. Those who plagia-
rize want to win fame and glory, while those who falsify want to
earn money from the work of others.

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Basic shapes
Graphical symbols are often composed of simple elements, such
as lines, circles, ovals, squares, rectangles, triangles, and some-
times combinations thereof. And maybe the engraved ochre
pieces with abstract geometric designs that were made more than
70,000 years ago in the Blombos Cave actually were symbols
with some very specific meanings (Henshilwood et al. 2002)? So
far, these designs may be regarded as the oldest known human
“artwork” that is preserved.
This chapter includes the following main sections: Lines,
Circles, Squares, and Triangles.
Lines
A line may be defined as a dot that is extended, at least to the
length of two dots, and obviously usually into many more dots.
Thus, the smallest line possible has the length of two dots. A line
may vary with respect to its starting point, its brightness, colour,
context, curvature, direction, evenness, grain, length, orienta-
tion, positions of change, printing, shape, thickness, value, and
its terminus.
Lines in art are very old. The oldest cave paintings have
prints and contour lines of hands, directly on the rock walls. The
Funnelbeaker culture is the name of an early Neolithic agricul-
tural farming culture in Europe, about 6 200–2 800 years ago.
People in this archaeological culture decorated their pottery with
lines and various patterns. They used tools for incising, impress-
ing, modelling and stamping.
This main section includes the following sections: A large
turf mound, The winter solstice, Neolithic rock designs, and
Southern Scandinavia.

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A large turf mound
In Ireland, Western Europe, three large circular burial mounds
and about 40 smaller passage graves constitute a large funerary
landscape called Brú na Bóinne (O’Kelly, 1982a). The three bur-
ial mounds Dowth, Knowth, and Newgrange dominate Brú na
Bóinne. It is recognized as having great ritual significance, and
since 1993 it is an UNESCO World Heritage Site (World Heritage
Site, 1993a). These monuments represent the largest and most
important expressions of prehistoric megalithic art in Europe.
A very well-organized farming community constructed and
built Newgrange about 5,300 years ago (Perez-Enriquez and Sa-
linas, 2016), or about 5,200–4,500 years ago (Grant, Gorin, and
Fleming, 2008). The construction of complicated megalithic
monuments required an advanced society with specialised
groups that were responsible for different aspects of construc-
tion. Neolithic people had not yet developed metal. All their tools
were made of antler, bone, stone or wood. According to Moriarty
(2022) there is irrefutable evidence that Newgrange originally
consisted or four enclosures, all of which predate the main
mound by several centuries. Mounds such as Newgrange and
Knowth were constructed over 5,000 years ago.
Since 1993 Newgrange is a part of the Brú na Bóinne
UNESCO World Heritage Site, with two more principal monu-
ments and about 40 smaller satellite mounds. Some of these Ne-
olithic megalithic monuments were used as tombs and maybe
also used as places with astrological, ceremonial, religious and
spiritual importance (World Heritage Site, 1993a). In addition,
there are many smaller archaeological sites such as henges,
mounds, and standing stones (Lynch, 2014).
Today the experts do not agree about what the site was ac-
tually used for. According to Burenhult (1999, p 283) this kind of
monuments were central places of worship for a large country-
side where village chiefs came with their companions in order to
practice their cult and administer their communities.

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The front of the most famous monument at Newgrange was re-
constructed in the 1970s. The entrance is to the right in the pic-
ture. Picture: Wikimedia Commons.
The most famous passage-tomb, or Ancient Temple, was
originally built on top of a hill. The front of the monument was
reconstructed in the 1970s. The monument consists of a large al-
most circular, or slightly kidney shaped, turf mound. The mound
covers an area of over one acre. It is 79–85 meters in diameter
and 13.5 m high and it is built of 200,000 tons of stone and al-
ternating layers of earth. All the stones were transported to New-
grange. Grass is growing on the top.
Twelve out of the original estimated 38 large boulders form
a ring of about 104 m in diameter outside the base of the large
mound. 97 large kerbstones retain the base of the mound. Many
of the larger stones of Newgrange are covered with graphic meg-
alithic art that are carved onto the stone surfaces (Nechvatal,
2009, p. 163). The mound is also ringed by a stone circle.

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The winter solstice
The turf mound has an entrance on its south-eastern side. A 19-
meter narrow and uphill passage leads into a central chamber
and three smaller chambers (O’Kelly, 1982a). The larger cham-
ber (6.5 x 6.2 m) has an altar and a six meter high and corbelled
vault roof. This may be a burial chamber (Burenhult, 1981;
O’Kelly, 1982a, p. 122). Several of the stone slabs in the passage
are decorated with carvings. The average height in the passage is
about 1.5-meter.
This very large Neolithic monument was constructed with
great precision. From December 19th to 23rd the first beams of
light from the rising midwinter sun passes through a small and
rectangular shutter above the entrance and passes through the
passage. For this to happen it is necessary first to remove a stone
fitting the shutter 25-m from the altar.
On December 21st, the whole burial chamber becomes dra-
matically illuminated for 17 minutes and the room gets flooded
with very clear sunlight. This illumination marks the end of the
longest night of the year and the beginning of the next year. It is
speculated that the sun formed an important part of the religious
beliefs of the Neolithic people who actually built the monument.
This special construction clearly shows a very deep understand-
ing for the importance of special illumination. This is in fact an
early kind of light design, used once every year.
Twelve out of the original estimated 38 large boulders form
a ring of about 104 m in diameter outside of the base of the large
mound. Here, 97 large kerbstones retain the base of the mound.
According to Renfrew (1982, p. 7) Newgrange is one of the
most important of all megalithic structures in Europe. People
built Newgrange 500 years before the Great Pyramid of Giza in
Egypt, and more than 1,000 years before Stonehenge in England.

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Neolithic rock designs
The term “Neolithic art” includes arts and crafts created by soci-
eties who had abandoned the semi-nomadic lifestyle of hunting
and gathering food in favour of farming. The major artform was
pottery, but people also made engravings. Many large kerbstones
and several stone slabs in the grave-field are decorated with
carved patterns. According to Perez-Enriquez and Salinas (2016)
the engravings in the tomb could be evidence of "pinhole optics"
used for solar observations. Some of these engravings could also
represent an early manifestation of the construction of a specially
oriented astronomical instrument in ancient times. Perez-En-
riquez and Salinas (2016) suggest that this huge astronomical in-
strument was located at several positions along the passage be-
fore it was covered by the mound.
O’Kelly (1982b, p. 146–147) divided the carved patterns of
decorations in the two main groups: 1) Curvilinear carvings, and
2) Rectilinear carvings. Both groups include five categories with
basic graphic elements. In the curvilinear decorations, the lines
are curved in various ways. In the rectilinear decorations, the in-
dividual lines are straight.
Curvilinear carvings
1. Arcs.
2. Circles.
3. Dot-in-circles (circles with a dot inside).
4. Serpentiniforms (lines having the form of serpents).
5. Spirals.
Rectilinear categories
6. Chevrons (inverted V-shaped patterns) or zigzags.
7. Lozenges or diamonds.
8. Offsets or comb-devices.
9. Parallel lines.
10. Radials or star shapes (usually with a central dot).

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Some of these ten basic graphic elements were used in many rock
carvings and on a lot of pottery. Some elements are still used in
many designs, illustrations and ornaments.
However, two devices in any group are ever identical. There
are infinite variations in the degree of skill employed, in the size
of point used to pick out the motif, in the size of the motif itself
and in the way it is or is not combined with other devices to form
a panel or an ornament. At Newgrange the most common motif
is the lozenge and the chevrons (zigzags). The circle is the next
most frequently used symbol. The rarest motifs at Newgrange are
radials or star shapes. O’Kelly (1982b, p. 148) wrote: “there is no
denying that conscious ornamentation of particular slabs were
employed at Newgrange.”
This is the large boulder at the entrance to the main tomb at
Newgrange. Picture: Wikimedia Commons.
Triskele-like decorations, each with three interlocked spi-
rals exhibiting rotational symmetry, are notable examples of the
curvilinear designs on the large entrance boulder. It is approxi-
mately three metres long, 1.2 metres high, and about 5 tons in
weight.

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ÓRíordáin and Daniel (1964, p. 26) described the entrance
boulder to the main tomb as: “one of the most famous stones in
the entire repertory of megalithic art.”
This illustration by Piggott (1954, page 211) shows the classifi-
cation of the motifs in Irish Passage Grave art. This illustration
was also published by ÓRíordáin and Daniel (1964, page 115),
and by Needham (2015, page 48).
According to Piggott (1954), and ÓRíordáin and Daniel
(1964) the thirteen main categories of motifs in Irish Passage
Grave art are:

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1. Face-motifs (1a–1c).
2. Circles are common. They may be single (2a), multiple (2b),
with a central dot (2c), or gapped (2d).
3. Rayed circles. They may be single circles with rays or dots
inside (3a), double circles with rays in between (3b), circles
with flower patterns inside (3c), circles with a filled cross
pattern (3d), circles with external rays (3e), a dot with exter-
nal rays (3f), the asterisk symbol (3g), and the circle with an
outer arc of rays (3h).
4. Crosses are simple crosses(4a), or developed petal-bladed
crosses (4b).
5. Spirals are set singly (5a), in pairs (5b), or in a threefold or
triskele arrangement (5c).
6. Arcs are half-ellipses. They may be single (6a), multiple
(6b), or rayed (6c).
7. Ovals or ellipses may have a horizontal line and vertical
lines, or lines on either side (7a), only vertical lines (7b),
rayed and a series of horizontal lines (7c), or central trian-
gles (7d)
8. Scalloped outlines are assemblages of face motives.
9. Hurdle patterns are groups of horizontal lines separated by
vertical lines (9a, 9b), or including a comb pattern (9c).
10. Fir-tree motifs have parallel rows of diagonal lines with a
central line (10a), or without a central line (10b).
11. Zigzag patterns are generally a series of parallel lines (11a),
or a rounded och meander-like form (11b).
12. Triangles and lozenges may be done in outline (12a), filled
by pecking (12b), or be in relief outline (12c).
13. Cup-marks are common in many places.
Moriarty (2010, 2022) noted that many archaeologists have pro-
posed numerous interpretations of all the petroglyphs found
throughout Ireland and the UK. Yet none have ever been tested,
nor can they ever be tested. According to some archaeologists the
purpose of these famous carvings is decorative. However, others

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believe the purpose is symbolic. There are many opinions, but no
one knows the true purpose.
Southern Scandinavia
In southern Scandinavia, the Bronze Age includes the period
1,700–500 BCE (Welinder, 2009, p. 43). This was a dynamic pe-
riod with many external influences. A new social system was sup-
ported by new gods and new religions. Skilled and sophisticated
craftsmen and specialists developed into a new elite. Objects and
ideas spread quickly through travel and many new contacts.
Metal and salt became very important commodities. According
to Ling (2008, p. 178) rock art was a kind of “socio-symbolic me-
dia” that grew out of social reality and social praxis. These images
were charged with social messages that are suggestive and dra-
matic rather than concrete linguistic information and narratives.
Development of crop and livestock began from 3,900 BCE
in southern Sweden. At the same time, the lifestyle of the gather-
ers–hunters disappeared. According to Welinder (2009, p 169)
people’s diet changed pervasive during a single generation, in the
period 3,900–2,000 BCE. It went from the marine “seals and fish
food diet” to a “cheese and steak diet”.
Malmer (1989, p. 15) argued that Bronze Age people had a
treasure of images. People lived in a rich visual world and all
knew the forms and meanings. Finds from several archaeological
excavations include apparel buckles, funeral urns, jewellery, or-
naments, symbols and weapons. The images were carved,
painted or sewn in different materials. The images that were
carved into stone, or carved in bronze have survived best. How-
ever, different materials like bark, ceramics, fabric, leather and
flat pieces of wood are only preserved under very favourable con-
ditions.
In oral-based societies images were not only aesthetic art
and not a writing system (Fredell, 2003, p. 175). The abundance
of pictures of objects and carvings, as well as figurines was

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expressions of conscious communication in symbiosis with
speech and people’s memories.
Rock carvings were created and used for a very long-time
and under different economic, ideological, political and social
conditions. Cutting and carving pictures in a carefully selected,
smooth rock requires extensive work. There was a reasonably
clear purpose for each project. It seems that there were three dis-
tinct audiences for both rock paintings and rock carvings. The
first target group was “higher and divine powers”. The second
target group was “people within their close circle”, as family,
tribe or group. The third target was “alien and possibly hostile
people”.
According to Hagerman (2011, p. 128 f) the purpose of the
images on the rock carvings probably were to “recall stories that
were important to people”. Oral stories, images and symbols
were expressions of ideological communication during the
Bronze Age (Fredell, 2003, p. 206). This kept an ideological sys-
tem together for nearly two thousand years. The stories changed
over time and space.
According to Malmer (1989, p. 11) both rock paintings and
rock carvings were used to express worship of the gods, and at
the same time addressed to the people. Kristiansen and Larsson
(2007, p. 335) argued that it was possible for thousands of people
to simultaneously observe the ceremonies and religious rites that
priests and chiefs performed at large and monumental carvings.
It is possible that people in general could carve out single
cup marks near their own pastures. And Malmer (1989, p. 10)
argued that it was common for people to make deeper lines in
existing images each year as an alternative to make completely
new pictures. It was reasonable to wish for abundant harvest and
therefore reuse “the right image” every spring. An available rock
surface could soon be covered with pictures. In fact, in many
places, large rock carvings are very difficult to interpret because
multiple images overlap and cover other images.

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Bengtsson (2004, pp. 85f) conducted accurate measure-
ments and analyses of three unique motifs in various sites in Bo-
huslän, Sweden. Very large similarities between eight figures of
the motif “four-wheeled wagon,” from three sites, show that
these figures are likely to be executed by one single person. In
five sites, there are a total of ten representations of the motif
“horse footprint.” Here the analysis shows that nine of these fig-
ures are likely to be executed by one person. Two sites have three
unusual “human figures.” Again, the analysis shows that one per-
son executed the figures. It was perhaps three different individ-
uals who performed work on these rock carvings. According to
Bengtsson (2004, p. 99), these results suggest that the rock carv-
ings were generally made of special people who were specialists
in the Bronze Age society. They were people with perhaps the se-
cret knowledge that was required for the ritual execution of pic-
tures.
This schematic drawing shows some of the many rock carvings
at the location Fossum in Sweden. This is a part of one of a so
called “rock carving panel”. Next picture is a photo of the left
part in this panel.

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This is a photo of the left part of the rock carving shown in the
schematic drawing above. The left figure is called “The Dancer.”
Circles
When small children are scribbling they make dots, lines and
many endless, and open circular movements (Kellog, 1955). Al-
ready three-year old kids may draw solid circles, squares, and tri-
angles (Berefelt, 1977). In my view, we perceive circles, squares,
and triangles immediately, on a low cognitive level without any
special analysis (Pettersson, 1989). Thus circles, squares, and tri-
angles may be very effective carriers of information when time
for perception is crucial.
This main section includes the following sections: The anat-
omy of the circle, Circles in nature, Circles and buildings, Use of
circles as symbols, and Road signs.
The anatomy of the circle
A circle is a curved line, or a flat closed curve, where all points
have a constant distance from a given point, a centre or a mid-
point. Each straight line from the centre to any point on the circle

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is called a radius. All radii are equal in length. Any strait line
through the centre to the closed curve is a diameter.
The term circle also refers to the area enclosed by the curved
line. The closed curve is then called the periphery of the circle,
and its total length is called the circumference, or the perimeter,
of the circle. A limited part of the circumference is an arc. The
area between two radii and the arc between them is called a circle
sector. A chord is a line that connects two points on the periphery
of a circle and thus divides the circle into two parts, two circle
segments. A secant is a line just crossing the circle.
In the circle to the left: 1) centre or midpoint, 2) diameter, and
3) radius. The circle in the middle: 1) centre or midpoint, 2) arc,
3) circle segment, and 4) circle sector. In the circle to the right:
1) centre or midpoint with a diameter, 2) chord, 3) secant, and
4) tangent, which is perpendicular to a diagonal.
When we compress, or extend a circle in two directions, we
get an oval, also called ellipse. An oval is a geometric figure with
a closed, rounded and elongated shape. In an oval, there are
never more than four and never less than two radii that are equal
in length. The circle can be seen as a “special case” of the oval.

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From the left this picture shows an oval, a sphere, a cylinder,
and a cone.
When we rotate a circle around its own diameter, we create
a virtual volume. This sphere is a surface in space where all
points have a constant distance, a radius, from a given point, the
centre. A sphere is a solid body.
If we lift a circle straight up, a virtual cylinder appears. A
cylinder is bounded by two flat, parallel circular surfaces and an
intermediate, rectangular surface with circular cross-sections.
Circles in nature
Circles and ovals, or parts of circles and ovals, often occur in our
natural environments. Examples are the sun, the moon, the plan-
ets, the silhouettes of many flowers, and some leaves and fruits.
All these circular shapes were recognized as natural elements al-
ready in the earliest cultural history of mankind. Mankind has
used circles, squares, and also triangles as important symbols for
many thousands of years.
As the sun sets below the horizon, we see an ever smaller
part of the solar disk as a glowing circle segment. For our early
ancestors, this was possibly a frightening experience. They could
not know if they would see the sun rise again in the next morning.
In many parts of the world, there have been a variety of religious
ceremonies related to the movements of the sun and moon across
the sky.
Since birds lay eggs that must be incubated, they usually
build nests to provide protection and warmth. In some ground-

24
nesting birds, the nest consists of only a simple pit in the ground.
Other birds collect straws and twigs, and other materials for a
bed. Some birds use natural holes in trees, which provides better
protection for their nests and their eggs.
Many birds simply build their nests around their own bod-
ies. Each time the birds come with new building materials, they
add this to the previous material. The nests become bowl-shaped,
like the lower half of a sphere. Each nest will be an upside down
dome. Finally, the birds cover the inside of their bowls with feath-
ers and down, as well as moss and parts of other soft plants. Here
the birds are incubating their eggs. The eggs are well protected
when the birds temporarily have to leave the nest.
Most of our closest relatives in the animal kingdom, the
apes, build a kind of temporary nest of twigs and leaves. Usually
they use such nests only for a single night. It is likely that our
oldest ancestors sometimes built nests in a similar way.
Circles and buildings
Arches, cylinders, and domes are common in homes, and in
places of worship in the early architectural and cultural history
of mankind. There are many examples of how hunters and gath-
erers built temporary homes and settlements with the circle as
their basic form. The shape symbolizes the dynamic and the con-
stant movement. The square is the basic shape for the houses of
the settled farmers, plots of land and later cities.
Sacred and spiritual concepts
From the time of the earliest known civilisations the circle has
been used directly or indirectly in visual art to express certain
ideas. Some emphasised the circumference of the circle to
demonstrate their democratic manifestation. Others focused on
its centre to symbolize the concept of cosmic unity. The circle
may be a reflection, of the celestial entity with God at the centre,
a universal symbol of eternity, harmony and original perfection
(Cooper, 1978).

25
For some, the circle is a symbol for the cyclical and infinite
nature of existence. In religious traditions the circle represents
divine spirits and heavenly bodies. Here, the circle may signify
many sacred and spiritual concepts, including balance, divinity,
infinity, perfection, stability, unity, universe, and wholeness
(Charnier, 2018).
From huts to domes
People need access to weather and wind protection. We also need
protection against intruders of various kinds. Some of our ances-
tors found shelter in natural caves. But the caves were simply not
enough for everyone. Gradually, our ancestors began to build
simple protections with materials that they were able to find in
their immediate surroundings. In practice, however, there was
often a compromise between the availability of suitable building
materials, the need for protection and space, and the work effort
required. Branches and twigs that were set up against a rock wall
became a simple shelter. Branches and twigs that were bent, en-
twined, and covered with large leaves became a simple dome-
shaped hut. The round base shape is as natural in a simple hut as
in a bird’s nest.
As early as about two million years ago, our ancestors built
small, round huts of branches and leaves. Here the “door” into
and out of the hut could consist of a bundle of rice, or of a skin
from a reindeer or a moose. According to Wilkinsson (1989),
these were the first buildings in the world.
During excavations at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, archaeol-
ogists have found the remains of settlements that were used 1.8
million years ago by Homo habilis, “the handy man.” The lower
edge of the hut wall was weighed down and fixed by stones, and
perhaps also by larger branches. An adult Homo habilis was up
to 150 cm long, that is, much like pygmies today. They lived in
family groups in East Africa. Related groups may also have lived
in South Africa and in Southeast Asia. Even into our own time,
the African pygmies have built the same type of small leaf huts.

26
A simple leaf hut could look something like this (left). The dome
(right) has been one of the most important basic forms in the
developments leading up to modern architecture.
On different continents people have built semi-permanent
and round dome-shaped shelters. People used any available
building materials in the area, like bark, bones, branches, grass,
hides, leaves, reeds, skins, snow blocks, stones, and twigs
(Shemie, 1989, 1990).
The “essence” of the semi-permanent round dome-shaped
shelters became prototypes for later monumental buildings such
as the Pantheon in Rome and the Capitol in Washington.
The dome has been one of the most important basic forms
in the development of modern architecture. We find domes in
both homes and other buildings, such as churches, temples and
tombs. Many grave monuments are closed with large boulders.
Temples and churches often have strong doors made of oak, or
other hard wood.
The tipi
A tipi, also tepee and tepee, is a conical tent with a circular base.
A tipi is often about five meters in diameter and 4.5–5.5 meters
high. It is easy to move to new places. According to Laubin and
Laubin (1977) conical shelters have been used for hundreds, per-
haps thousands, of years, wherever the climate demanded shelter
from the weather.

27
Traditionally wooden poles are covered by skins from large
animals, such as buffalos. These hides were stitched together.
The lower edges are secured to the ground with tent-pins. The
buffalo hides were often richly decorated with porcupine tags,
with pearls or with painted ornaments. Modern tipis usually have
a canvas covering. The conical tent is one of the basic forms in-
cluded in modern architecture.
All Native Americans living on the prairie performed similar
sun dances. Originally, the sun dance was a rite of thanksgiving
to the “Ruler of Life,” with the Sioux the Great Spirit, Wakanda,
or Wakan Tanka. The dance was associated with fasting and self-
torture. Sometimes a special sun dance hut was used, where the
entrance was directed towards the sunrise. In Wyoming, the
Medicine Wheel is a place of worship for sun worshipers.
Bancroft-Hunt and Forman (1981) quoted Walker (1917)
who described the significance of the Sacred Circle for the Oglala
people in North America. They believed that the circle is sacred
because the Great Spirit made everything in nature, with the ex-
ception of the stones, circular. The sun, the sky, the earth and the
moon are round like shields. The cross-sections of both trees and
humans are round. The circle is the symbol of the day, of the
night, of the seasons, and also of the year. For these reasons,
Oglala and the other Prairie Indians built their tipis with a circu-
lar base. All tipis are arranged in a circle. At all ceremonies, the
Oglala people sit in a circle, often around a campfire. The circular
shape is repeated even in shields that give the owner power from
the sun.
Wickerwork and clay
In many places in Africa, there have long been cylindrical clay
huts, Tukul, with a circular base. Some Tukul have dome-shaped
and others have conical roofs. The walls consist of poles, driven
into the ground, and a framework of densely braided branches.
The framework is effectively sealed with a mixture of clay, cow

28
dung, and straw. Sometimes single stones, or even stone walls
are also included in the construction of the wall.
The roof consists of dried reeds and is supported by a floor
of branches, or posts. It protects the walls from heavy rain. Often
several houses in a settlement are connected by arched walls.
Some houses are used as housing, others as kitchens, storage
rooms, or stables for the animals. Such a residence can accom-
modate one or more families, or extended families, with several
generations, sometimes an entire family.
Some homes and warehouses in Africa have a rectangular or
a square floor plan. Such a house looks like a block of flats with a
sloping, prism-like roof. The African peoples often spend time
and effort decorating their huts and houses with patterns in dif-
ferent colours. Some consider the African clay hut with thatched
roof to be the prototype for the modern villa with a porch.
Use of circles as symbols
Taking up only a very small amount of space, symbols can convey
information, equivalent to one or more sentences of text. Quirk
et al. (1985) noted that pictograms most reliably can substitute
for words in “block language”— single-word captions, headings,
and labels — as distinct from sentenced language. Many authors
have written about the various meanings of circles, squares, and
triangles (e.g. Bruce-Mitford, 1996; Cooper, 1978; Dreyfuss,
1972; Fontana, 2010; and Jaffé, 1964).
Eco (1976) suggested that the verbal equivalent of an iconic
sign is not a word but a phrase or indeed a whole story. This is,
of course, also the case with the large number of Chinese kanji-
characters, designating different words and sometimes phrases.
The modern symbols typically found in airports and in travel
guides are intended to convey generalities of the same order of
abstractness as words. Their characteristic graphic neutrality is
perhaps the most significant aspect of their invention by the Iso-
type Institute (Neurath, 1936).

29
Distinctive symbols
Symbols may be visually more distinctive than text. Their syntax
and semantics may be simpler. Image perception is rapid, virtu-
ally “instantaneous.” Reading and comprehending the equivalent
message in words takes much more time, and may fail if it is hard
to read the text. So, symbols permit rapid reading and compre-
hension, and they may require less time and effort for learning.
This is important in numerous situations, e.g., in traffic, in in-
dustry, and in aviation. With the increase in international travel
and trade, there is a growing need to communicate with people
who do not understand the language of the country they are in.
The use of symbols is one of the most common ways to deal with
this situation. However, there may also be some disadvantages
with symbols. Symbols may be less efficient than text in convey-
ing abstract, as well as detailed information.
Old signs
Both the filled circle and the empty circle are among the oldest
signs of mankind. They are found on prehistoric cave paintings,
among Egyptian hieroglyphs, and on rock carvings. The filled cir-
cle, disc or sphere is considered older than the empty circle. Ac-
cording to Lyle (1990), circular arrangements are as old as hu-
manity itself. The circle is a symbol of human harmony, original-
ity, and perfection. In the circle, all stresses are equalized, here
movement and rest are balanced. The circle is used as an im-
portant symbol in many religions.
The circle also stands for the world order as a whole, for the
heavenly, the perfect and the total. It can be a sign for both the
sun and the moon. Since the circle has no beginning and no end,
it is often a symbol of the eternal. But it is also the timelessness
and the time that surrounds the room. The circle can symbolize
infinite motion and infinite force.
Since the circle has neither a top nor a bottom, it can sym-
bolize the lack of space. The empty circle is part of a large number

30
of symbol systems. The sphere also stands for perfection and the
sum of all possibilities in a limited world.
There are a large number of variations of symbols based on
circles with closed or open characters, inside or outside the circle.
Here are a few examples.
Examples of four symbols that are based on circles.
Symbols in art
In art, the most important geometric symbols are the centre, the
circle, the cross, the triangle and the square. The centre of the
circle stands for origin, but also for a goal. The circle with a
marked centre point is an image of the completed cycle. The cir-
cle has several meanings with opposite or almost opposite mean-
ings. As symbols become more complicated, their meanings no
longer form opposite pairs (Liungman, 1990).
Considered a wheel, the circle can symbolize time, the sun,
the moon, the planets and other cyclical processes (Cooper,
1998). The wheel cross, the sun cross, or Odin’s cross began to
appear at the border between antiquity and the Bronze Age. The
wheel cross is common on rock carvings and also occurs in an-
cient Egypt, China, the Middle East and America. In ancient
Greece, the wheel cross stood for a sphere and a sphere.
As an ideographic sign, the circle has been around for at
least 5,000 years. According to Liungman (1990), the free circle
in modern Western ideography shows that everything, all time
and all possibilities exist. When the cross in the circle is diagonal,
the meaning changes from the wheel cross. The new combination
shows that there is nothing, and that there are no possibilities.

31
In traffic, the circle restricts our ability to stop a vehicle, it is
a stop ban. In graphic technology, the circle shows a damaged or
incorrect type that cannot be used.
More circles
We find the circle in ancient dances and in the rituals of different
tribes, often in connection with sun worship. The circular is the
feminine as opposed to the straight or "finite" which is associated
with the masculine. People like to sit around a circular table. King
Arthur's round table is legendary and a classic example of the
democratic power built into the circular shape.
Symbols are often composed of simple graphical elements,
such as circles, lines, ovals, rectangles, squares, triangles, or
combinations thereof (Pettersson, 1999). Distinctively shaped
letters are often utilized in modern symbols. Regular, simple, ge-
ometrical figures are identified more quickly than complex ones.
Basic geometric shapes are important in information design.
Keates (1982) noted that discriminatory responses to map
symbols depend on contrast in colour, dimension, and form. The
problem of discrimination is generally more critical in mono-
chrome maps, in which only contrasts in form and dimensions
are possible for lines and small symbols.
Road signs
In Sweden the design of all road signs are strictly regulated
(Vägmärkesförordningen, 2007), and it is probably similar in
many other countries. It is the government that establishes road
signs and other devices in Sweden. The regulations concern col-
ours, design, shape, size, and placement of the road signs. Road
signs are to be placed 2 metres from the road with the sign at 1.6
m from the base for motorized roads. Except for route numbers,
there are a maximum of three signs on a pole, with the most im-
portant sign at the top.
Most of the larger road signs have got their own illumina-
tion. All signs have an added reflective layer on important parts.

32
This is a custom in many European countries. Opposed to simple,
stylized silhouettes most of the road signs in Sweden are based
on pictograms with realistic depictions of people. When a sign
includes text, it is written in Swedish, except for the international
stop sign. This is written in English (STOP).
Countries in Europe follow the Vienna Convention on Road
Signs and Signals. Usually European signs have white back-
ground on prohibition and warning signs. However, the Swedish
signs have a yellow/orange background colour. The purpose is to
enhance the visibility of the sign during the dark winter. White
signs are be hard to see in the snow. When there is a symbol on a
prohibition sign it is crossed by a red line. However, a numeric
value is not crossed by a red line. Compared with European signs,
Swedish prohibition and warning signs have a thicker red border.
There are a large number of different kinds of road signs,
more than 250 in Sweden. Road signs and signposts include in-
formation signs, mandatory signs, mandatory signs, priority
signs, prohibitory signs, warning signs, and additional panels.
Today road signs are manufactured in different materials
such as aluminium, flat or canned panel, and galvanized sheet
iron. The symbols on the signs may be painted, printed or dupli-
cated in other ways. The motifs are designed in different ways
even if they carry the same or similar messages.
Prohibitory signs
The circle effectively draws attention to the characters it sur-
rounds. The inscribed sign shows that the possibilities are lim-
ited by prohibitions, such as speed limits. Many prohibition
signs are round with yellow backgrounds and red borders. They
indicate that something is forbidden. Unless otherwise stated,
the prohibition applies from the place where the sign is located
until the next intersection.

33
This picture includes three prohibition signs: No bicycles (left);
No tractors (middle); and No pedestrians (right). All road signs
on these pages are provided by the Driver's License Office in
Sweden (Transportstyrelsen, 2021) and by Wikipedia (2021).
Mandatory signs
All the mandatory signs are round and blue signs with white bor-
ders. Any mandatory sign includes a call that you must follow.
For example, you may only drive in a certain direction after the
sign. When a mandatory sign states that a certain type of traffic
is allowed, it also prohibits all other traffic, unless something else
is clearly stated on an additional board.
This picture includes three mandatory signs: Keep left (left);
Track for cycles and mopeds (middle); and Footpath (right).
Squares
With its right angles and its equally long sides, the square has a
kind of perfection. It is static and stable. Like the circle and the
equilateral triangle, the square stands for perfection. Already
three-year old kids may draw solid circles, squares, and triangles
(Berefelt, 1977). This main section includes the following

34
sections: The anatomy of the square, Use of squares as symbols,
and Some road signs.
Anatomy of the square
A square is a regular quadrilateral. All four sides are equal in
angles (90°), length and size. The diagonals of a square bisect
each other and meet at 90°. When you compress or pull out a
square it becomes a rectangle. A square is a special case of a rec-
tangle.
The rectangle is an equiangular quadrilateral. The oppo-
site sides are parallel and equal in both length and size. All the
corner angles are right (90°). The diagonals of a rectangle are
equal. Since the sides in the rectangle meet at right angles the
rectangle is rectilinear. A rectangle is a special case of both a par-
allelogram and a trapezoid. Sometimes the term oblong is used
to refer to any rectangle that is not a square.
From the left this picture shows a square, a rectangle, a rhom-
bus, and a parallelogram.
If we compress a square from two opposite corners, we get
a rhombus. The rhombus is a quadrilateral where all sides have
the same length, and the opposite angles are of the same size. A
rhombus with all angles equal (90°) is a “tilted square.” Often, a
rhombus is called a diamond, after its close similarity to the di-
amonds suit in playing cards.
If we increase the two halves of a rhombus we get a kite. A
kite is a quadrilateral where the sides are two pairs with equal-
length sides. These sides are adjacent to each other.

35
Like the kite also the parallelogram is a quadrilateral, but
here all opposite sides and opposite angles are equal. The rhom-
bus can therefore be seen as a special case of a parallelogram.
This picture shows a kite (left), a convex trapezoid (middle), and
a cube (right).
A convex trapezoid is a quadrilateral with at least one pair
of parallel sides. These sides are called the bases. The other two
sides are called lateral sides, or legs.
The square has a three-dimensional equivalent in the cube,
a closed geometric figure bounded by six contiguous square sur-
faces. The rectangle has a three-dimensional equivalent in the
right block, a right-angled parallelepiped. This is limited by six
pairs of parallel surfaces. The cube can be considered as a special
case of a right block.
Polyhedron is a general term for all closed, geometric, spa-
tial bodies bounded by flat surfaces. This includes all pyramids,
prisms and parallelepipeds.
The golden rectangle
Since the time of the ancient Egyptians and the time of the Greek
mathematicians Pythagoras, and later Euclid there has been an
enduring belief that the world is created om mathematical prin-
ciples, and that geometry is one of the most powerful manifesta-
tions of this (Fontana, 2010).
In fine art classical formats are based on the divine propor-
tion, or the principle of the golden ratio. The divine proportion
is an irrational number that is calculated from a line that is

36
divided into two segments in a certain way. The ratio of a line
(a+b) to the larger segment (a) is the same as the larger segment
(a) is to the shorter segment (b). Thus, (a+b)/a = a/b (Livio,
2002, p. 3).
According to the Divine Proportion (a+b) is to a, as a is to b.
This mathematical relationship forms an irrational number,
i.e. a number that never ends. Around 300 B.C. Euclid of Alexan-
dria, in Egypt, provided the first mathematical definition of the
golden ratio (Livio, 2002, p. 3). (Calculated with ten decimals
the golden quota is 1.6180339887.) In the early 20th century the
American mathematician Mark Barr named this irrational num-
ber “phi” in honour of the Greek Sculptor Phidias (Livio, 2002,
p. 5). Historians believe that Phidias lived circa 490–430 B.C.
The principle of the golden ratio is comparable to the well-
known Fibonacci numbers: 0–1–1–2–3–5–8–13–21–34–55–
89, and so forth. In this sequence any term after the first two is
the sum of the previous two terms. This property is a close ap-
proximation of the golden quota (8/5 = 1.6). A golden rectangle
therefore has sides of approximately the same proportions, 8/5.
Any such rectangle is enlarged in size by being multiplied by 1.62
and reduced in size by being multiplied by 0.62.
Traditionally, the golden rectangle has been considered aes-
thetic in the western world (Arnheim, 1974; Bringhurst, 2015;
Pettersson, 2002; Pettersson and Strand, 2006). For 2,500 years
the principle of the golden ratio has been used in art and archi-
tecture to create harmonious proportions. The golden ratio is a
well-known standard format for fine art, flags, graphic design,
symbols and more. During the nineteenth century the golden ra-
tio was much used in painting academies.

37
When we divide a golden rectangle (left) according to the golden
ratio by defining a square (middle, blue part), the rest of the
original rectangle (yellow part) gets the proportions of the
golden ratio. We can repeat this process (right) and get another
rectangle (yellow) with the proportions of the golden ratio. In
theory we can repeat this process forever. However, in reality
there are always physical limits to do this.
According to Thapa and Thapa (2018, p. 189) “an artist
searches for the Truth in the Beauty, and a scientist searches for
the Beauty in the Truth”. We can find examples of divine propor-
tion in aesthetics, architecture, fauna, flora, geometry, human
body, mathematics, music, nature, poetry and visual arts.
Squares and buildings
Squares and other rectangular shapes are unusual in nature, but
they are common already in our early architectural and cultural
history. A right block with a prism as a roof is the basic form for
many of the houses we still build today.
Rectangles and squares are the most common, familiar
shapes we encounter in a modern society. With their straight
lines and right angles rectangles lend a sense of formality and
stability. People feel that rectangles are dependable and “safe.”
Rectangles have a visual solidness, commonly associated with
the material world.
Longhouses
Seven thousand years ago, the whole of Europe was covered with
forests. The farmers built their “longhouses” according to the
post and beam method. These houses look like very long straight

38
blocks with prism-shaped roofs. The roofs must be designed so
that rain and melting snow easily run off and the houses do not
rot. This construction method dominated throughout Europe for
more than a thousand years (Fagg and Sington, 1981).
The picture shows a reconstructed longhouse from the Late
Bronze Age at Vitlycke museum in Bohuslän, Sweden.
Cottages for soldiers
From the 1680s, a state organization in Sweden was responsible
for a new system to provide the country with constant immediate
access to infantry soldiers on standby, if they should be needed
(Villstrand, 2011).
Every parish in the country were divided into so called
“rotar” (roots). One “rote” (root) usually consisted of two to five
farms, with a joint responsibility for one soldier. This group of
farmers would ensure that the soldier received an annual salary,
and was allowed to live in a small cottage, a so called “soldier’s
croft.” The soldier should be able to support himself and his fam-
ily as a crofter. He had access to a small field to cultivate, and a
meadow for hay. The system worked during the period 1682–
1901, 219 years.
There were 35,000–40,000 soldier’s crofts in Sweden,
mainly intended for divided soldiers and their families. In all
there were perhaps 200,000–250,000 people living in these, sol-
dier’s crofts at any year.

39
These two pictures show a typical “soldier’s croft” from the be-
ginning of the 19th century. Now the croft is at Skansen, an open
air-museum in Stockholm. In the picture to the left, you can
glimpse the cattle house that is located a bit behind the home.
All soldiers in the country should receive equivalent hous-
ing. According to a detailed specification by the army the foun-
dation for the cottage was 8 x 4 meter. The long side walls were
made of seven layers of timber. The height of the cottage was
about two meters. The roof was covered with turf. Later many
cottages were expanded and improved.
The cattle house would have the same dimensions, with
space for a barn, some storage space, a cow, a calf, a pig or some
sheep, and some chickens. In addition, there was a shed with an
outhouse, a place for storage of firewood, and a well.
When a divided soldier left his service, he, and also his fam-
ily, had to move out of the soldier’s croft as soon as possible to
make room for a new soldier. Usually the new soldier had to
change his last name to the same as the previous soldier.
In times of war, it was not always easy to get new soldiers
fast enough. When a soldier died, at home in peacetime or out on
military service, his family became homeless at a very short no-
tice.
For officers, similar, but of course better, arrangements
were arranged. The size of both the housing and other benefits
was directly related to the holder’s military degree.

40
The Prairie Style
The American architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) is con-
sidered one of the foremost architects of the 20th century. He
first trained as a civil engineer and then learned the architectural
profession by practicing. Frank Lloyd Wright is best known for
his special villa architecture in so-called Prairie Style with elon-
gated floor plans, free space connections, sensual material effect
and strong direct connection to nature. Sparke (1998) believes
that Frank Lloyd Wright wanted to create something he called
“organic architecture” with buildings that seemed to grow natu-
rally out of the landscape. When designing furniture and furnish-
ings for his houses, Frank Lloyd Wright put aesthetic considera-
tions before convenience and usefulness.
Use of squares as symbols
Regular, simple, geometrical figures are identified more quickly
than complex ones. Symbols must be meaningful, legible, learn-
able, memorable and used consistently. Distinctively shaped let-
ters are often utilized in modern symbols. It suggests horizontal
and vertical directions. The size of an individual area is always
relative. It depends on our knowledge of its surroundings. A
square is an example of a static area. A rectangle is perceived as
more active.
With its right angles and its equally long sides, the square
has a kind of perfection. It is static and stable. As a common ge-
ometric symbol, the square is associated with the earthly and the
limiting. The square stands for the land, the fields and the ele-
ment earth. On a map, a filled square may stand for “a farm-
house, a house or another building.” On modern devices, such as
a video camera or a video player, an unfilled square refers to
“stop.” There are several variations of symbols based on squares
and rhombuses.
According to Lyle (1990), we perceive square tables as mas-
culine and formal. Such a table suggests that a “closed group”
should sit here, a group that does not want any interference at all

41
from the outside. A rectangular or an oval table can be used to
strengthen authority. The person sitting at the “high seat” (one
short side) gets the most power–even if everyone in the group
was equal when they sat down. The four sides of the square are a
reminiscent of the latitudes and also of the four elements.
Like the circle and the equilateral triangle, the square stands
for perfection. A square with an inscribed square, stands for the
concept of “hold and close.” In cartography, this sign sometimes
stands for a fortress. The sign is also used to mark electrical
equipment that can use both earthed and unearthed connectors.
In art the square and the rectangle represent the static and sta-
ble existence on earth (Cooper, 1978).
The rhombus stands for the “female creative principle” and
it is a symbol of life for fertility goddesses. In a deck of cards, the
diamonds suit are associated with courage and power. In mete-
orology, a rhombus can mean clear air. Sometimes this symbol
stands for an individual of unknown gender. A rhombus in-
scribed in a square is a medieval symbol of the four elements.
Some road signs
This section includes road signs based on rectangles and squares
in different colours: Signs giving information, and Additional
panels.
Signs giving information
Signs in this group tells us what applies to a certain place, a cer-
tain road, or a certain stretch of a road. Where directions are
posted, special traffic rules that we must follow usually apply.
Unless otherwise stated the instructions apply from the place
where the road sign is located to an end mark.

42
This picture includes four examples of road signs in the group
“Signs giving information”: Motorway (left), End of motorway
(middle left), Expressway (middle right), and End of express-
way (right).
A large group of road signs provide information about how,
and where we can find something. Sub-groups include road signs
for directions to certain places, road signs for information, road
signs about service facilities, and road signs about tourist attrac-
tions. Some location marks have symbols that show that the in-
formation applies to a certain type of vehicle.
This picture includes three examples of road signs in the group
“Signs giving information”: First aid (left), Restaurant (mid-
dle), and A place for bathing (right).
Additional panels
Many road signs need additional information. In these cases,
“additional panels” provide instructions such as a distance to a
place, or a certain time.

43
This picture includes three examples of Additional panels: Road
number sign European highway (left), Airfield straight ahead
(middle), and Direction sign exit sign (right).
Triangles
In nature, we find triangle-like shapes in many places, both large
and small. Examples are the deltas developed by the great rivers,
silhouettes of certain trees, some flowers and leaves. Several
trees have a pyramid- or cone-shaped crown. A tree trunk is a tall
cone. From our early architectural and cultural history, the great
Egyptian pyramids are well known, as well as much smaller and
much more common cone-shaped burial mounds.
This main section includes the following sections: The anat-
omy of the triangle, Triangles and buildings, Use of triangles as
symbols, and Some more road signs.
The anatomy of the triangle
In Euclidean geometry any triangle has three edges and three
vertices. The triangle is a polygon. Every triangle is contained in
a plane. At the same time there is only one plane that contains a
specific triangle. There are different types of triangles.
Sides of the triangles
. In all scalene triangles all sides and all angles are different. In
all isosceles triangles two sides and two angles are the same. In
all equilateral triangles all three sides and three angles are the
same. Here all angles are always 60°. Equilateral triangles are
regular polygons. Here all angles always measure 60°. In pictures
of triangles equal angles may be marked with equal patterns, and
similarly equal sides may be marked with equal marks.

44
This picture shows a scalene triangle (left), an isosceles triangle
(middle), and an equilateral triangle (right).
Internal angles
We can also classify triangles in three groups according to their
internal angles, measured in degrees. The sum of all three inter-
nal angles is always 180°.
In all right triangles, or right-angled triangles, one interior
angle measure 90°, which is a “right angle.” The opposite side is
the longest side of the triangle. It is called the hypotenuse. The
other two shorter sides are called catheti, or legs. According to
the Pythagorean theorem: the sum of the squares of the lengths
of the two legs is equal to the square of the length of the hypote-
nuse (a2 + b2 = c2).
This picture shows a right triangle (left), an acute triangle (mid-
dle), and an obtuse triangle (right).
All triangles without an angle measuring 90° are called
oblique triangles. There are two kinds of oblique triangles. In an
oblique acute triangle, also called acute-angled triangle, all in-
terior angles measure something less than 90°. In an oblique ab-
tuse triangle, also called obtuse-angled triangle, one interior an-
gle measures something more than 90°.

45
As previously noted isosceles triangles have two angles with
the same measure, and two sides with the same length. Equilat-
eral triangles have three angles with the same measure, and
three sides with the same length.
Triangles in three dimensions
A straight line that pass a fixed point, and follows a base surface
generates a cone, a geometric body with a pointed top. In a
straight circular cone, the base is a circle and the longitudinal
section through the cone is an isosceles triangle. Here the height
goes from the tip of the cone to the centre of the circular base. In
an oblique circular cone, the longitudinal section is not an isos-
celes triangle. Here, the height can fall outside of the base sur-
face. The base surface of a cone can have different shapes. It is
often a circle or an oval, but it can also be an irregular shape. A
truncated cone is the part of a cone that lies between two planes.
The smallest volume that can be formed based on a triangle
is a pyramid, where all sides are triangles. The pyramid can have
more than three sides in the base surface, but always has trian-
gular sides that meet at a point.
If we expand a triangle straight up, a virtual volume corre-
sponding to a prism is created. A prism is an elongated geometric
body with parallel, congruent base surfaces and flat side surfaces
in the form of parallelograms.
This picture shows a cone (left), a pyramid (middle), and a
prism (right).

46
Triangles and buildings
Since the shape of rectangles is easy to organize it has been the
most common geometric form for buildings. However, a rectan-
gle can collapse into a parallelogram from pressure to one of its
points. But triangles provide a great deal of natural strength, and
supports structures against lateral pressures. Each of the three
sides supports the other two.
Nowadays some architects design creative and strong new
buildings. In New York City, Broadway crosses major avenues at
an angle, and the blocks are cut like triangles. Here, many build-
ings are shaped like triangular prisms. The Flatiron Building is a
landmark icon. Triangle shapes have appeared in churches as
well as public buildings.
Pyramids in Egypt
There are mora than now hundred ancient pyramid-shaped
buildings in Egypt. Most were built as tombs for the country's
pharaohs during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods. Lehner
(2008) describes the pyramids across their 3,000-year history.
He explains the mythology and the many rituals. The pyramids
were an integral part of the Egyptian state.
The oldest of the Egyptian pyramids were built at Saqqara,
30 km south of Cairo. Saqqara contains numerous pyramids, in-
cluding the world-famous Step pyramid of Djoser. It was built c.
2630–2610 BCE during the Third Dynasty (2647–2573 BCE).
This pyramid is generally considered to be the world's oldest
monumental structure constructed of dressed masonry. Saqqare
remained an important complex for non-royal burials and cult
ceremonies for more than 3,000 years.
The most famous of the Egyptian pyramids are found at the
Giza Pyramid Complex, close to Cairo. The Giza pyramid com-
plex consists of the Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the
Pyramid of Cheops, or Khufu and constructed about 2580–2560
BCE). Some of these pyramids belong to the largest structures
ever built. The pyramid of Khufu is the only one of the so called

47
“Seven Wonders of the Ancient World” that still exist. All these
pyramids were built during the Fourth Dynasty (2573–2454
BCE) of the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt. The Great Pyramid
of Giza (base 230 meter, height 147 meter) and the Pyramid of
Khafre (base 215,5 meter, height 136,4 meter) are the largest pyr-
amids built in ancient Egypt.
The pyramids of Giza and others are thought to have been
constructed to house the remains of the deceased pharaohs who
ruled over Ancient Egypt (Malek, 2003). In building the pyra-
mids, the architects might have developed their techniques over
time. They would select a site on a relatively flat area of bedrock—
not sand—which provided a stable foundation. After carefully
surveying the site and laying down the first level of stones, they
constructed the pyramids in horizontal levels, one on top of the
other.
Chichén Itza
Since 1988 Chichén Itza is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. The
Maya name “Chichen Itza” means “At the mouth of the well of
the Itza” (Boot 2005, p. 37). Itzá is the name of a group of Maya
from Guatemala.
Chichen Itza was one of the largest Maya cities, covering an
area of at least five square kilometres. The city may have had the
most diverse population in the Maya world, a factor that could
have contributed to the variety of architectural styles at the site
(Miller, 1999, p. 26).
This ancient city was already founded 445. The city covers
an area of approximately six square kilometers. It was the reli-
gious and political center for the whole Mayan culture during the
second height, from the A.D. 600’s to the 900’s, (Harrell, 1994).
Chichén Itza became a strong central machinery of power on the
Yucatán peninsula.
On top of the big pyramid in Chichén Itza is a temple built
on a square platform. (The heaven was a square.) The temple, El
Castillo, (the castle) was completed about 830 A.D. for the god

48
Kukulcan. Actually, the pyramid is a huge calendar, rising 21 me-
ters above the jungle floor (Coe et al., 1986). The view from the
sacred square platform is magnificent. We can see that the origi-
nal city stretched for miles in all directions out to the jungle.
The pyramid is built in nine square terraces or levels, one
for each month in the Mayan calendar, also indicating the nine
heavens; 54 indented squares, one for each week; and 365 steps,
one for each day of the year. Each side of the pyramid has a steep
staircase with 91 steps. All the steps and the square platform
makes 365. At the bottom of the staircase at the northern side of
the pyramid, there are two snake heads in stone, which represent
Kukulcan (García-Salgado, 2010).
At El Castillo “the feathered serpent,” Kukulcan, appears to
move from his temple at the top of the pyramid and down to the
ground.
The sun travels 182 days to the north and returns 182 days
to the south again every Mayan Earth year. This is the season or
cycle of the solstices. At the midpoint of this season/cycle is an-
other cycle of the east and the west called the Equinoxes. On the
Equinox, the sun crosses at a center point of all four seasons
making exact 90 degrees angles directly on top of the pyramid of
Kukulcan. At the vernal Equinox (March 21) and at the autumnal
Equinox (September 21) up to 40,000 people gather on the

49
ground in front of the pyramid. They want to experience a re-
markable phenomenon, a “story” produced by light and shadow
on the pyramid. These days the light from the dying sun casts
shadows from the terraces in such a way that an illuminated im-
age of a snake appears on the northern staircase. During the
hours before sunset “the feathered serpent” appears to move,
slither and wriggle from his temple at the top of the pyramid and
down to the ground. To the Mayans, this represented their god
coming down to reward his loyal followers and to ensure a good
harvest.
It is the mathematical exact precision with attention to solar
astronomy and geometry in the construction of the huge calendar
pyramid, and the play of light and shadow which produces a
“movie” twice a year. The continuous images are formed by seven
illuminated triangles on the dark stones of the staircase. To the
Mayans these seven triangles represent the awakening of seven
centers of the physical human body and this illustrates their con-
nection with the group of stars called the Plejades (Yaxk’in,
1995). This may, in fact, be the oldest “movie” in the world, seen
by many thousands of people throughout the centuries. In my
view these images of the feathered serpent can be called the sa-
cred triangles of the Mayas. No doubt the Mayan culture was far
ahead of its time.
In a sacred prophesy in the year 1475, before the arrival of
the Spanish invadors, “The Supreme Maya Council” revealed that
the following two cycles of 260 years should be a decline of the
culture and for the worship of the sun god (Yaxk’in, 1994, 1995).
There should be a “dark period” for humanity. 520 years later
humanity should leave a “time of belief” and look forward to the
beginning of prosperous times for the next 260 years, with a new
interest in worship of the sun. In the spring of 1995, humanity
was reawakenes into the “Age of Knowledge.”
Excavations in the mid-1930s found another temple buried
inside of El Castillo. Inside the temple chamber was a Chaac

50
Mool statue and a throne in the shape of Jaguar (Sharer and
Traxler 2006, p. 565).
Circles, triangles and squares were important for the Ma-
yans, and they were probably also important in many other pre-
historic cultures.
Triangles in modern buildings
Since the shape of rectangles is easy to organize it has been the
most common geometric form for buildings. However, a rectan-
gle can collapse into a parallelogram from pressure to one of its
points. But triangles provide a great deal of natural strength, and
also supports structures against lateral pressures. Each of the
three sides supports the other two. Some architects design crea-
tive and strong new buildings.
In New York City, Broadway crosses major avenues at an an-
gle, and the blocks are cut like triangles. Here, many buildings
are shaped like triangular prisms. The Flatiron Building is a land-
mark icon. Triangle shapes have appeared in churches as well as
public buildings.
Use of triangles as symbols
The equilateral triangle is younger than the circle, but older than
the square. Like the circle and the square, the equilateral triangle
stands for perfection. The equilateral triangle is dominated by
the sacred, the divine trinity. From the tensions between the op-
posites, the new, the third, is created. The triangle stands for
heaven, earth and man, but also for father, mother and child. The
upward equilateral triangle is a sun symbol and then stands for
life, fire, flame and heat, but also for love, truth and wisdom.
The equilateral triangle is also a symbol of power and thus
also of danger, but at the same time also of prosperity, health and
fire. In traffic, the equilateral triangle is generally is a warning for
danger. A pictogram shows us what the danger is. All cars must
be equipped with reflective warning triangles that can be placed
in front of and behind a crashed car if necessary.

51
A large number of symbols are based on triangles, including
a number of stars. The equilateral triangle is static and stable
when resting on one side. In Christianity the equilateral triangle
symbolizes the Holy Trinity, with the equality of Father, Son and
Holy Spirit. The five-pointed star, the pentagram, is a symbol is
a symbol of regeneration and renewal.
When a triangle has one point downwards, the position is
unstable. This triangle is a symbol of the moon. The meaning is
often more negatively charged. In traffic, the downward-facing
equilateral triangle refers to “give way.” Another meaning is rain
and water.
An upward, isosceles triangle with a vertical line was an ide-
ogram for the king. It signifies royal splendour, and is red. Here
the vertical line that stands for unity and authority is united with
power and divinity.
Already in prehistoric times, a downward, isosceles triangle
with a vertical line referred to a woman and the female. An equi-
lateral triangle inscribed in a circle symbolizes the surface of the
figures held in the circle of eternity. When the triangle has the tip
down, it is used on some office machines with the meaning
“stop.”
Some more road signs
This section includes road signs that are mainly based on trian-
gles: Warning signs, and Priority signs.
Warning signs
This group of road signs is rather large. The many warning signs
are triangular and they have red borders. In Sweden warning
signs have yellow backgrounds. This is a contrast with most other
countries that use white backgrounds. When there is a warning
sign you need to be extra careful.
Furthermore, there are far more warning signs for animals
in Sweden than in most European countries. Alongside roads, es-
pecially in the northern part of Sweden you can expect warning

52
signs for cows, horses, moose, reindeer, and sheep. In the south
you may see warning signs for deer and wild boar. Some warning
signs concern children. The pictograms are designed so it shall
be possible to understand the “warning.”
This picture includes three examples of Warning signs: Slippery
road (left), Roadworks (middle), and Moose (right).
Priority signs
In this very small group we find road signs that are very im-
portant. These road signs tell us when we have to give way, and
when we have to stop before we enter another road. The interna-
tional “Stop sign” is the only road sign in Sweden with the text in
English. Other road signs tell us when we have priority for on-
coming vehicles, priority over oncoming vehicles, and when a
priority road starts, and when it ends.
This picture includes three examples of Priority signs: Give way
(left), Stop (middle), and Priority road (right).
The pedestrian information sign
In one study Pettersson (2000) compared 52 different pedes-
trian warning and information crossing road signs from 32

53
different countries. Every situation and every context demand a
consistent use of symbols, an explanation of the symbols used,
and learning of the meaning of those symbols. Well-designed
symbols can be used, and can work in different cultures, in dif-
ferent parts of the world.
The warning sign for a pedestrian crossing convey simple,
but important messages to the motorists: “Look out and slow
down, pedestrians are told to cross the street here.” Pedestrian
warning signs, as well as information crossing road signs, wary
in different countries with respect to their colours, shape, size,
and the actual design of the figurative representations. In Swe-
den the pedestrian warning sign is triangular, with red, yellow
and black colours.
In Sweden, this warning sign (left) conveys a warning to the
motorists about a pedestrian crossing. This information sign
(right) tells the pedestrians were to cross the road.
In Sweden the pedestrian information sign is rectangular,
with a white triangle, including a black figurative graphical ele-
ment representing a person, and four graphical elements repre-
senting street lines. The graphical elements are combined to
form a figurative representation of a person crossing the road.
The messages to the pedestrians are: “This is the place where you
should cross the street. Be careful, you need to see that there is
no traffic.” In several locations this information sign is combined
with or replaced by traffic lights. Traffic lights convey more dis-
tinct and “sharp” instructions to motorists as well as to

54
pedestrians than pedestrian crossing warning and information
road signs. Here the instructions may be expressed as: Drive
now! Do not drive! Walk now! Do not walk! The design of traffic
lights may vary substantially. However, design of traffic lights is
not included in this study, and not the sign explaining that chil-
dren may be playing alongside the road as well as on the road.

55
Drawings and prints
In Europe, printers have used woodcuts since the 1300s. From
about 1250 Biblia Pauperum consisted of a collection of about 50
colourful hand-painted loose pages. The oldest coloured woodcut
is from 1423. It was hand painted in a few colours (Janzin and
Günter, 1997, p. 104). It is very hard to cut a text text in small
fonts on a plate of wood. The block book contained text that was
written by hand but had printed images, coloured by hand.
In woodcut the image is cut in a plate of wood, a wood block,
which transfers the printing ink to the paper. Traditionally artists
designed the images for the woodcuts. Then specialist craftsmen,
block-cutters, carved the images into the surface off blocks of
wood. Usually lines in the picture were crude and rough. All areas
to show white areas on the printed page are cut away. All parts to
show black areas on the printed page are left untouched. In the
printing process these parts are covered with ink, that is trans-
ferred to parchment, vellum or paper.
In copperplate engraving an engraver cuts ditches into the
surface of a plate of copper. Later the copperplate transfers the
printing ink to a paper. The line is very distinct, and it ends in a
fine point. The oldest copy of a copperplate engraving was
printed 1446, but it is supposed that the technology existed al-
ready a hundred years earlier.
The German pioneer in illustrative drawings Albrecht Dürer
(1471–1528) revolutionized printmaking and made it an inde-
pendent art form during the German Renaissance. His woodcuts
and his copperplate engravings were distributed all over Europe.
The Swedish director-general of fortifications Erik Dahl-
bergh (1625–1703) produced an impressive collection of topo-
graphical posters depicting castles, fortifications, manors and
settlements in Sweden. This is an impressive collection of more
than 350 engravings, used for propaganda.
This chapter includes the following main sections: Biblia
Pauperum, Albrecht Dürer, and Erik Dahlbergh.

56
Biblia Pauperum
From about 1250 Biblia Pauperum consisted of a collection of
about 50 colourful hand-painted loose pages (Cornell, 1925).
These sheets were laboriously copied in many varieties. Of
course, there were big differences between originals and copies,
between the old copies and the new copies. Biblia Pauperum was
often called the “bible of the poor.” However, these manuscripts
were very expensive and not intended to be bought by “econom-
ically poor” people, but maybe by people that were “poor in
spirit” (Cornell and Wallin, 1972, p. 23).
The purpose of Biblia Pauperum was to recount the teach-
ings of the Bible to the illiterate, who were at that time in the clear
majority among the inhabitants in most countries. Words spoken
by the figures in the pictures could be written on scrolls coming
out of their mouths. This is parallel with modern cartoon strips.
Printed images invariably included some form of captions
or texts. When the moveable type was introduced during the 15th
century, it became possible to produce books in larger quantities.
This was the beginning of a “cultural revolution.” A dramatic
growth in the quantity and quality of books and other printed
learning materials like maps followed. Informative drawings de-
veloped.
In the 1460s printed copies of Biblia Pauperum, from Ger-
many, were produced (Banning, 1984, 1991; Henry, 1987). Here
both images and texts were cut entirely in one single wood block
for each page. The text-face was about 25 x 18 cm. The wood
block transfers the printing ink to the paper. It is difficult to pro-
duce text in small fonts on a plate of wood and it is not possible
to use thin lines in pictures. Usually all lines are quite rough.
However, woodcuts became very important when the art of print-
ing developed and expanded. Such 40-page block-book versions
of Biblia Pauperum were far cheaper than all the previous illu-
minated manuscripts.
In an “illustrated Bible” the pictures are subordinated to the
text. However, the Biblia Pauperum placed the illustrations in

57
the centre, usually with brief and explanatory texts. According to
medieval belief in typology each page had a central picture of an
event from the Gospels accompanied by two pictures of events
from the Old Testament.
According to medieval belief in typology each page had a
central picture of an event from the Gospels accompanied by two
slightly smaller pictures of events from the Old Testament. Above
these two pictures there are descriptive summaries of the events,
often with a reference to the correct place in the Bible. Just below
each picture there is a short caption. Words spoken by the figures
in the pictures could be written on scrolls coming out of their
mouths. This is parallel with modern cartoon strips. Texts were
usually in the local vernacular language, rather than in Latin.
Today the term “Poor Man’s Bible” describes works of art
within churches and cathedrals that either individually or collec-
tively have been created to illustrate the teachings of the Bible for
a largely illiterate population. These artworks may take the form
of carvings, paintings, mosaics, or stained-glass windows. Like
these artworks the murals made by Albertus Pictor, and the
members of his workshop, provide free entertainment and in-
struction to all who enter the doors of the churches. We can only
speculate, but during 500 years there must be many thousand
visitors to churches with narrative murals. There are certainly
many visitors today.

58
Each page in a printed version of Biblia Pauperum carries 17 el-
ements: five pictures, eleven texts and a page number. The cen-
tral picture (10) shows a scene from the New Testament. On
each side is a prediction from the Old Testament (9 and 11). The
text in the upper left corner (1) explains the link between 10 and
9, and the text in the upper right corner (3) explains the link be-
tween 10 and 11. In the upper part of the page is a picture with
two Old Testament authors (2) giving their Prophecies (6 and
8). Their names are noted under the picture (4 and 5). Each of
the three scenes (9, 10 and 11) has a caption (12, 14 and 16).
There are two Old Testament authors (13) in the lower part of
the page with their Prophecies (15 and 17). The remaining ele-
ment is the page number (7). The pictures (2, 9, 10, 11, and 13)
form a cross. My own drawing.

59
This is a page in a printed and hand-painted copy of Biblia Pau-
perum from the 1460s, here much reduced in size. Here the
theme is “Resurrection.” Most copies were probably not painted.
Picture: Wikimedia commons.

60
Albrecht Dürer
In Germany Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) was one of the greatest
and most versatile artists of all time. He was a painter, print-
maker, and an art theorist of the German Renaissance (Bartrum,
2002; Luber, 2005; Price, 2003). Albrecht Dürer communicated
with the major Italian artists of his time, including Raphael and
Leonardo da Vinci.
Albrecht Dürer revolutionized printmaking and made it an
independent art form. His production includes 1,200 drawings
and watercolours, about 70 oil paintings, 340 woodcuts, 65 cop-
per engravings, and six etchings, as well as some writings.
Many art-historians regard Dürer as the greatest artist of
the Northern Renaissance. He made altarpieces and religious
works, a large number of drawings, copper engravings and wood-
cuts, portraits, and a number of self-portraits. His theoretical
work involved mathematics, perspective, and proportions. The
book Four Books on Human Proportion (1528) was published
after his death. Previously, he had published works on applied
geometry, and perspective theory. Albrecht Dürer belongs to the
few artists who became famous and esteemed already during his
own lifetime.
This main section includes the following sections: A period
of transition, Realistic sharpness, and Revolutionary graphics.
A period of transition
After a few years at school Albrecht started to learn the basics of
drawing and goldsmithing from his father. Since Albrecht
showed a special talent in drawing, he started as an apprentice
with Michael Wolgemut in 1486. At that time, Wolgemut was the
leading artist in Nuremberg. His large workshop produced works
of art, in particular woodcuts for books. Albrecht may have
worked on some of the many woodcut illustrations for Liber
Chronicarum (see the chapter Readymades in books).
When Albrecht had completed his apprenticeship in 1490,
he followed the German custom of visiting and working with

61
other masters, in other places on an “apprentice tour.” Back in
Nuremberg in 1494 he set up his own workshop. He got married,
but he soon travelled to Northern Italy.
Albrecht Dürer returned to Northern Italy and Venice dur-
ing 1505–1507. He was influenced by the engravings of Andrea
Mantegna (c 1431–1506), and by the paintings of his brother-in-
law Giovanni Bellini (c 1430–1516). Bellini had revolutionized
Venetian painting. He painted detailed shadings with slow-dry-
ing oil paints.
After his study trips in Italy, Albrecht Dürer was a major
force in the transmission of Italian Renaissance ideas to northern
Europe (Smith, 1996). He subsequently influenced both north-
ern and southern artists through dissemination of his own prints.
The countries north of the Alps developed an independent
style. Alongside Italy, the Flanders region in Belgium became Eu-
rope’s second cultural centre.
Albrecht Dürer lived in a period of transition between the
Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The Reformation brought
about great changes for all people.
Realistic sharpness
Prior to working on his oil paintings, Dürer made detailed draw-
ings, gouaches, and watercolours, with realistic sharpness. Dürer
pioneered a new watercolour technique. His small images with
animals, landscape views, and plants are considered among the
foremost in watercolour painting. These have often been used,
and reused in many books, and also in other contexts.
Dürer’s famous Hare (1502) is a watercolour and gouache,
heightened with opaque white on paper. The size is 25 x 22.5 cm.
This picture is based on a direct observation from nature. It is
one of the most convincing studies of animals during the Renais-
sance (Masters, 2008, p. 222). Dürer has shown the pose, and
the tension of the body of a frightened, living animal with arrest-
ing accuracy. His watercolours made Albrecht Dürer one of the
first European landscape artists.

62
Albrecht Dürer, Hare, watercolour and gouache 1502. The size
of the original is 25 x 22.5 cm. Picture: Wikimedia Commons.
Albrecht Dürer was one of the first artists to paint self-por-
traits. The first self-portrait, 1493, shows him with a clearly med-
itative attitude. This portrait has a text in which Dürer expresses
his great conviction that his course in life will be guided by prov-
idence. Also, in several other paintings and in graphic magazines,
Dürer complements his images with integrated texts that deepen
the interpretation and understanding of the combined and total
message. His many self-portraits are deeply personal.

63
Revolutionary graphics
More than anything else Albrecht Dürer owed his fame to his
woodcuts and copper engravings (Smith, 1996). His prints are
delineated in clear, fine detail, and marked by expressive sculp-
tural figures. Dürer brought the practice of woodcut into a new
design language, which was able to express his most subtle image
ideas and imaginative content in black and white. He increased
the status of separately sold single-leaf woodcut prints.
The first major series of woodcuts, the Apocalypse, was
published in book form (1498). The series includes 15 folio
sheets, all with both German and Latin text on the reverse. These
woodcuts are intended for a wide audience. They tell how Dürer
perceives John’s visions in the Book of Revelation. The best
known of these prints may be St. Michael Fighting the Dragon,
and The four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The Apocalypse series
are more Gothic than the rest of his work. These ambitious wood-
cuts showed a new potential of this printing technology.
Over the course of history, informative images have had a
“natural credibility” because they usually resemble what they de-
pict. An interesting example is a woodcut of an Indian rhinoc-
eros, made by Albrecht Dürer in 1515. This 23.5 x 29.6 cm picture
of a “mysterious animal” has been copied many times. It has been
used, and reused by many artists. The image served as a model
for new images of the species Indian rhinoceros in to the 19th
century. In a book about zoological literature in Sweden zoologist
Björn Dal wrote the following about this picture (1996, p. 72):
Albrecht Dürer’s woodcut of a rhino from 1515 is probably
the most copied animal image to date. It was cut after a de-
tailed description of the first rhino that came to Europe, Dü-
rer himself never saw the animal. Sultan Muzafar II, ruler of
Cambodia, donated an Indian rhino to the Portuguese gov-
ernor of Goa, Albuquerque, who passed it on to his king Ma-
nuel. The Rhino happily arrived in Lisbon, where, in order to
investigate Pliny’s data on the hostility between rhinos and

64
elephants, it had to fight a battle with an elephant, which dis-
gracefully withdrew. Manuel then donated the rhino to Pope
Leo X, but it drowned when the ship, on its way to Rome,
sank in a storm off Porte Venere in January 1516. The rhino
floated ashore, and was then transported to Rome.
For centuries people considered this woodcut, about 23.5 x 29.6
cm, from 1515 by Albrecht Dürer to be a true representation of
a living Rhinoceros. Several artists have used this picture as a
model for their own, new images of rhinos into the 19th century.
The text above the picture tells the reader about the animal. Pic-
ture: Wikimedia Commons.

65
After studying several photographs of the Indian rhinoceros, I
drew this simple line drawing in 2013. The drawing shows the
accurate proportions of this big and magnificent animal. An In-
dian rhinoceros may be 12.5 feet (366 cm) long, and 6 feet (183
cm) high. The weight may be 2.2 tons. In the wild, along the
foothills of the Himalayas, the average life span is 40 years.
The Indian rhinoceros is a fascinating and unique animal.
Dürer never actually saw the poor animal itself. Dürer created his
very famous woodcut on the basis of a thorough written descrip-
tion, together with a sketch made by a German merchant in Lis-
bon. Prints of the drawing were exported and used all over Eu-
rope. Albrecht Dürer’s woodcut of a rhinoceros looks more pre-
historic than a live rhinoceros.
For hundreds of years, many people in Europe have formed
their own perceptions of rhinos based on a single image, which
in many respects is incorrect. Dürer’s woodcut served as the only
model for new images of rhinos in to the 19th century. The image
was still used in some German school science text-books as late
as last century (Bartrum, 2002).
At that time, it was not remarkable that Dürer made this
woodcut without having seen a live animal. For hundreds of
years, monks sat in their monasteries and copied manuscripts.
Many of these were the “medical books” of the time. These books
had many pictures of useful plants. With each copy, the new im-
ages became more stylized. This made it increasingly difficult to

66
recognize any important plants. Of course, this could have fatal
consequences in practical life.
In Sweden, the first image of a rhino was published in 1750.
This picture was probably a copy of a copy of a copy of Dürer’s
original woodcut from 1515. It is likely that this type of informa-
tional picture, despite its shortcomings, has had some form of
“natural credibility” for hundreds of years.
Albrecht Dürer also experimented with etchings, and he
made six.
Albrecht Dürer “Les
trois génies” original
etching, 11,4 x 7 cm,
made between 1503
and 1507.
Picture: Wikimedia.

67
Erik Dahlbergh
As a reward for a remarkable military career Erik Jönsson (1625–
1703) rose to the level of titled nobility in Sweden, and he
changed his name to Erik Dahlbergh. He had studied architec-
ture, cartography, drawing, engineering, fortification, geometry,
mathematics and perspectives. Erik Jönsson became a skilled
draughtsman and graphic artist. He saw a great potential for a
military career.
This main section includes the following sections: A mili-
tary cartographer, Visual propaganda, and Staffage.
A military cartographer
Erik Jönsson participated as a fortifications officer in several
wars. He was charged to plan and construct several front-line for-
tifications. Erik Jönsson/Dahlbergh came to serve three Swedish
kings during a very difficult time in Europe, with great misery for
the population in many countries.
For a long time, Erik Jönsson/Dahlbergh was the foremost
military cartographer, and graphic artist in Sweden (Villstrand,
2011, p. 101). Small-scale topographic maps gave good overviews
of an area. They were used when planning how to move troops,
how to supply them with all their necessities, and when planning
their winter quarters. Maps in larger scales were necessary for
major war events. Good city maps facilitated all attempts to oc-
cupy new settlements, and new towns. All these maps were used,
reused, and reused again several times.
Because Sweden had been a “great power” in the 17th cen-
tury, the country was indebted and totally depleted. Both the no-
bility and the crown were in the hands of rich financiers. In this
situation, many in the leading groups felt a great need for a
grand, national monumental work. This grand and large book
should showcase Sweden’s former government, its ancient me-
morials and, above all, its new monuments, even those that were
not yet finished (Bedoire, 2001, p. 149).

68
Through magnificent engravings in a richly illustrated topo-
graphical collection, the leading groups in the German empire, in
France, and in the Netherlands, would understand that Sweden
was a cultural country of rank, built with modern, magnificent
palaces and big prosperous cities (Snickare, 2011, p. 80).
The oldest copy of a copperplate engraving was printed
1446, but it is supposed that the technology had existed already
a hundred years earlier. Copperplate engravings were first used
for book production in 1476. During the 17th century copperplate
engraving became the most important method for production of
pictures in books. The line is very distinct and it ends in a fine
point. Copperplate engravings remained the main method until
mid 1800’s.
Making copper plate engravings was a complicated, costly,
laborious, and tedious process. First a “pencil field sketch” drawn
on site is refined, sometimes combined with some other sketches.
This “final drawing” was converted to a model or template as
close as possible to the intended final product. The engraver got
this “template” and detailed verbal instructions, such as adding
human figures and plants. Then the engraver transferred a mir-
ror image into the surface of a plate of copper, which later trans-
ferred the printing ink to the paper.
Visual propaganda
On March 28, 1661, Erik Dahlbergh was granted a royal privilege
to create a systematic visual record of Sweden (Dahlbergh, 1963,
1966, 1968, 1970, 2017). In fact, this was a huge project for visual
propaganda.
Erik Dahlbergh worked for more than 40 years with archi-
tectural drawings, building drawings, city plans, design draw-
ings, detailed studies, drawings, maps, perspective sketches, and
overview plans. These about six hundred drawings and nearly
four hundred engravings are the richest image treasure that have
been preserved from Sweden in the past.

69
In this picture the old castle in Stockholm is seen from the west.
The picture was printed 1670–1674, and the printed format is
28 x 34 cm. The engraver was Jean Le Pautre (1618–1682).
Compared with people in the courtyard the building seems
larger than it actually is. Picture: National Library of Sweden,
2019.
At that time, there were hardly any engravers to be found in
Sweden who could engrave and etch large copper plates. Dahl-
bergh travelled to Paris, partly to engrave the copper plates based
on his own draughts of the deeds of Charles X Gustav, and partly
to engrave his own pictures for Sweden past and present. Be-
tween 1667 and 1668 he supervised the work carried out by
French copper plate engravers in Paris. Then the work was inter-
rupted during the war with Denmark. The work in France with
70 engravings was largely completed in 1674.

70
In this picture the old castle in Stockholm is seen from the east.
The picture was printed 1670–1674, and the printed format is
26 x 39 cm. The engraver was Adam Perelle (1640–1695). Pic-
ture: National Library of Sweden, 2019.
In July of 1684, the king Charles XI decreed that the state
would sponsor Erik Dahlberg’s work. From 1684, invited experts
from Holland made all the copper plate engravings in Stockholm.
The extensive national monumental work Suecia antiqua et
hodierna was first published in 1716. It is an impressive collec-
tion of more than 350 engravings based on his original draughts
of sites of contemporary and historical interest (Magnusson,
1986). The engravings depict castles, fortifications, manors, and
settlements from different parts of Sweden. Dahlbergh intended
to divide this work into four volumes. The standard format for
the engravings was 32 x 42 cm.
It seems that Dahlbergh faithfully noted what he actually
saw when he made his original sketches. However, he often en-
chanted and improved things in his models for the engravings
when he felt that it was needed (Magnusson and Nordin, 2015, p.
237). For example, many of the printed images contain buildings

71
that were planned, but actually never built. The documentary
value of the images must be assessed from case to case (Magnus-
son, 1986, p. 13; Magnusson and Nordin, 2015, p. 241). Some-
times the sketches are more credible than the printed engravings.
Staffage
Several of the pictures printed in the Suecia antiqua et hodierna
include so called staffage. Staffage is a denomination for anony-
mous accessory items, like animals, human figures, objects, and
various kinds of patterns that enrich the image, and make it more
interesting, more vivid and more believable.
These figures are often depicted in small side motifs, that
are not the primary subject matter in an image (Magnusson and
Nordin 2015, p. 253). Erik Dahlbergh often gave the engravers
the task of “adding life and movement,” especially in images with
urban motifs. In Dahlberg’s pictures staffage often consist of gar-
deners, groups of soldiers, horses with different wagons, riders,
and shepherds. All staffage figures are anonymous. We often see
them from behind.
Typically, staffage figures are small, even very small. Many
of the staffage figures of people in the previously shown pictures
are between one and two cm in the actual printed sheets. In this
way they provide an indication of scale, and they make us believe
that buildings are larger than they actually are.
These models were available for many engravers in pattern
books. By the 19th century, books with patterns for hundreds of
different staffage figures were published for painters to “cut and
paste” into their own compositions. Some figures may occur in
works by different artists, and also traced to other artists.

72
Here is a close-up from the first of the previous two pictures of
the old castle in Stockholm. There are plenty of staffage human
figures. Dahlberg gave the engravers a lot of freedom to fill in
suitable areas with staffage figures. Picture: National Library
of Sweden, 2019.

73
Here is a close-up from the second of the previous two pictures
of the old castle in Stockholm. There are plenty of staffage fig-
ures. Picture: National Library of Sweden, 2019.

74
Drawings and photos
Photography is the application, art, and practice of creating du-
rable images by recording light. This can be done either chemi-
cally using a light-sensitive material such as a photographic film,
or electronically using an image sensor. Photography is used in
many fields, such as art, business, communication, family life,
film production, hobby, manufacturing, recreation, research, sci-
ence, and video production.
Photographic pictures are often quite realistic records of an
event or object that actually existed, like product photos, por-
traits, situation photos, landscapes. Photography has got a sense
of reality and a genuineness that makes it powerful. Most people
believe their eyes, and when they see photos it appears real to
them. A photograph can look like reality, but it is always a repre-
sentation.
Photography is commonly perceived as “evidence of reality”,
where the necessary, and influential, human involvement is so
easily dismissed (Bock, 2011).
Photographic pictures are often quite realistic records of an
event or object that actually existed, like product photos, por-
traits, situation photos, landscapes. Photography has got a sense
of reality and a genuineness that makes it powerful. Most people
believe their eyes, and when they see photos it appears real to
them. A photograph can look like reality, but it is always a repre-
sentation.
This chapter includes the following main sections: Early
days, Silver grains, Digital images, Classification systems, and
Billions of photos.
Also see the main section Modern textbooks in the next
chapter Books. Most of the pictures that are published in text-
books for schools qualify as “readymades.” These pictures are
very often used in ways never intended by those artists and pho-
tographers who once created them.

75
Early days
In 1825 the French inventor Nicéphore Niépce (1765–1833)
made the first photograph. His technique was called heliog-
raphy. In the 1840s the British inventor William Henry Fox Tal-
bot (1800–1877) made a photomechanical reproduction in Eng-
land. His new technique led to the “photo glyphic engraving pro-
cess”, which in turn led to photogravure. It was a rapid develop-
ment in photography, and many new inventions followed.
According to Trachtenberg (1990) the first known photo-
graphic hoax came as a result of the 1839 meeting of the French
Academy of Sciences. One member of this academy had con-
vinced the French photographer and pioneer Hippolyte Bayard
(1801–1887) that he should not announce his new invention of a
“direct positive paper printing process” at this meeting.
However, at this meeting Louis-Jacques Mandé Daguerre
(1787–1851), was allowed to introduce his “wet plate daguerreo-
type process”. Hippolyte Bayard was outraged of this missed op-
portunity to present his invention. He then released a fake pho-
tograph showing his own apparent suicide (Trachtenberg, 1990).
This staged photograph is the first known photographic hoax.
Hippolyte Bayard used photography to manipulate perception of
reality. Early photographers were widely accused of being char-
latans, of conjuring spirits, and also practicing the dark art of al-
chemy.

76
Silver grains
When a light-sensitive surface on a photographic film in a cam-
era is exposed to light, it changes its chemical composition. The
polygon crystals of silver halogens are reduced to silver. When
the photographic emulsion is later chemically “developed” the
visible image is saved, either as a negative or as a positive image.
The many grains are only a few thousandths of a millimetre in
size, and they differ in shape. Different photographic materials
have different light sensitivity, and also different granularity. To-
day, there are photographic film materials available for many dif-
ferent purposes: from “normal daylight films” to films that are
sensitive to the infrared light, to X-rays, or to other radiations
that are invisible to us. Such special films are mostly used for sci-
ence research.
The resolution of a photographic film may vary from
500,000 to several million grains for each square inch. The the-
oretical upper limit is often put to 800 million grains for a square
inch of film. We can change the focal distance of the image by
changing lenses or by using a lens with changeable area. We can
aim a camera at a subject from many different angles. At a “low
angle” we see the subject from below. We see the subject from
above at a “high angle”. The subject is on the same level as the
camera at a “normal angle”. A telephoto lens includes a small sec-
tion of the subject. A wide-angle lens includes a large section of
the subject.
There are many different formats for still photography with
film cassettes, film discs, miniature film formats, standard 35-
mm film, and several larger film formats. All the individual
grains are irregular and they run into, and partly cover each
other. This is particularly true for photographic colour film
where the light-sensitive grains are formed and bound in differ-
ent layers. The film’s light-sensitive grains cannot really be com-
pared to all the regular pixels that are handled in digital cameras
and in computers.

77
However, it is generally accepted that the granularity of a
slide with the “normal” standard 35-mm colour film corresponds
to a resolution of eight to nine million pixels. The resolution will
increase in films with higher sensibility. A colour slide may have
as many as 54 million pixels. A black-and-white slide may have
18 million pixels.
The size of any projected photograph depends on the size of
the film-frame, the chemical and physical quality of the film, the
distance between the projector and the screen, and the focal dis-
tance of the lens.
Digital images
In work with digital images in computerized image processing
systems, graphic elements can be defined in one of two systems:
either in the form of pixels (small picture elements) defined by
raster coordinates, or points and vectors, defined mathemati-
cally by Cartesian coordinates.
A pixel is a minute area. A pixel image or a bit-mapped im-
age consists of a large number of small pixels or picture ele-
ments. All pixels in an image have the same shape and the same
size. However, they vary with respect to colour. Dots, lines, areas,
and symbols (such as letters) are composed of several pixels.
In some computer systems the pixel is either white (light) or
black (dark). In other systems the pixels can be varied in a grey-
scale and/or in a colour range. The number of colours that can be
reproduced depends on which computer, which operating sys-
tem, which program, and which computer screen is used. Quite
often eight bits of information is used for red, green, and blue
colours, respectively, and eight bits for text and graphical effects.
Each colour can be stored in 256 levels. In total it is possible to
create 16 million nuances in an image. Pixels are always small
compared to the screen. More pixels within a given area provide
better sharpness and more details in the system. Pixels in large
systems can actually be much larger than whole screens in
smaller systems.

78
In an image created with a “paint-program” in a computer with
a low resolution (72 dots per inch) it is possible to see the indi-
vidual pixels. In the enlargement it is easy to see that each
square pixel is either black or white.
When a bit-mapped image is printed the black pixels get the
colour of the print medium (usually black), and the white pixels
get the colour of the paper (usually white). The quality is defined
by the quality of the printer. The better the printer, the better the
technical quality of the picture. The relative distribution of
printed and non-printed pixels builds the image. The more pix-
els, the better the resolution. Normally the resolution is not at all
“good enough” to create a suitable picture. This is especially true
if we need to change the scale of a picture. Apart from lines in
vertical and horizontal positions, all other lines get a rugged ap-
pearance. The image quality is the same when printed with a la-
ser printer or with an advanced phototypesetter.
Bit-mapped graphics can be modified, stretched, condensed,
inverted, rotated, and outlined. Paint-programs are effective
multi-purpose drawing tools.
A vector image, or an object-oriented image, is based on
mathematical functions and it is composed of lines and closed

79
polygons. A coordinate system holds all the information on
where circles, lines, rectangles, squares, and other shapes start
and where they stop. Shapes can be filled with various patterns
and delineated with different lines. This means that an image can
be scaled up and scaled down without loss of quality. The image
is re-drawn according to the specifications set by the new size.
This vector image, demonstrating the NCS Colour Solid with the
six elementary colours, is based on mathematical functions. It
can be enlarged and reduced in size without any loss of quality.
In the NCS Colour Solid. Yellow, red, blue, and green, are all lo-
cated on the circumference of the Colour Circle (here black). The
Colour Triangle is any vertical sector running through half of
the NCS Colour Solid, such as e.g., white–blue–black–white,
and white–green–black–white.
Computer systems are being used to an increasing degree for
editing, correcting, processing, retouching, and supplementing
the contents of pictures for books, magazines, or other printed
matter, and for slides and overhead transparencies. The basic
picture, such as a drawing or photograph, must be digitized with
the aid of a scanner or special video camera. The computer can
then feed the digitized images to some peripheral such as a laser
printer, dot matrix printer, plotter, film, or a printing plate.

80
The production of charts and graphs may be very time-con-
suming. Several computer programs can convert traditional tab-
ular data to various kinds of graphics. These programs allow you
to enter all the values needed, into a spreadsheet-style grid. They
take the information, do all the calculations and present the re-
sults as line charts, bar charts, pie charts, scatter charts, and
combinations of those styles. Once data is entered you can usu-
ally choose from several different presentations. Using programs
combining the bit-map creates a hybrid picture and the object-
oriented programs.
Classification systems
When we look at a printed picture, a television image or an image
on a computer screen, our minds combine the dots by blending
and organizing the patterns into correct images. This subcon-
scious process is called visual fusion. When placed in patterns
known as “halftones,” printed dots are perceived as continuous
and solid values and hues.
There are many ways to classify pictures. All kinds of visuals
can be classified according to various criteria, such as sender, re-
ceiver, content, execution, context, and format, and even accord-
ing to criteria such as function, means of production, and use,
etc.
With reference to the distance to and size of the motif, pho-
tographers may classify pictures as long shots, full-length por-
traits, half-length portraits, and close-ups. In picture archives,
pictures may be stored, e.g., in accordance with content catego-
ries.
Kędra (2016) classified images in the press in four photo-
genres: 1) Illustrative photography, 2) News photography, 3)
Portrait photography, and 4) Reportage photography. Important
criteria of photographs included their content, context, layout of
display, number of images, and their fulfillment of aesthetic, ex-
pressive, illustrative, impressive, informative, and marketing
functions.

81
An analysis of a photographic portrayal can examine posi-
tive versus negative depictions of individuals in photographs
(Archer et al. 1983; Moriarty and Popovich, 1991; Moriarty and
Garramone 1986; Wanta and Chang 2000). These authors have
examined several variables that will influence our perception of
individuals in photographs.
Camera angle. An individual appears powerful if he or she is
photographed from below with the photographer looking up at
the subject. An individual appears less powerful if he or she is
photographed from above (Moriarty and Popovich, 1991).
Camera placement. Photographs showing a subject straight
on are more positive than those showing a subject from the side
and much more positive than those showing a person from be-
hind (Moriarty and Popovich, 1991).
Eyes. Individuals shown with closed eyes are viewed more neg-
atively than those shown with open eyes (Moriarty and Popovich,
1991).
Facial expression. Individuals smiling are viewed as positive
and individuals frowning are viewed as negative (Moriarty and
Popovich, 1991).
Framing. The larger a person’s face appears in a picture, the
more positively our perception of that individual is. A close-up
headshot of a person is more positive than a photo taken from a
distance (Archer et al., 1983).
Head position. Individuals looking straight at a camera look
more in control than those individuals looking up or to the side.
Individuals look least in control if they are looking down (Mori-
arty and Popovich, 1991).
Posture. Individuals are viewed more positively if they are
shown walking, running or moving. People standing are viewed

82
more positively than if they are motionless (Moriarty and Popo-
vich, 1991).
Purpose of photo. The purpose of a photo is important for our
perception of the person depicted (Moriarty and Garramone,
1986).
Secondary subjects. Other people in a photograph, the con-
text of the individual, may influence how people view a photo-
graph (Wanta and Chang, 2000).
Many pictures are put to active use in various ways. But a large
portion ends up in collections. Some collections evolve into ar-
chives. There are four main types of archives: 1) Personal, private
collections. 2) Commercial photo agencies. 3) (Personal) re-
search archives in different field. 4) Collections in museums and
other public institutions. Many of these pictures are used and re-
used many times.
Billions of photos
We know that visuals are perceived much more rapidly and read-
ily than text (Fleming and Levie, 1978, 1993; Sinatra, 1986).
Lester (1995, p. 73) noted that: “Visual messages are a powerful
form of communication because they stimulate both intellectual
and emotional responses–they make us think as well as feel.”
Many authors have suggested various roles, functions, ob-
jectives and purposes for the use of illustrations–often without a
great deal of evidence to support their suggestions. Pettersson
(2021) made a list including references to 85 different documents
(such as chapters in books, and research articles) written by 116
different authors. The list contains 348 opinions about image
functions. The authors used more than one hundred different ex-
planatory verbs to express these opinions. In accordance with re-
searchers in the areas of information design, instructional mes-
sage design, visual communication, and visual literacy the most

83
common opinions on functions of visuals concern attention: at-
tract, gain, get, hold and maintain attention.
Other common explanatory verbs are: facilitate, provide,
persuade, create (an interest in), illustrate, clarify, motivate,
present, and reinforce information (to someone). Most of these
purposes can be looked upon as clearly cognitive or pedagogical,
in contrast to pictures used for advertising, decoration, enter-
tainment, or marketing.
In addition to purely realistic visuals, there are also visuals
that can be described as “metaphoric.” They exemplify and depict
some linguistic metaphor. Visuals of this kind are not symbolic
in any semiotic (Jacobson, 1976) or art science sense (Berefelt,
1976). Metaphoric pictures are particularly abstract and intellec-
tually demanding. Pictures often have important social functions
in the home, at school, in organizations, and in society.
In certain instances, the actual picture creation is more im-
portant than the visual results. Some pictures may not have any
or only a limited function once created. Modern cameras that au-
tomatically set the exposure, focus the lens, and advance the film
have made it possible for almost anyone to take pictures. More
than 90% of all Swedish families own at least one camera. Fur-
thermore, nowadays most mobile phones have built in cameras.
Many people make a movie or take still photographs at some time
during any year. Many millions of amateur photographs are the
result. The advent of lightweight, and easily portable VCR equip-
ment has opened up new horizons for non-professional creators
of moving pictures.
The development of WWW and Internet has opened new
possibilities for storage of huge collections of images. Each of the
stored documents can be quickly retrieved and displayed on a
screen or printed as hard copy if desired.
It is obvious that technical development has fundamentally
changed conditions for our ability to use pictures in different
contexts as well as for the credibility of all pictures. In practice,
individual newspaper readers and TV viewers no longer have any

84
real opportunity to discover whether a published picture has
been manipulated or not. Since computer technology is develop-
ing rapidly we can hardly assume that this situation will improve
in the future. With each passing year, it becomes easier for any-
one to create and revise pictures and make them accessible on
the Internet.
Pictures are now being created more rapidly than at any
time in history. Millions of pictures are produced every day. Swe-
den alone (with a population of ten million) accounts for more
than 200 million amateur photographs each year. And each of
the country’s 2,000 professional photographers produces a half
million photographs before retiring.
Traditional literacy is not enough anymore. Nowadays au-
thors write about different literacies. Contemporary literacy has
a multidimensional aspect (Riddle, 2009, p. 4), in that infor-
mation and knowledge come from various sources and direc-
tions, among which visual imagery often plays an important role.
Destebaşi (2016, p. 897) defined new literacies as “a con-
cept that includes many new literacy practices about new digital
technologies and media; and also include new literacy skills,
knowledge, and ways of thinking that are required for using the
Internet and emerging information and communication technol-
ogies.”
According to Šupšáková (2016) people now face the chal-
lenge to manage four key literacies: 1) Communication literacy,
2) Information literacy, 3) Multicultural literacy, and 4) Visual
literacy.
Communication literacy is the ability to communicate in an
active manner, to use a reasonable form and to present infor-
mation. We have to learn, understand, and use all nonverbal and
verbal characters and symbols in the culture.
Information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individu-
als to recognize when information is needed and have the ability
to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information
(ACRL, 2000, p.2).

85
Multicultural literacy is the ability to orientate and respect
different manifold cultures without prejudices. It includes
knowledge of cultures and languages, as well as the ways
graphics, text, and sound may introduce bias into language, gen-
eralizations, perspective, stereotypes, subject matter, and visual
content.
Visual literacy is the learned ability to interpret visual mes-
sages accurately and to create such messages. Thus, interpreta-
tion and creation in visual literacy can be said to parallel reading
and writing in print literacy (Heinich, Molenda, and Russell
(1982, p. 62).
The ability to understand and use literacy and literate prac-
tices with a range of texts and technologies (including cell
phones, computers, the Internet, and social networking sites) is
now called multiliteracy. A multi-literate person is flexible and
strategic and can fully participate in life as an active and in-
formed citizen (Anstey and Bull, 2006; Borsheim, Merritt, and
Reed, 2008; Coop Kalantzis, 2000).
Cope and Kalantzis (2009) examined the changing land-
scape of literacy learning and literacy teaching. They noted that
an enormous body of work has emerged around multiliteracies.
There have been dramatic changes in social and technological
contexts of communication and learning.
Thompson (2019) distinguishes between two types of im-
ages on social media platforms, deep images and shallow im-
ages. Most “typical internet images” are shallow images. They
do not purport to do more than entertain, and they do not re-
quire any additional thought. We all need to read deep images
critically. With this method students can learn to analyse, inter-
pret, evaluate, and comprehend images found on social media
sites and around the web. Students will increase their visual lit-
eracy skills.
There were about 250 billion photos uploaded to Facebook
at the end of 2021, with an average of 217 photos per person (Ny-
heter24.se, 2022). The increase is about 4,000 new photos every

86
second. Facebook frequently ask people to re-publish many of
their previously uploaded pictures. Here is one example of my
own re-published photos.
Facebook frequently ask people to re-publish some of their pre-
viously uploaded pictures. This is one example of my own so
called “memories”: Our garden in winter. This picture was first
published 26 December 2010. The second publication was 26
December 2021. When will there be a third publication?

87
Books
In the middle of the 15th century the goldsmith Johann Guten-
berg (c 1395–1468) developed a revolutionary technology for
printing books with movable type. The Gutenberg Bible (1452–
1454) is “incunabula.” The term includes books, pamphlets, and
broadsides printed in Europe before the year 1501.
In relief printing the printing areas are raised above the
nonprinting areas, and the impression is made directly from the
inked raised surface to the paper. There are several relief printing
technologies: woodcut, wood engraving, letterpress, and flexog-
raphy.
The new printing technology spread rapidly across Europe.
However, this was a technology for words. The production of im-
ages was equally demanding and equally time-consuming as be-
fore with complicated work by skilled artists (Pettersson, 2017a,
p. 15).
Woodcuts was still the dominant technique for printing dec-
orations and illustrations during the 15th and 16th centuries.
About one third of all printed books, published before 1500, were
richly illustrated. These books were very often hand-coloured be-
fore, or after sale. However, it was expensive to produce a special
woodcut for each picture, and include it in the wooden plate with
the text. In order to limit their costs printers sometimes used
woodcuts as “readymades.”
Printing with coloured blocks were invented in Germany in
1508. However, colour woodcuts were normally only used for
single-leaf prints and not for illustrations in printed books. Dur-
ing the 18th century artists in Japan produced woodcuts in col-
our in a masterly way.
This chapter includes the following main sections: Liber
Chronicarum, Emblematum Liber, Orbis Sensualium Pictus,
and Modern textbooks.

88
Liber Chronicarum
Anton Koberger (1440/1445–1513) was Albrecht Dürer’s godfa-
ther. He was a successful goldsmith, who become the most suc-
cessful printer, publisher, and seller of books and prints in Ger-
many. He owned twenty-four printing-presses and he built a
number of offices in Germany, and also abroad. Koberger’s most
famous publication was the Liber Chronicarum, or the Nurem-
berg Chronicle, which he published in Latin on 12 July 1493. The
text was translated to German, and a new edition Weltchronik
was published already in December the same year. The book was
popular, and soon pirated editions appeared.
This book is an extraordinary example of the use of ready-
mades. It is an illustrated biblical paraphrase, and a world his-
tory. The humanist, and medical doctor Hardtman Schedel
(1440–1514) wrote the text in Latin. Michael Wolgemut (1434–
1519) and his stepson Wilhelm Pleydenwurff (1460–1494) made
the illustrations. Michael Wolgemut was the head of a large
work-shop in Nuremburg, with a great number of pupil-assis-
tants. Albrecht Dürer was an apprentice here (1486–1490). He
may have worked on some of the many woodcut illustrations for
the Liber Chronicarum.
Liber Chronicarum had 600 large pages, about 46 by 30 cm,
with a well-planned layout and typography. Each page could
have as much as 64 lines with text. In comparison the page in the
Gutenberg Bible (1452–1454) had two columns with 42 lines.
There are no less than 1,809 woodcut illustrations in the Li-
ber Chronicarum. Illustrations and text are integrated. However,
these illustrations are printed from only 645 different woodcuts
(Nuremberg Chronicle, 2019). Thus, the printer used individual
woodcuts to describe several different motifs, such as battles, cit-
ies, and kings. Only 72 different woodcuts were used to illustrate
596 different individuals (Janzin and Günter, 1997, p. 141; Dal,
2001, p. 82). On average this was more than eight times. When
no information was available the printer reused a number of
stock images up to eleven times.

89
This is page 224 from the Liber Chronicarum, 1493. The illus-
trations are very carefully squeezed in on the page. Notice the
second man from the top. The book page is large, about 46 by
30 cm. Picture: Wikimedia Commons.

90
This is page 242 from the Liber Chronicarum, 1493. Some book
owners paid special illuminators to paint the illustrations in
their own copies. Notice the second man from the top (on the
right side). Picture: Wikimedia Commons.

91
The picture to the left appears on page 224 in Chronicarum,
1493. The picture to the right appears on page 242 in the same
book. These pictures illustrate two different important men.
However, they are printed from the same woodcut. Only 72 dif-
ferent woodcuts were used to illustrate 596 different individu-
als. This is really “reuse of assets”. Sometimes illuminators
painted illustrations by hand with a few colours. Pictures: Wiki-
media Commons.
Movable type and woodcuts can easily be printed together.
This was the main technique used for printing illustrated books
until the late sixteenth century. All books were printed with black
ink. Like other books from this time some copies were later col-
oured with watercolour. Usually illuminators painted illustra-
tions by hand with a few colours. Stencils and templates were of-
ten used for this work (Dal, 2001, p. 81). This was done with var-
ying degrees of skill and result. In practice this meant that all the
books were different in a number of details.

92
Emblematum Liber
In Renaissance and Baroque Europe, the noun emblem was used
for pictures containing allegories, allusions, and symbols (Kluck-
ert, 1999, p. 428). Emblems influenced celebrations and festi-
vals, painting, poetry, rhetoric and writing. According to Toman
(1999, p. 483) an emblem consists of three elements: 1) Pictura,
2) Inscriptio, and 3) Subscriptio. Here pictura refers to an alle-
gorical image, inscriptio is the heading explaining the motto, and
subscriptio is the text written below the heading and the picture.
Usually an emblem has one main message, related to moral, na-
ture, politics, religion, or virtues conveyed by the combination of
a header, a picture and an explanatory text. Emblems developed
in the sixteenth century and they enjoyed an enormous popular-
ity for the next 200 years or more.
The Italian lawyer Andrea Alciato, also called Alciati (1492–
1550), wrote moralizing Latin epigrams in his book Emblema-
tum Liber (Book of Emblems). The book includes topics like as-
trology, awareness, beauty, death, disloyalty, faith, friendship,
God, life, love, nature, politics, pride, religion, stupidity, and
much more (Barker et al., 2005). According to Manning (2002,
p. 38) Andrea Alciato is called “the father of the emblem.” Before
the publication of the book Andrea Alciato had circulated his
texts among his friends as a manuscript without any illustrations.
The emblems were intended to draw the reader into a reflective
examination of her or his own life and moral.
According to Bath (1994, p. 1) the genre emblem books was
actually invented by accident. The German printer/publisher
Heinrich Steyner (before 1500–1548) published the very first
edition of Emblematum Liber in Augsburg, 28 February 1531. He
added, and included pictures in the Latin manuscript. In 1527
Heinrich Steyner had been able to expand his office in Augsburg.
Steyner acquired the bankruptcy estate of another publishing
house, including many printing blocks. With orders to the best
woodcutters of his time, he expanded his inventory of printing
plates. His office was extremely successful. With 923 prints

93
Heinrich Steiner was the largest printer of his time in Augsburg
(Wikipedia, 2019a). One of his most respected works was a four-
volume parchment of the Bible in Luther’s translation, which
Steiner printed in 1534.
Heinrich Steyner could probably use many of his already ex-
isting, and previously used woodcuts for Emblematum Liber.
Apparently, he and his co-workers selected all illustrations with-
out any participation at all from the author Andrea Alciato.
Usually emblems have a header, a picture and an explana-
tory text. The addition of illustrations, and the apparently adven-
titious use of the phrase Emblematum Liber on Steiner’s title
page began a process that eventually resulted in the recognition
that such a combination of text and pictures was a genre in its
own right, and that the proper name for this new genre of illus-
trated epigrams was “emblems” (Bath, 1994, p. 30).
Heinrich Steyner printed two more editions of Emblema-
tum Liber in Augsburg (1531, 1534). It was obviously a lot of in-
terest in this book. Emblematum Liber has been expanded and
printed in various editions during several centuries. However,
Heinrich Steiner had to file for bankruptcy in 1547.
In Paris the printer/publisher Chrestien, or Chrétien
Wechel, printed editions in French and in Latin, Emblematum
Libellus (1534, 1536), Livret des emblems (1536), Les emblems
(1539, 1542), and Emblematum Libellus (1542). For the French
editions the publisher obviously had the texts translated. How-
ever, also the illustrations are new. Even here, many woodcuts
may be reused from other projects.
The widely disseminated emblem books launched a fascina-
tion with emblems that lasted for two centuries in many conti-
nental European countries. Emblem books were especially nu-
merous in Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands. The
early editions had a little over a hundred emblems, but in later
editions the corpus eventually stretched to 212 emblems.
A Memorial Web Edition in Latin and English is available
online as Alciato's Book of Emblems in the project Alciato at

94
Glasgow (Barker et al., 2005). According to this group of schol-
ars the edition 1621 was the 152nd edition from the start. There
were all in all 171 editions from 1531 to the end of the 17th century.
Later, the production fell off dramatically, with only five later
printings in the 18th century. A 1621 edition is the principal source
of the images in this Memorial Web Edition. In addition to the
above 22 editions CAMENA (2013) has published and made a
23rd edition, from 1577, available on-line.
In a study of emblems (Pettersson, 2017b) I made a random
selection of one emblem in the Book of Emblems, and studied it
in the 22 editions of Andrea Alciato’s Emblematum Liber availa-
ble at Alciato at Glasgow.
It was the emblem Potentia Amoris (Power of Love). This
emblem tells us about Amor/Cupid and his rule over land and
sea (Manning, 2002, p. 168; Gillgren, 2011, p. 64). Basically, the
picture shows Amor with flowers in one hand, and a fish in the
other. Eros was the Greek god of love. His Roman counterpart
was Cupid, also known in Latin as Amor (Love). In painting and
sculpture, Cupid is often portrayed as a nude winged boy, or baby
armed with a bow and a quiver with arrows. This emblem is
based on an epigram in a Greek Anthology.
These 22 books were published between 1531 and 1621.
There are ten distinctly different pictures illustrating the theme
Potentia Amoris. Heinrich Steyner had printed the first three
editions in Augsburg, in Latin between 1531–1534. In Paris
Chrestien Wechel printed five editions in French and in Latin be-
tween 1534–1542. For the French editions the publisher obvi-
ously translated the texts. However, also the illustrations are
new. Even here, many woodcuts may be reused from other pro-
jects.
For three of these books (1531, 1534, and 1550) the page with
Potentia Amoris is presented on the following three pages.

95
This is page 76 in the 1st edition printed 28 February 1531. The
same picture is printed in the following two editions, 1531 and
1534. Note that there are two verses on this page. The verse at
the top belong to the previous emblem. Picture: Alciato at Glas-
gow.

96
Page 80 in the Paris edition 1534. This page is 18,8 cm high and
11,6 cm wide. The same picture is printed in the following four
editions, 1536–1542. Chrestien Wechel set the standard for clear
presentation of emblems. He let each emblem begin on a new
page, with the motto or title, the picture, and then the text as a
verse. Picture: Alciato at Glasgow.

97
This is page 116 in the edition printed in Lyons 1550 by Macé
Bonhomme for Guillauome Rouille. The same picture is printed
in four following editions, 1549–1551. These pages differ with
respect to the decorations in the margins, but the picture is ba-
sically the same. Picture: Alciato at Glasgow.

98
In the three previous examples of pages the title is “Potentia
Amoris.” Below the illustration this verse follows:
Nudus Amor viden' ut ridet, placidumque tuetur.
Nec faculas, nec quae cornua flectat, habet
Altera sed manuum flores gerit, altera piscem,
Scilicet ut terrae iura det atque mari.
The verse was early translated in this way (Barker et al., 2005):
Do you see how unclothed Love smiles and looks so gentle?
He has no torches, nor bows which he could bend.
But in one of his hands he bears flowers, in the other a fish.
That's to say he sets the law on land and sea.
Here is a later translation of the same verse (Gillgren, 2011, p.
64)
Do you see how naked Eros smiles, how gentle he looks?
He has neither torches, nor bows that he could bend.
But one hand holds flowers, the other a fish
That is to say that he lays down the law on land and see.
As noted above there are 22 editions of Alciato’s book available
in the project Alciato at Glasgow. The emblem “Potentia Amo-
ris” is included in 21 of these books. These emblems basically
have ten different illustrations.
Emblem books are the result of conscious work to mediate
messages with symbolically conceived personified abstractions
using combinations of form, images, and words. Some of the
early work during the Renaissance seems to be in good concert
with aesthetic and functional principles of contemporary infor-
mation design. Together with publishers, printers, engravers,
and woodcarvers Andrea Alciato, and later also Cesare Ripa (c.
1560–c. 1645) with his didactic encyclopaedia Iconologia, man-
aged to visualize and also communicate allegorical interpreta-
tions and moral values in a popular way to their intended audi-
ences.

99
Orbis Sensualium Pictus
The “father of modern education” Iohannes Amos Comenius
(1592–1670) was the first person to really show to a broader au-
dience how visuals and words could interplay in an active way.
He was born in Moravia (later a part of Czechoslovakia). Come-
nius formulated a general theory of education (Heinich, Mo-
lenda, and Russel, 1982, p. 73–75).
His philosophy presented the goal of education as the devel-
opment of universal knowledge among all people of all social
classes in all nations, including women and children. He pub-
lished more than forty titles related to education, including text-
books of an entirely new nature.
According to Comenius all children should learn to actively
observe their environment and learn to use as many of their
senses as possible. To facilitate learning, teachers should use pic-
tures showing other events than those children have in their im-
mediate vicinity, and therefore can easily observe themselves.
Underlying Comenius’s use of visuals was a theory of per-
ception based on the idea that we learn through our senses and
that this learning “imprints” a mental image that leads to under-
standing (Heinich, Molenda, and Russel, 1982, p. 74). Real ob-
jects are preferable, but visuals may be used as substitutes for
them. Moriarty (1994, p. 15) noted that: “Child development
scholars would agree that visual communication skills are not
secondary, derivative, impure or peripheral and, in fact, develop
earlier than verbal skills in children.” Since Comenius time,
many children and many teachers have actively used found ob-
jects and readymade images as important assets in their active
learning.
The handy illustrated textbook, Orbis Sensualium Pictus
(The Visible World in Pictures), was first published in 1658. This
book is often called Orbis Pictus. Some scholars consider Orbis
Pictus to be the first schoolbook designed specifically for chil-
dren. Through 150 illustrated chapters, or themes, the book was

100
designed to teach the pupils Latin with the help of short, but very
memorable sentences.
This picture shows an opening, with the theme “The Book-
binder”, from a 1685 edition of Orbis Pictus. In this book there
are different typefaces to set apart the English and the Latin
phrases and to call attention to the vocabulary words that are
illustrated on the facing page. Picture: Folger Shakespeare Li-
brary.
Orbis Pictus served as a widely used textbook in both Eu-
rope, and in the USA for 200 years. We can only speculate on
how many children used the book, but it must reasonably be sev-
eral hundreds of thousands, maybe several millions.
Comenius sought to strengthen learning of linguistic sym-
bols by visual means. Sensible things are suggested by repre-
sentative images, non-representative visual devices (i.e., picto-
rial signs) and by words (i.e., verbal symbols). Artefacts and

101
creatures are shown and named. Pictorial signs and verbal sym-
bols indicate ideas. The numbers on the illustrations in the book
were referred to in the texts.
Images and texts from Orbis Pictus are available on the In-
ternet. The text and the images have been edited and reworked
many times. The images in different editions, or rather versions,
differ greatly from one another. We might say that they describe
the same “themes.” Many of these images differ a lot, in several
ways, from the pictures in the original edition of 1658. The orig-
inal page size was 20.2 x 12.5 cm, and most images are about 5 x
7.2 cm. In later versions some of the images are mirrored com-
pared to the printed pictures in the original edition. This would
happen if the specialist craftsmen, the block-cutters, for some
reason forgot that they had to carve mirrored images into the sur-
face off the blocks of wood.
In some later editions, the text was printed in four different
languages. It is possible that new images had to be created in
each country. Due to its limitations the woodcut printing tech-
nique was cumbersome, insensitive, and rough. However, the
pedagogy was very forward-looking. Comenius preceded Dide-
rot’s encyclopaedic picture-volumes and the visualized fact books
of today.
Many authors of ABC-books have adopted Comenius' illus-
trated alphabet, combining letters, pictures and “sounds” found
in the opening pages. In the latter part of the 18th century, wood-
cuts were usually inspired by the pictures in Orbis Pictus. This
book has really been the basis of many readymades.

102
Modern textbooks
Every published picture has been selected, not only once but usu-
ally several times, by artists, art directors, designers, editors, and
photographers (Pettersson, 1989, p. 260). Sometimes also the
authors are involved in the production and selection of pictures.
In fact, most of the pictures that are published in textbooks for
schools qualify as “readymades”. These pictures are/were often
“found” by hard working art directors and editors. They con-
sulted various picture archives, and picture collections. These
pictures are very often used in ways never intended by those art-
ists and photographers who once created them.
Two very “sad pages” in a social science textbook in Sweden,
from 1977. The book page is 24 x 21 cm. This book has 160 pages,
and more than 200 pictures. There is a rich blend of different
image types. Many of the images lack captions. One third of the
pictures are in colour. Here all pictures are “readymades.” Most
of these pictures should not be included in this book at all. To-
day, almost all pictures in a social science textbook may be
printed in colour. However, most of these pictures are still
“readymades”.
The copyright laws make sure that the original artists and
photographers still holds the copyright to their images. Artistic
works are protected for the originator’s entire life, plus an addi-
tional 70 years. Thus, many images are protected for more than

103
120–130 years. This protection is international. Manipulation or
counterfeiting of image contents is condemned. In commercial
situations, the contents of a picture may not be changed without
the expressed consent of the picture’s copyright holder.
Mayer (2009) analysed modern textbooks for sixth grade
science students and found (pp. 236–237) that an:
“overwhelming majority of illustrations served no important
instructional purpose: 23 percent were decorational and 62
percent were representational.”
According to Bodén and Stenliden (2019) there needs to be a
close didactic alignment and a deeper knowledge of how visual
interfaces attract students’ attention and how students’ visual lit-
eracy emerges in that relationship.
When illustrations are not relevant to the prose contents,
they do not facilitate the understanding of the text (Levin et al.,
1987). On the contrary, illustrations can actually have a negative
effect on reading comprehension and on prose learning (Levie
and Lentz, 1982). Aesthetically pleasing visuals may deceive the
learners about their instructional value (Dwyer, 1972). There-
fore, illustrations should not be used only for decoration in learn-
ing materials.
Several researchers have concluded that pictures can have a
positive, a neutral, and also a negative effect on learning (Eilam
2013; Evans, Watson and Willows 1987; Furnham and Williams,
1987; Gunter, 1980; Levie and Lentz, 1982; Levin, Anglin, and
Carney 1987; Massoumian, 1989; Pettersson, 1989, 1993; Rieber,
1994; Scheiter et al., 2018; Seufert, 2019; Sims-Knight, 1992;
Stiller et al., 2020; Sung-Hee and Boling, 2010; and Winn, 1993).

104
Paintings
The ability to produce art and visual communication is one of the
defining characteristics of modern humans, since their emer-
gence in Africa 100,000 years ago. They used ochre as red pig-
ments to paint marine shells worn as beads. This was prior to the
occupation of Europe by Homo sapiens. Neanderthals used
ochre at least 200,000 years ago. The creative processes that lead
to the production of art are based on capacities of our bodies and
brains, and also the cultural contexts (Janik and Kaner, 2018).
Medieval cathedrals have been called “theological encyclo-
pedias”. They presented church teachings in pictorial form for
people who could not read. Already at the beginning of the 7th
century pope Gregorius the Great (about 540–604) had stated:
“What writing is to the reader, pictures are to those who cannot
read.” Gregorius the Great presented his insights and his views
in a new and simple manner (Hill, 2008, p. 169). Pictures are
used in churches so that those who cannot read at least can look
at the walls and understand what they cannot read in the books
(Piltz, 2007, p. 128; Sandquist Öberg, 2007, p.171).
During the Renaissance, the masters often had “pattern
books” where the commissioners could choose from models and
motifs (Perrig, 1999b, p. 424). It could be a donor who kneeled,
farmers depicted in the process of sowing, harvesting, or riding.
Pattern books and sketchbooks were of great importance for the
dissemination of stylistic ideas across the European continent.
Michelangelo (1475–1564) had his own idea about the pur-
pose of pictures in churches. According to Rauch (1995, p. 329)
Michelangelo had said: “The principle of painting is this: those
who don’t know the letters will be able to interpret the message
in the picture, and again: the picture will take the place of the
book.”
Hallerström (2018) collected advertisements and analysed
how art were used. This study showed that exclusivity and hu-
mour were important reasons to use art in advertisements.

105
Advertisements based on exclusivity tend to depend more on the
image than on the text to create meaning. Advertisements based
on humour tend to depend more on the actual relationship be-
tween image and words to create meaning.
It seems that the “advertising world” loves to borrow ideas
and complete works of art from the art world. Famous artworks
are not only directly used in advertisements, sometimes with mi-
nor adjustments, or often just with the addition of a clever, fun,
or interesting verbal comment. Sudibyo (2020) provided 8 ex-
amples of famous art that are used in advertisements.
1. Da Vinci’s Last Supper reimagined as a gambler’s table. This
familiar advert for an online casino is as blasphemous as it is
well executed. Da Vinci’s famous painting resides inside the
church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan.
2. Van Gogh’s Self Portrait to catch the eye. A bit of blur makes
a great portrait. The original van Gogh portrait is in the
Musée d’Orsay in Paris.
3. A Picasso lookalike to promote yoga. The original is at the
Picasso Birthplace Museum, in Malaga.
4. Mondrian in rubbles. This advert is clever and recognisable.
The original is at the Kunstmuseum in the Hague.
5. This hammer is not a Magritte. The original is at the MoMA
in New York.
6. A young thinker. Rodin’s Thinker is at the Musée Rodin in
Paris.
7. Dalí and investments. This rendition of Dalí’s Temptation of
St. Anthony depicts the business world today. Dalí’s own
work is at Dalí Paris.
8. Another take on Picasso. Link two seemingly unconnected
things and create a link with a simple phrase. Visit the Pi-
casso Museum in Barcelona.

106
See 8 Examples of Famous Art in Advertisements.
< https://www.tiqets.com/blog/famous-art-in-advertise-
ments/ >
This chapter includes the following main sections: Albertus
Pictor, Leonardo da Vinci, Peter Paul Rubens, and Johannes
Vermeer.
Albertus Pictor
The most prominent of all late medieval church decorators and
painters in Sweden was Albertus Pictor (c 1440–1509). He was
born in Immenhausen, a small town in central Germany. How-
ever, no paintings or documents connected with him are known
from Germany (Svanberg, 2007, p. 156). He moved to Sweden in
1465. In 1473 he married the widow of the deceased painter Jo-
han in Stockholm (Cornell and Wallin, 1972, p. 31). Albertus took
over the workshop, and a house built in stone. He became a suc-
cessful church painter, and also an embroiderer.
In the latter part of the 15th century Albertus Pictor, and
members of his workshop, decorated the walls and vaults of over
thirty small gothic style countryside churches around Lake Mä-
laren in central Sweden with fresco secco murals. Some 6 000
paintings and accompanying text scrolls have been documented
and examined by a group of scholars (Hall, 2007, p. 8). This is a
unique treasure of medieval art in northern Europe. No other
medieval painter comes close to Albertus Pictor’s achievement.
The architectural structures with stone framework of ribbed
vaulting provide natural frames for the different biblical scenes
and their messages. There are several well-known motifs in the
porches, where everyone easily can see them.
The motif Wheel of life is found in 33 medieval churches in
Sweden. Albertus Pictor workshop made eleven of these. The mo-
tif The death of the pious and the worldly is found in 12 medieval
churches in Sweden. Albertus Pictor made eight of these.

107
Different artists have reused many motifs from the Bible in
several churches. These pictures have much in common, and
many details correspond. Furthermore, the same motifs are com-
mon in books, and also in prints.
The texts in scrolls that are accompanying many paintings
are important keys to the understanding of the function of the
paintings and their messages. Already the Bishop Paulinus of
Nola (354–431) and the Abbot Suger of Nola (1081–1151) argued
that the texts in scrolls served as clarification of the messages in
the pictures in the churches (Sandquist Öberg, 2009, p. 26).
This picture from Härkeberga church, c 1485, shows the motif
Wheel of life. Each phase has a figure and a Latin text. (I will
have power. I have power. I had power. I have no power.) This
motif is found in 33 medieval churches in Sweden. Albertus Pic-
tor and members of his workshop made eleven of these.

108
This picture from Härnevi church, c 1487, shows the motif The
death of the pious and the worldly. The worldly man (right) only
thinks about all his possessions. This motif is found in twelve
medieval churches in Sweden. Albertus Pictor and his workshop
made eight of these paintings.
Most of the texts are written in Latin. Only a few scrolls have
texts in Swedish. The scrolls in Swedish and their corresponding
paintings were intended for literate parishioners as a comple-
ment to the religious instructions transmitted to them by the par-
ish priests in the form of catechism and preaching (Andersson,
2007, p. 24). The Latin scrolls were intended for the local parish
priests and also for visiting clergy. Latin texts seem to have one
of three main functions (Sandquist Öberg, 2007). One large
group of scrolls includes single names. The second group in-
cludes hymns, sequences of liturgical texts held by angels. A third
group are prophecies, verses and summaries of biblical texts.

109
Leonardo da Vinci
The Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) belonged to
one of the most versatile people during his own time. He was
truly a multifaceted artist and a Renaissance polymath who met
the ideals of the complete person who mastered all areas.
This main section includes the following sections: A Renais-
sance Man, and Mona Lisa.
A Renaissance Man
Leonardo da Vinci is often regarded as the prime exemplar of the
“Renaissance Man,” or the “Universal Genius.” His areas of in-
terest included anatomy, architecture, art theory, astronomy, bi-
ology, botany, cartography, ceremonies, engineering, geology,
history, invention, literature, mathematics, music, painting, phi-
losophy, science, sculpting, technology, and writing–all of this
500 years ago. He was a visionary and epitomised the Renais-
sance humanist ideal.
Since ancient times, artists have used preparatory sketches
to confirm that their subjective ideas are practically feasible. Pre-
paratory sketches are the foundations and starting points for all
works in architecture, painting, and sculpture (Perrig, 1999b, p.
417). However, these sketches have rarely been preserved to pos-
terity. An important reason for this is that it was very unusual to
use paper or parchment earlier than the Renaissance.
Paper and parchment were still far too expensive materials
to be used for sketches. Instead, the artists usually used wooden
boards, which were covered with a layer of wax, or of bone flour.
Such writing boards could, and should, be used and reused sev-
eral times–and of course, the sketches were always lost. But some
writing boards with sketches are actually preserved today.
During the Middle Ages it was common for builders and en-
gineers to make notes using both words and images. Modern re-
search has shown that Leonardo had both predecessors and con-
temporary builders and engineers with similar technical skills.
The truly unique qualities with Leonardo as an engineer is that

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his documentation remains to a large extent today. We know that
Leonardo usually brought a notebook, and he used it diligently.
Leonardo was a prolific draftsman. His notebooks are full of
small sketches, and detailed drawings recording things that took
his attention. He observed and he documented a lot in his sur-
roundings. Leonardo left more than seven thousand sheets of
drawings and notes.
For Leonardo, the drawing was a kind of language in images
that were clearer and more descriptive than words (Brizio et al.,
1980, p. 86). In his notebooks, he often switched from the written
word to sketches to illustrate his opinion or to debate with him-
self. His notes were important parts of his thought process
(Bettley, 2001, p. 76). Leonardo wrote with his left hand and mir-
rored the text. Some researchers believe it was because others
could not easily read his notes. It may also be because Leonardo
was left-handed. Left-handed people can easily unintentionally
smudge the ink as they write from left to right (Suh, 2006, p. 7).
Mona Lisa
Leonardo’s painting Mona Lisa (1503–1507) is famous for its
composition, the elusive smile on her face, the special light, and
the high degree of realism. The special shadowy quality in the
portrait is called “sfumato.” In the dramatic landscape in the
background the world seems to be in a state of flux.
Mona Lisa’s iconic smile is the subject of intensive, often ra-
ther comic, homage to Leonardo da Vinci by later artists. In 1971
the American artist, and author Rick Meyerowitz created a Mona
Gorilla as a cover illustration for the National Lampoon maga-
zine. With Mona Lisa as a gorilla he launched a new trend for
famous figures in art as animals (Heller and Chwast, 2008, illus-
tration 402). It seems that parody may be the most accessible
form of visual satire.
Within marketing many marketers view Mona Lisa as a “su-
per seller” in the world. This, 500 years old painting is used and
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attract customers. In the 1950s, Mona Lisa started to be the
model of Lufthansa, and she became an iconic symbol of France.
Nowadays the Mona Lisa may be seen in many different adver-
tisements, in this case for biscuits. This large poster (100 x 70
cm) was displayed at railway stations in Sweden about 2002.
The text below Mona Lisa says: “Copied since 1507.” The lower
text says: “Imitated since 1898”.
Images of Mona Lisa have been used for marketing of a large
number of different products, such as biscuits, books, Coca Cola,
Epson printers, exhibitions, furniture, glasses, hair related
brands, Lego, magazines, match making, Pizza Huts, puzzles, re-
tirement pension, travels, and much more. Many artists have
drawn and painted their own versions of Mona Lisa, using differ-
ent materials, and different techniques. Images of Mona Lisa also
appear on postcards, posters, and postage stamps. There are also
many images of Mona Lisa available on the Internet.
In 1919 Marcel Duchamp made a parody of Mona Lisa. He
added a small goatee beard, and also a black moustache on a
cheap printed postcard reproduction of the painting. Then he

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added the inscription L.H.O.O.Q. on the picture, below the actual
portrait. In French these letters form a phonetic game. When
quickly read loud the letters sound like “elle a chaud au cul”,
which Duchamp later translated as “she has a hot ass” (Tomkins,
2014, p. 218). (Two other translations are “there is fire down be-
low,” and “her ass is on fire.”)
This picture (left) shows a certified replica of the lost original of
Duchamp’s readymade L.H.O.O.Q (1919). The enlargement of
the actual card (right) makes it easier to see the actual card. The
picture is provided by Moderna Museet in Stockholm.
Ironically, the readymade L.H.O.O.Q. started a critical dis-
cussion in the “Art world.” Eventually, some researchers have
discovered close affinities between Duchamp and Leonardo da
Vinci. According to Liberman (1988, p. 244) Marcel Duchamp is:
“a truly Renaissance man, a curious mixture of poetry, earthiness
and cunning.”

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This is the famous Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci (c 1490–
1492). Picture: Wikipedia Commons.
Leonardo’s drawing the Vitruvian Man is a drawing in ink
on paper with notes (c 1490–1492). The drawing is about 35 x 26

114
cm. It is a study of the proportions of the male body in two su-
perimposed positions with his arms and legs apart. The man is
inscribed in a circle, and also in a square. The picture has the cor-
relations of ideal human body proportions, as they were de-
scribed by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of
his treatise De architectura. The human figure was the main
source of proportions in classical architecture.
The Vitruvian Man is regarded as a cultural icon, and it is
often reproduced in books, cards, posters, puzzles, and on clothes
of various kinds. The original drawing with the text is kept in
Venice, Italy.
The Last Supper (c 1495 – 1498) is probably the most repro-
duced religious painting of all time. It is a mural painting in the
refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan It-
aly. The main church building was completed in 1498.
This is the famous The Last Supper pained by Leonardo da Vinci
(c 1495–1498). This is probably the most reproduced religious
painting of all time. Picture: Wikimedia Commons.
The mural painting covers an end wall of the dining hall at
the monastery. It is 460 x 880 cm. The work was probably com-
menced around 1495–1496. It was a part of a plan of renovations

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to the church and its convent buildings. In this large mural paint-
ing Leonardo depicted the moment when Jesus announced that
one of his twelve disciples would betray him. When finished, the
painting was acclaimed as a masterpiece of design and character-
isation. However, instead of using the reliable technique of
fresco, Leonardo had used tempera. Despite numerous restora-
tions only little of the original painting remains today.
Peter Paul Rubens
The Flemish/Dutch prolific cartoonist, diplomat, graphic artist,
and painter Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) is often regarded
as the most significant Baroque painter north of the Alps. Many,
regard Peter Paul Rubens as one of the greatest and most influ-
ential artists who ever lived.
For the cathedral of Antwerp, Rubens painted the monu-
mental paintings Erection of the cross, 1610–1611 (641 x 462
cm), as well as the Descent from the cross, 1612–1614 (610 x 420
cm). According to Lawson (2006, p. 132f), these paintings be-
came his major breakthrough. His ability to create great glossy
compositions with a myriad of characters with strong physical
presence fit well for the beautiful churches and palaces in the
Catholic world. Peter Paul Rubens received many commissions
from all over Europe.
The painting Last Judgement (1617) is among his most im-
portant works. The Last Judgement has a special mix of Italian
magnificence and Flemish luminosity. Beckett (1995, p. 186) ar-
gued that the sense of light reaches its peak in paintings by Ru-
bens. According to Hellwig (1997, p. 419) Rubens considered col-
our as the most important element of painting.
Peter Paul Rubens recorded drama and movement. With a
great sense of light and shadow, he worked with colourful com-
positions. In many very large paintings, a myriad of people and
mythological figures combine into a common composition of a
composite whole.

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Peter Paul Rubens had a large workshop with several assis-
tants. He introduced very strict studio routines. This created the
conditions for serious mass production. In several cases Rubens
himself had good ideas, created sketches in colour, and in small
formats. Then he gave his sketches to some of his assistants, who
magnified the sketches on large canvases. Then many assistants
and students each painted specific parts of the motifs. Some
paintings were larger than 4 x 3 meters. Sometimes, Rubens
completed the paintings by making some additions and correc-
tions. In this way the assistants gradually learned the craft of
painting. According to Heijn (1973, p. 5), this was a completely
normal way of working at this time, but Rubens really perfected
the system.
This is a picture of a mythological painting: Venus trying to pre-
vent Adonis from going hunting (59 x 81 cm). It is a copy made
by an anonymous person (between 1611 and 1750) after a paint-
ing made by Peter Paul Rubens. Picture: Wikimedia Commons.
(Rubens 1)

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Furthermore, Rubens also employed some skilled engravers
in his studio. The engravers produced his engravings with motifs
from several parts of his selected paintings. This way Rubens ac-
tively used and reused his own motifs many times. Furthermore,
he had a great business sense, and he gained both fame and a
substantial fortune during his own lifetime.
This is a picture of an etching (19.3 × 28.9 cm) made and sold
by Lucas van Uden (1595–1672) after a painting made by Peter
Paul Rubens. Lucas van Uden was a leading Flemish landscape
painter, draughtsman and engraver. The title is Farmhouse at
Laeken. Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. Picture: Wiki-
media Commons. (Rubens 2)
Rubens was also very prominent as a “carton artist” for the
production of woven wallpaper. The art of woven wallpaper fol-
lowed the development of the art of painting with respect to the
choice of the motifs and the artistic production. The weavers of-
ten used well-made painted cartons in natural scale as models.
In the 16th century the woven wallpapers had a wealth of details
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Rubens made his first wallpaper cartons in 1618. He worked
with large-scale figures and with a decorative style subordinate
to everything else. The figures move in the main picture plane as
in a relief. Therefore, there is hardly any need for a clear perspec-
tive in these pictures. Soon this new style became very important.
Johannes Vermeer
The period called “Dutch Golden Age” was roughly spanning
from 1588 to 1672. The Dutch Republic was the most prosperous
nation in Europe. Many Dutch merchants and settlers affiliated
themselves with the East and the West India companies. These
companies established successful trading posts and colonies in
the Americas, Southern Africa and Asia. They were protected by
a very powerful navy. Amsterdam was the great trading city of
the time. Many Dutch people became very rich, very fast. Some
rich people spent a lot of their money on paintings from promi-
nent artists. During this period art, as well as scientific develop-
ments, experienced a new renaissance.
This main section includes the following sections: Photo-
graphic realism, and Image design.
Photographic realism
According to Kitson (1990, p. 696) Dutch painting can most con-
veniently be called “photographic realism”. Each picture repre-
sents a section of the visible world. The final stage in the progress
of realism was reached in the third quarter of the 17th century.
This was a period studded with well-known names. All forms of
painting had a new breath and solidity.
Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) was a very skilled painter.
Some experts consider him to be one of the greatest painters dur-
ing the entire Baroque period, along with Rembrandt. But Ver-
meer made very few paintings (maybe about 50), in contrast to
Rembrandt (who made about 600 paintings, 1,400 drawings and
300 etchings). Until recently, very little has actually been known
about Johannes Vermeer, and about his life. The only historical

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sources of information about Vermeer are some comments by
other contemporary artists, and some notes in official docu-
ments.
Johannes Vermeer was born in Delft, he lived, and he died
there. Delft was a rather small town, south of Amsterdam. The
total population may have been around 15,000 people.
Vermeer was well recognized and respected in Delft. Here
he was known by people as “The Sphinx of Delft” (Bailey, 2001).
And some people may sometimes have called him Jan rather
than Johannes. Among his peers Vermeer was considered to be
an established craftsman. In 1662, Vermeer was elected as the
head of the Guild of Saint Luke in Delft. Then he was re-elected
in 1663, in 1670, and also in 1671.
Image design
Apparently no one has yet found any sketches for Vermeer’s
paintings. Sometimes probably working with a camera obscura
meant that he did not need any detailed and accurate sketches.
For each new painting, he had the opportunity to try many dif-
ferent conceivable alternatives. He had the opportunity to work
with "dynamic, mental sketches" and change them until he was
satisfied.
With modern technology, it has been possible for some re-
searchers to see that parts of a painting have been corrected and
overpainted with one or more layers of covering paint (E.g. Ma-
hon et al. 2020). In Vermeer's paintings, there may actually be
the occasional person hidden behind a drapery.
Careful work
Vermeer was a provincial and very skilled genre painter, who
mainly painted rather small paintings. His motifs often show do-
mestic, interior scenes with middle-class women. In several of
his painting’s sunlight shines into a room through a window on
the left side. Most of his paintings are set in two small rooms,
maybe in the family house in Delft. Many paintings show the

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same decorations, the same floor, and the same furniture. There
is a remarkable balance, harmony, and unity in his almost pho-
torealistic images.
Vermeer worked with great attention to many important de-
tails. In each painting he carefully found a good balance between
colour, composition, geometry, light, perspective, positions,
shadows, and the main subject itself. His working style was very
methodical, and also very time-consuming. Maybe he could pro-
duce three paintings in a year on order. Today no one really
knows how many paintings Vermeer painted. Common estimates
have often been a total of about 50–60 paintings.
The initial steps that Vermeer took to create his oil on can-
vas painting Girl with a Pearl Earring (1664–1667) are, partially
or maybe completely, hidden beneath the painted surface. Van-
divere et al. (2019) re-examined this painting using advanced
non-invasive microscopic analytical techniques on existing paint
cross-sections.
The canvas was primed with a warm light grey ground. The
tinted ground provided a neutral base tone upon which Vermeer
began to lay in areas of light and shade in his composition, as well
as some outlines around the figure. The authors identified three
distinct preparatory phases in the painting: 1) the ground, 2) fine
black outlines, and 3) under-layers.
The combination of examination methods showed that the
materials beneath the surface played an important role in estab-
lishing the eventual colour, the fall of light, and the three-dimen-
sional space in different areas of the painting. Vermeer’s painting
technique involved applying underlayers that vary in colour and
thickness, on top of which he applied some upper paint layers.
Vandivere, Wadum and Leonhardt (2020) examined the
materials and the techniques that Vermeer used in his painting
“Girl with a Pearl Earring”. Several non-invasive micro- and
macro-scale analyses revealed a lot of new information.
Beneath the painted surface in Girl with a Pearl Earring are
the canvas, ground and underlayer(s) of paint. The number of

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layers vary depending on the actual motifs in different areas of
the picture. The preparatory steps–stretching and sizing the can-
vas, applying the grey ground, and producing pigments from raw
materials—were probably not done by Vermeer himself.
Johannes Vermeer, Girl with a Pearl Earring, 1664–1667, is an
oil-on-canvas painting that is considered a masterpiece. Since
1902 it is available at Mauritshuis in The Hague. The size of this
painting is 44.5 x 39 cm. Picture: Wikimedia.

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The palette that Vermeer used in Girl with a Pearl Earring
includes: reds (vermilion and red lake), yellows and browns
(earth pigments, lead-tin yellow, yellow lake), blue (natural ul-
tramarine and indigo), blacks (charcoal and bone black) and
white (lead white). Many of the pigments that were available to
the seventeenth-century painters were mined from the earth,
then transported and traded; others were made synthetically us-
ing chemical processes.
In this painting Vermeer achieved a wide range of colours
with his palette. He mixed different pigments, and/or layered
different paints on top of each other. By varying the opacity and
thickness of the upper layers, sometimes even leaving the under-
layers (partially) exposed at the surface, he created subtle colour
nuances. The colour range was extended by applying translucent
glazes on top of opaque underlayers. In the background, Vermeer
layered a green glaze on top of a black underlayer to create a very
dark green colour,
Some of Vermeer’s pictures are included in many different
and totally new contexts. Vermeer’s pictures are for example sold
as posters and as postcards. They are featured in many different
advertisements, books, magazines, teaching materials, television
programs, video programs, and more.
For example, Nestlé and Ogilvy Used AI to Expand Ver-
meer’s Maid with milk jug. The company Artful effort promotes
the French yogurt brand La Laitière (Giantasio, 2022). Now, in-
stead of a maid toiling alone in a kitchen, the scene features more
than a dozen enthralled onlookers, with the room's size increas-
ing fivefold. Ceiling beams, pans, pots, the window, and also a
“grandfather clock” appear, while a little toddler peeks out from
beneath a small table.
For example, Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring is a 3D
ad star that “just loves herself an icy cold Coca-Cola” (Giantasio,
2023). And she’s willing to “share with us”! Here Vermeer’s Girl
with a Pearl Earring is a central figure at São Paulo’s Guarulhos
International Airport in an impressive 3D billboard activation.

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Architecture
Architecture is both the actual process (verb) as well as the result
(noun) of that process. The architecture process includes design-
ing, planning, and constructing buildings, or any other struc-
tures. In the material form of buildings, architectural works are
often perceived as cultural symbols and as works of art. Histori-
cal civilizations are often identified with their surviving architec-
tural achievements. Sometimes architecture and sculpture have
been merged, especially during the Renaissance and Baroque.
In many western cities, some churches have seen their con-
gregations dwindle. Church memberships have been reassigned
to consolidate. This has left impressive and unique architectural
structures that are difficult to reuse in any way. For example, it is
difficult to repurpose a church into an auto garage! However, in
some places small churches have been repurposed into family
homes. Of course, these buildings have always been officially “de-
consecrated” before anyone may use them for any new objectives.
During this process the sacred characters of these buildings have
been removed.
Another good example of repurpose is the Pittsburgh area
in the USA. The Pittsburgh area has turned some churches into
fine restaurants, and they have been very successful. One exam-
ple is the brewpub Church Brew Works. It is a restored Roman
Catholic church, formerly known as St. John the Baptist Church.
It was originally built 1902–1903, and consecrated, i.e. officially
made holy and ready to be used for religious ceremonies. The
building was used as a church until 1993, when it was officially
deconsecrated. After extensive renovation of the building, the
Church Brew Works opened for business on August 1, 1996.
In the repurposed building, the old altar is converted for
brewing apparatus. Customers can see the brew kettle where a
religious cross once stood. A friend of mine said: “Some of these
eateries are more successful than they ever were as churches. I
have eaten there (and had a beer or two) and it is excellent.”

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This is a view of the repurposed brewpub Church Brew Works
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This building was formerly St.
John the Baptist Church which was originally built 1902–1903
by the two architects Beezer Brothers. Picture: Wikimedia Com-
mons.
The twins Louis Beezer (1869–1929) and Michael J. Beezer
(1869–1933) from Seattle where the architects of the Roman
Catholic church St. John the Baptist Church in Pittsburgh. Later
these brothers had many commissions especially across the
Washington state. They made many architectural contributions
to the Catholic community of Seattle and Washington state. The
Beezer Brothers are well known for their many designs for busi-
ness buildings, public buildings, and residences.
This chapter includes the following main sections: Gianlo-
renzo Bernini, Frank Gehry, and Adolf W. Edelsvärd.

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Gianlorenzo Bernini
The Italian architect and sculptor Giovanni Lorenzo (Gianlo-
renzo) Bernini (1598–1680) made his personal mark on an entire
epoch (Geese, 1999). The “Age of Baroque” comprises broadly
the 17th and the 18th centuries in European art (Myers and Cop-
plestone, 1990, p. 600).
Bernini was the father of the Roman Baroque style. This
style began in Rome, Italy, and it spread to most parts of Europe.
The Roman Baroque style produced drama, exuberance, and
grandeur in architecture, painting and sculpture. This is the in-
termediate phase between the Renaissance and the Modern age.
This main section includes the following sections: Architec-
ture in Rome, Design of motion, and Design of sound.
Architecture in Rome
Bernini was a leading person in the emergence of the Baroque
architecture in the entire city of Rome. During the mid-1600s the
city of Rome was more or less one big construction site (Fagiolo,
2004, p. 48). At that time, the permanent population of Rome
was about 100,000 people, but up to as much as 700,000 pil-
grims visited the various festivals in the city.
As a city planner Bernini designed chapels, churches, foun-
tains, funerary monuments, public squares, secular buildings,
and a series of temporary structures for festivals and funerals.
There are fifty monumental fountains and hundreds of smaller
fountains in Rome. The total number of fountains is over 2 000.
This is more than any other city in the whole world. Bernini’s
fountains were both papal monuments, and public works.
As an architect Bernini adjusted a number of sacred, as well
as secular buildings. Sometimes, Bernini also adjusted the inte-
riors and urban settings of these buildings. Furthermore, he also
designed new constructions. For example, he got five commis-
sions for building new churches. Thus, Bernini was a very busy
man. Fortunately, he was able to reuse many of his own designs
in several places.

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Bernini’s main task as an architect was to design the ellipti-
cal Piazza San Pietro (1656–1667) in front of the Renaissance
church St. Peter's Basilica, in the Vatican City. This is one of his
most innovative and successful architectural designs. Bernini
had up to 200 employees who carried out many of his projects
(Fagiolo, 2004). There are two fountains in the piazza. The archi-
tect Carlo Maderno (1556–1629) designed the first fountain
(1612–1614), and Bernini designed the second fountain (1667–
1677).
The elliptical Piazza San Pietro (1656–1667) seen from the dome
of St. Peter's Basilica. Picture: Wikimedia Commons.
Design of motion
Bernini was a pioneer in the design of motion. He solved a num-
ber of complicated spatial relationships and various motion
problems with great imagination and great skill. Bernini trans-
formed certainty and immobility into ambiguity and movement

127
(Fagiolo, 2004, p. 7). Already at a young age he demonstrated
this with some stunning works.
Like Donatello and Michelangelo also Bernini portrayed Da-
vid’s battle against Goliath in his early marble sculpture David
(1623–1624). However, unlike earlier versions that show David
in his triumph after the battle with Goliath, Bernini has captured
David just a few seconds before he knocks down Goliath. David
is biting his lip in determined concentration. One almost gets the
impression that these marble characters are alive.
Bernini developed sculpture to a level that no one had seen
before, or after him. He often made his sculptures as fully inte-
grated parts of the surrounding space. Bernini’s work in sculp-
ture corresponds to what Pietro da Cortona (1596–1669), Rem-
brandt (1606–1669) and Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) did in
painting during the Baroque period.
Design of sound
Bernini was also a pioneer in the design of light and sound. He
used and reused sound and created several “naturalistic foun-
tains” with carefully designed sound effects of rippling water.
Commissioned by Pope Urban VIII Bernini created the Tri-
ton Fountain (1642–1643) in the Piazza Barberini. This master-
piece of Baroque sculpture represents Triton, blowing his horn
to calm the waters. Triton, half-man and half-fish, is a minor sea
god of ancient Greco-Roman legend. He is depicted as a merman
kneeling on the sum of four dolphin tailfins. The four dolphins
entwine the papal tiara with crossed keys and the heraldic Bar-
berini bees in their scaly tails. From his shell the sea god Triton
has sprayed water through a conch for more than 350 years.
Another famous fountain is the Fountain of the Four Rivers
(1648–1651) in the middle of Piazza Navona. It is a highly theat-
rical fountain. Four statues of river Gods represent rivers from
the four continents: the Nile is representing Africa, the Danube
is representing Europe, the Ganges is representing Asia, and the
Río de la Plata is representing the Americas. The papal authority

128
spread through these four major rivers. (Also see the section Ec-
stasy of St. Theresa in the main section Design of light.)
Bernini created several “naturalistic fountains” with carefully
designed sound effects of rippling water. One of his most beau-
tiful fountains is Fountain of the Triton in Piazza Barberini
(1642–1643).

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Today, different sounds are used to distribute many kinds of
messages in work environments. Simple auditory signals can
provide information about breaks, time, and work shifts.
Auditory alarms are used to support visual displays and warn-
ings. One example is various alarms built into medical equip-
ment for intensive care in hospitals. Edworthy (2017, p. 385)
noted that it in some situations might be a good idea to design
abstract and coded alarms.
Frank Gehry
The American-Canadian architect Frank Gehry was born in Can-
ada in 1929. He attended the University of Southern California
and the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Gehry began his ca-
reer in Los Angeles. He started his own firm in 1962.
A number of his extreme “sculptural” buildings, with curved
volumes rather than straight walls, have become world-re-
nowned attractions. As a “multi award-winning” architect he has
spent more than a half-century disrupting the very meaning of
design within architecture. From the iconic Guggenheim Mu-
seum Bilbao to the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, Gehry has
proven time and again the force that’s produced when whimsical
design is done masterfully (Sokol and Mafi, 2018).
Frank Gehry has explained that his design for the Guggen-
heim Museum in Bilbao in Spain “just happened.” This design
process was a lot like a “chance fluke,” an unexpected stroke of
good luck (Pile, 2000, p. 278). Gehry multiplied the museum’s
exhibition space in a mountain of stone, glass, and titanium that
follows the contours of the Nervión river. The museum Atrium
has curved volumes, and large glass curtain walls, connecting the
inside and the outside. The Atrium is an ample space, flooded
with light and covered by a great skylight. Building of the mu-
seum went almost unnoticed in the press. The opening in 1997
caused an explosion of publicity.
Earlier, many architects were obsessed by perfect propor-
tions and the golden mean. For example, the Swiss-French

130
architect Le Corbusier (1887–1965) often used the proportion ra-
tios according to the golden section in his buildings.
The Dancing House was designed by Vlado Milunić and Frank
Gehry on a vacant riverfront plot in Prague, Czech Republic. It
was completed in 1996. Picture: Wikimedia Commons.

131
In 1992 the Croatian-Czech architect Vlado Milunić and
Frank Gehry started a cooperation in order to elaborate Milunić’s
idea of a building consisting of two parts, one static and one dy-
namic. The two parts, “yin and yang” symbolize the transition of
Czechoslovakia from a communist regime to a parliamentary de-
mocracy. This design was driven mainly by aesthetic considera-
tions. The Dancing House was built on a small, vacant riverfront
plot in Prague. In 1997 the Dancing House won Time Magazine’s
design contest, and the Architect Magazine named it one of the 5
most important buildings in the 1990’s (Chroustovský, 2015).
This is the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany,
designed by Frank Gehry (2015). The museum is dedicated to
the research and presentation of design, past and present, and
examines the relationship of design to architecture, art and eve-
ryday culture. Picture: Wikimedia commons.
Like many other architects, architectural historians and ar-
chitectural theorists, Frank Gehry has been influenced by Marcel
Duchamp. In the past twenty-five years architects have picked up
on concepts in which Duchamp was interested, and integrated

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them into their own architectural works (Tigner, 2019). Du-
champ’s concepts of chance, metaphor, and projection have been
used by numerous architects. There was a strong element of
chance in Duchamp’s creation of his readymades. The mass-pro-
duced objects were chosen at random, and they were aestheti-
cally indifferent.
Gehry’s work reflects a spirit of experimentation coupled
with a respect for the demands of professional practice and has
remained largely unaligned with broader stylistic tendencies or
movements (Power, 2015).
Adolf W. Edelsvärd
Adolf Wilhelm Edelsvärd (1824–1919) was a Swedish architect,
engineer, and military officer. Edelsvärd studied civil architec-
ture, both in Sweden, on the European continent, and in Eng-
land. Along with several public and private buildings Edelsvärd
also designed some churches. He also designed the exhibition
hall for the General Industrial Exposition of Stockholm (1866).
After his military career he served as the head architect for
the Swedish National Railways from 1855–1895.
This main section includes the following sections: Building
of the Swedish National Railways, The first Main Lines, Station
buildings, and Cottages for lengthmen.
Building of the Swedish National Railways
In the past, it was very difficult to get around between different
places. In Sweden, the roads were completely substandard and
they could not even cope with the wear and tear by horses and
their carriages. Many transports could only be made during the
winter when it was possible to travel with sledges over the frozen
bogs and the frozen lakes. Several of our cities in Sweden are lo-
cated by the water because transport by boat was the only possi-
bility for people to handle transports.
In 1853, the Swedish Parliament decided that the state
would finance, build and operate all longer railway lines, so-

133
called “Main Lines” in the country. Individual companies and
also private individuals were allowed to invest in, to build and to
operate local, private railways. In the same year, some people ex-
perimented with the first steam railway engine in Eskilstuna. It
was called “The first one” (Swedish: Förstlingen). In 1856, the
first railways started with steam locomotives. Then a series of lo-
cal railways followed at a rapid pace in various places around the
country.
In the railways owned by the state, so called “normal tracks”
were used. Here the width of the track was 1,435 millimetres. The
private railways used cheaper, more “narrow tracks.” Here, the
width of the tracks varied between 891 and 1,067 millimetres.
The first Main Lines
The Swedish mechanical engineer Nils Ericson, the famous
builder of the 190 km Göta Canal (Swedish: Göta kanal), was
commissioned to unilaterally lead the planning and the construc-
tion of the main railways in Sweden. Nils Ericson hired Adolf W.
Edelsvärd to design all the station buildings, as well as other nec-
essary buildings along these new railways.
During the period 1856–1862, the state built the “Western
Main Line” (Swedish: Västra stambanan). This railway con-
nected the capital Stockholm in the east coast of the country with
Gothenburg in the west coast of the country. Gothenburg is the
second largest city in Sweden. From the beginning, the single
railway track “Western Main Line” ran from Stockholm, via
many smaller cities, south-west through the whole country down
to Gothenburg (Krantz, 1962).
In many places, soldiers participated in the work with the
new railway track. Along the entire railway, a total of 2,650 men
worked on the railway track. During the month of July 1857, no
less than 7,700 men worked on the railway track. The entire new
railway was completed during the autumn of 1862.
When the railway was inaugurated, there were 40 stations,
9 stops, and a number of loading bays. The inauguration train

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started in Stockholm at 8.54 in the morning on 3 November
1862. The king Karl XV and many celebrities were invited guests.
The train stopped at many places for local festivities. The train
arrived in Gothenburg late in the evening on the following day, 4
November.
Since the year 1832 people “only” had to spend four and a
half days in order to travel with a stagecoach between Stockholm
and Gothenburg. Thanks to this new Western Main Line travel-
ling time had been reduced to 14 hours. (Today travel between
Stockholm and Gothenburg takes three–four hours with a mod-
ern train running on an electrified double track. The length of the
Western Main Line is 455 kilometres.)
In 1863, it was calculated that the total cost of the Western
Main Line was more than 36 million “riksdaler” (Styrelsen över
Statens jernvägsbyggnader 1872, s. 309). According to a “Price
Converter from the Middle Ages to 2100,” this sum corresponds
to approximately 2.3 billion Swedish crowns today, measured by
the consumer price index (Edvinsson, 2021). This sum included
the building of 40 complete railway stations, some railway en-
gines, railway-carriages, and railway trucks.
The Southern Main Line (Swedish: Södra stambanan) was
built at the same time as the Western Main Line, during the years
1856–1862. From Malmö the Southern Main Line runs north. It
connects to the Western Main Line, which made it easy also to
travel between Stockholm and Malmö. The Southern Main Line
included 28 railway stations. Here, the total cost was more than
22 million “riksdaler”. This sum corresponds to approximately
1.4 billion Swedish crowns today.
Station buildings
As early as 1855, the “Swedish National Railways’ architectural
office” was established in Sweden. This architectural office was
active for 130 years. It was responsible for all the facilities along
the state railways. The subsequent chief architects were Adolf W.
Edelsvärd, Folke Zettervall, Birger Jonson, and Karl-Axel Bladh.

135
This picture shows the railway station in Gnesta in 1900. The
so-called “Gnesta model” is one of Edelsvärd’s model types for
station buildings. The model was widely distributed along the
“Western Main Line” (Västra stambanan) and the “Southern
Main Line” (Södra stambanan). The railway station in Gnesta
was built in the 1860s. The station building was built of wood.
It had a waiting room for first- and second-class passengers, a
waiting room for third-class passengers, and a vestibule. The
small rooms were an earth closet, luggage room, office, storage
room, and ticket office. In 1907, this house was replaced by a
brick building. See drawings in Styrelsen över Statens jernvägs-
byggnader, 1868, p. 55. Picture: Wikimedia Commons.
The architect's tasks included the preparation of sketches,
drawings, cost calculations, building regulations, construction
documents and delivery agreements, but also the procurement of
such that was not available on the construction site (Linde, 1989,
p. 20). There was a rapid expansion of the railway during the 40
years that Adolf Edelsvärd was the head architect and manager
(1855–1895). The group at the architectural office were at most

136
four people. Edelsvärd and his team designed and made draw-
ings for a total of 5,725 railway buildings (Bedoire, 2015, p.75).
The 5,725 railway buildings involved everything from coal
sheds, cottages, engine sheds, horse stables, outbuildings, priv-
ies, residential houses, restaurants, sheds, station buildings,
storage buildings, warehouses, water towers, and workshops
(Styrelsen över Statens jernvägsbyggnader, 1872).
This picture shows a train that has stopped at Töreboda station
in Västergötland in January 1866. Töreboda station was built
already in 1859. It is a so-called “Alingsås model” (1858), an-
other of Edelsvärd’s model types for station buildings. Until the
20th century, Töreboda was an important junction between the
“Western Main Line” (Västra stambanan) and Göta Canal
(Göta kanal). The 190 km long Göta Canal was constructed in
the early 19th century. Here, a canal boat can be seen to the left
in the picture, behind the railway station main building. Behind
the boat, a stagecoach is arriving. Picture: Wikimedia Com-
mons.

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Edelsvärd and his team created a total of 297 station build-
ings (Linde, 1989, p. 9, 22). Of these buildings 87 were unique,
including the Gothenburg Central Station (1856, see drawings in
Styrelsen över Statens jernvägs-byggnader, 1868, p. 47–48),
Norrköping Central station (1865), Uppsala Central station
(1865), Stockholm Central Station (1869), and Malmö Central
station (1890).
All the other 210 station buildings were built according to 41
type models (Bedoire, 2015, p.78). The team used and re-used
their detailed designs and drawings. In a similar way the archi-
tectural office re-used detailed designs and drawings for all the
other kinds of buildings. Furthermore, a number of private rail-
way corporations copied and re-used many of these design solu-
tions. Usually, local construction companies were commissioned
to build all the buildings according to finished descriptions and
drawings.
Cottages for lengthmen
Lengthmen were the very important category of railway staff who
were responsible for keeping the track in a good and safe condi-
tion at all times. The trains must be able to run with satisfactory
safety in our four changing seasons. The entire railway was di-
vided into approximately 2.5 km long sections. Each lengthman
was given responsibility for one specific part.
During the 1860s, every lengthman had to inspect “his
track,” including the embankment, before and after a train
passed. As a confirmation that the route was safe, the lengthman
would stand by the track when the train passed and give the en-
gine driver a “clear signal.” During the period 1856 to 1930, the
number of lengthmen needed per Swedish mile (ten kilometres)
of railway varied between three and eight.
A very small cottage was designed in the 1850.s. The main
part of this building measured 10 x 8 feet (approximately 3 x 2.4
meters). In addition, the cottage had a small hall and a small
place for firewood at the back. Along the Western Main Line, 31

138
of these small cottages were built. They were intended for unmar-
ried lengthmen (Styrelsen över Statens jernvägsbyggnader,
1868).
In 1862 The Western Main Line had built 186 larger cottages
intended for lenghtmen with families. Two of these cottages were
intended for two families. All the other cottages were intended
for one household. At the same time The Southern Main Line had
built 178 lengthmens’s cottages.
Every cottage had a sign with a number facing the railway.
These cottages were built according to type models. Cottages had
the outer dimensions 25 x 16 feet, approximately 7.4 x 4.75 me-
ters. There was one room and a kitchen. Every cottage also had a
small hall, and a space for storing firewood (Technical-Economic
Committee, 1872). Many cottages were located where a country
road crossed the railway track. Over time, the dimensions of the
cottages varied slightly (Axelsson, 2007). Cottages were small,
but built with great care (Linde, 1989).
A later model was larger than the previous model. The meas-
urements varied a bit. It had a small hall, two rooms, and a
kitchen. There was also a small, separate outbuilding with space
for one or two cows, one calf and maybe even a pig. The outbuild-
ing also had space for materials and tools necessary for the
lengthman, as well as feed for the animals and food for the fam-
ily. Over time, this type of cottage gained several followers, some
of these became larger (Axelsson, 2007).
During the first 40 years, the state built a total of 1,709 cot-
tages for the lengthmen along the state railways (Linde, 1989).
During the next ten years the state built another 189 cottages.
From the total of 1,898 cottages most were built of wood. How-
ever, 240 cottages were built in other materials, such as brick.
Many lengthmen got large families, which soon led to a need for
new drawings with alterations and extensions of the small cot-
tages. In addition, many private railways built very similar cot-
tages for their lengthmen.

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This picture shows a cottage intended for a lenghtman with his
family. The cottage is about 16 x 25 feet, approximately 5 x 7.5
meters. It was used along the Western Main Line and along the
Southern Main Line. These drawings were designed by Adolf W.
Edelsvärd, and published by Styrelsen över Statens jernvägs-
byggnader (1868, p. 58).

140
This picture shows a lengthman with his wife and three children
outside the cottage “256 Getaslätt” at the Southern Main Line
(Swedish: Södra stambanan). Note that we see the cottage in
this picture from the back in relation to how we see the cottage
in the drawing on the previous page. Here the entrance to the
cottage is on the right side. In the drawing, the entrance to the
cottage is on the left side. This picture is from 1922, but the cot-
tage may have been built 60 years before that. This cottage was
demolished in 1923. Photographer unknown. The picture is pro-
vided by the Brogårdh collection, Osby municipality.
The system with lengthmen were active from the railway’s
childhood until around 1960. From the beginning the lengthmen
usually lived in small cottages, scattered along the almost 17,000
kilometres of railways that have existed in Sweden. These small
buildings have now largely disappeared. However, many draw-
ings remain in archives, such as Styrelsen över Statens jernvägs-
byggnader (1868).

141
Sculpture
Many modern artists use, and have used, found objects/ready-
mades in their art. There are many denominations for this kind
of art, such as “Assemblage,” “Combines,” “Found object art-
work,” “Mixed media sculpture,” and “Readymade sculpture.”
This chapter includes the following main sections: Michel-
angelo, Auguste Rodin, Marcel Duchamp, Salvador Dalí, Pablo
Picasso, Jean Tinguely, and Robert Rauschenberg.
Michelangelo
The versatile Michelangelo (1475–1564) was an Italian architect,
engineer, painter, poet and sculptor. He was the most innovative
and influential visual artist of the Italian High Renaissance and
something of a “super celebrity.” The many-sided personality of
Michelangelo also expressed itself in architecture. In this field he
also reveals a genius. He got many commissions, but he had no
time to work with all of them. Sometimes architecture and sculp-
ture merged.
Michelangelo is the best-documented artist of the 16th cen-
tury. He never showed people the many sketches he used to do
before executing his works. Michelangelo even burned and de-
stroyed many of the sketches continuously (Nilsson, 2006). In
this way, he could start afresh, until he attained the highest per-
fection (Santino, 1985, p. 98).
Michelangelo even continuously burned and destroyed
many of his sketches (Nilsson, 2006). However, in spring 2006,
an exhibition at the British Museum in London showed about 90
survival sketches made by Michelangelo. These detailed sketches
and studies show the very extensive work behind some of his
masterpieces. The sketches show, for example, several versions
of a finger, a head, a muscle, or a knee. Michelangelo suspected
that other contemporary artists would copy his sketches and re-
use them for their own benefits (Optiz, 2006).

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The Pietà (1498–1501) in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City is a
masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture.
However, Michelangelo reused his own work many times.
He made numerous representations of the Madonna and the
Child, the Holy Family, both in painting and in sculpture.

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When Michelangelo was only 23 years old (1498), he re-
ceived a commission from the French Cardinal Jean Bilhères–
Lagraulas (c 1435–1499). He commissioned Michelangelo to
carve a Pietà sculpture showing “a dressed virgin Mary holding
the dead Christ in her arms, where both characters are of natural
size” (Geese, 1999, p. 226). The artwork should be completed
within a year and paid with 450 ducats of gold. In Christian art,
the word Pietà refers to Virgin Mary’s lamentation, her passion-
ate expression of feelings like grief, sadness, or sorrow about her
dead son, Jesus Christ.
The work took a bit longer for Michelangelo, but the pyram-
idal sculpture Pietà, in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City, is
one of his most important works (1498–1501). Michelangelo
carved the body of Jesus in Carrara marble, on the right lap of his
(very young) mother Mary. It is a uniformly interwoven compo-
sition, and the only sculpture that Michelangelo has signed. Since
1519, the Pietà is housed in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City.
It is the only sculpture that Michelangelo has signed.
According to Santino (1985, p. 18) the pyramidal marble
sculpture Pietà shows a moment of supreme balance, exemplary
beauty, harmony of feeling and attitude and classical finish, re-
fined and perfect in the whole and in every detail.
The pietà motif of lamentation sculptures originated in Ger-
many in the early 1300s. As so often, the subject was prepared in
literature before it reached the visual arts. It spread, and reached
Italy about 1400. The pietà became especially popular and com-
mon in Central Europe (Schiller, 1972). There were many pietà
sculptures in Germany and also in France. This motif also
reached Sweden about 1400 (Karlsson, 2009, p. 224). At that
time many churches got painted, wooden sculptures from Ger-
many.
Later Michelangelo worked with two other Pietà sculptures,
one for the Florence Cathedral (1547–1555) and one for Palazzo
Rondanini (1552–1564). However, none of these works were
completely finished. Michelangelo’s pietà group in St. Peter’s

144
Basilica has served as a model and an inspiration for many later
sculptors.
During the 1520s, Michelangelo worked with two tombs for
the brothers Giuliano di Lorenzo de’ Medici (1453–1478) and Lo-
renzo di Piero de’ Medici (1449–1492) in the New Sacristy of San
Lorenzo in Florence. Michelangelo was responsible for its archi-
tecture. In fact, these two monuments are architecture and sculp-
ture in one.
Auguste Rodin
The French sculptor François-Auguste-René Rodin (1840–1917)
had a traditional schooling. He was never adopted at any of the
distinguished academies in Paris. For many years Rodin had to
make a living as a craftsman. He collaborated with established
sculptors in various public missions both as a decorative sculptor
and as a stucco worker. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, sculpture re-emerged from centuries of semi-eclipse.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, sculp-
ture re-emerged from centuries of semi-eclipse. Sculpture had
become an art of smooth craftsmanship. Rodin became an ex-
traordinary creative artist. He recalled sculpture to a close con-
tact with the nature of its material and with the observer’s own
awareness of physicality and weight.
In 1880, Rodin was commissioned to create an extensive
monumental work for the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris,
with figures from Dante’s “Inferno.” He worked with the project
The Gates of Hell until 1916. The project included 150 different
characters showing the mystery, tragedy and wealth of existence.
This project was never completed. The huge door construction is
crowned with the original version of The thinker. Here the sculp-
ture is 71.5 cm high. This part was completed in 1888, and then
greatly enlarged in 1902. The Thinker has been cast in multiple
versions and is found around the world. There are about 28 full-
sized castings, in which the figure is about 186 cm high. Rodin
showed the large sculpture separately at a major exhibition in

145
Paris in 1904. The Thinker is often interpreted as an image of
pondering and remorse, but perhaps it relates more to the reason
and the search for existence. This bronze sculpture is used as a
symbol of human feelings in many different contexts.
This specimen of the bronze sculpture The Thinker (1900) is lo-
cated at Waldemarsudde in Stockholm, the original home of
Prince Eugen of Sweden and Norway (1865–1947). Prince Eu-
gen was an art collector, and one of the foremost landscape
painters in his generation. This is one of about 28 full-sized cast-
ings of The Thinker, in which the figure is about 186 cm high.

146
Rodin possessed a unique ability to work with clay (Tucker,
1988, p. 20). He worked in clay in an “object-oriented manner”
and he used the same form elements in several of his sculptures
(Pettersson 2019, p. 193). He modelled the human body with re-
alism and departed from traditional decorative tradition.
When Rodin finished an original sculpture, a group of assis-
tants and talented craftsmen made a number of versions of it in
bronze and in marble. These versions can be both larger and
smaller than the original sculpture. During the peak of his career
Rodin had up to 50 assistants. According to Cavalli-Björkman
(2004), for example The Age of Bronze was cast in 50 copies. But
after the work with the sculpture The Kiss (1889), Rodin realized
that it gave greater creative opportunities to allow the craftsmen
to work more freely after less accurate models. These assistants
created a large number of single parts of the human body, “a kind
of readymade parts,” ready to be combined into new sculptures.
Tucker (1988, p. 43) remarked that there was a clear risk
that commercial demands determined the final forms and quality
of Rodin’s sculptures. Enlargements, reductions, transpositions
into marble, together with great numbers of casts of the most
popular pieces, all tended to obscure what was strong and origi-
nal in Rodin’s sculpture.
Rodin’s closest successors as impressionist sculptors were
Aristide Maillol (1861–1944), Antoine Bourdelle (1861–1929)
and Charles Despiau (1874–1946) in France, as well as Medardo
Rosso (1858–1928) and Arturo Martini (1889–1947) in Italy.
In Paris, Antoine Bourdelle was a sculptor at the private art
school “Académie de la Grande Chaumière.” He became a direct
link between Rodin and several later successful sculptors, such
as Alberto Giacometti (1901–1966). By doing so, Rodin’s
thoughts and forms of expression were conveyed to later genera-
tions. This can be seen as a strong proof of influence.
Many of Rodin’s works are available at the Musée Rodin in
Paris. The museum, founded in 1916 and opened in 1919, has
more than 6,000 sculptures and 7,000 works on paper.

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Marcel Duchamp
Henri Robert Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968) was born and grow
up in Normandy, France. Four of six Duchamp children became
successful artists. Marcel’s older brother, who took the name
Jacques Villon, was a fauvist, Cubist, and abstract impressionist
painter, and printmaker. His other brother Raymond Duchamp-
Villon was a Cubist sculptor. His sister Suzanne was a fauvist,
conservative Cubist, and impressionist painter.
This main section includes the following sections: Abstract
movements, Bicycle Wheel and Bottle Rack, Fountain, Rrose
Sélavy, and Context of a message.
Abstract movements
Marcel Duchamp was interested in our perception of change,
distance, movement, and transition. In 1911 he added an impres-
sion of an abstract movement in time by using superimposed im-
ages in his two paintings Sad Young Man on a Train, and Nude
Descending a Staircase. This was similar to stroboscopic motion
photography, and also stop-motion photography.
In January 1912 Marcel Duchamp painted Nude Descending
a Staircase, No. 2, oil on canvas, 147 x 89 cm (Naumann, 1999,
p. 42). Here, dark outlines limit the natural contours of the body.
Motion lines and abstract body parts suggest movement of the
figure. Darker colours indicate the steps in the staircase. The
monochrome bright palette ranges from yellow ochre to dark, al-
most black tones. The painting has elements of both the fragmen-
tation and synthesis of the Cubists, and the dynamism and move-
ment of the Futurists. For Futurists, this approach was a means
of giving the illusion of dynamism and power. For Duchamp, it
was more a question of intellectual, and theoretical analysis.
In 1912 Marcel painted the last of his Cubist-inspired, and
Cubist-like paintings. He then began making plans for his forth-
coming, large, and major work The Bride Stripped Bare by Her
Bachelors, Even, or often just The Large Glass. He wrote short
notes to himself, sometimes with sketches. These notes reflect

148
myth, and unique rules of physics. Henderson (1998, p. 31 f.) dis-
cussed Duchamp’s gradual transition from painter to artist 1912
to 1914.
In 1913 Marcel Duchamp began working as a librarian in or-
der to get a safe income. During this period, he made experi-
ments with science in art. Duchamp got tired of traditional paint-
ing, what he called “retinal art” (Tomkins, 2014, p. 156). In his
view retinal art was only visual and only appealing to the eye, ra-
ther than engaging the brain (Duchamp, 1956). Duchamp looked
for other, new methods of expression. He decided to produce a
small number of boxes with reproductions of some of his main
pictures, and copies of some of his notes related to his project The
Large Glass. The first version of his box is from 1914. With some
exceptions he worked with this project from 1915 to 1923.
The connection between image and text was very important
for Duchamp. In fact, he worked with multimodal communica-
tion, but at that time nobody used this term. Multimodal refers
to a person’s way of communicating by using more than one way
at the same time (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 1996). We use verbal
language, but also gestures, images, postures, and other non-ver-
bal modes often at the same time to communicate.
In 1915 Duchamp moved to the United States. His first years
in New York, 1915–1918, were the greatest period in his early mo-
ments of glory and influence (Hultén, 1993, p. 17). He already
was a celebrity.
Bicycle Wheel and Bottle Rack
In 1913 Marcel Duchamp mounted a bicycle wheel upside down
onto a stool in his studio. According to Tomkins (2014, p. 131)
Duchamp has always said that he had no specific idea in mind
when he made the Bicycle Wheel. Tomkins wrote:
The Bicycle Wheel “just came about as a pleasure,” he said,
“something to have in my room the way you have a fire, or a
pencil sharpener, except that there was no usefulness. It was

149
a pleasant gadget, pleasant for the movement it gave.” He
found it wonderfully restful to turn the wheel and watch the
spokes blur, become invisible, then slowly reappear as it
slowed down ...
However, Marcel Duchamp never submitted this “wheel installa-
tion” to any art exhibition.
This picture shows a certified replica of the lost original of the
readymade Bicycle Wheel (1913). The picture is provided by
Moderna Museet in Stockholm.

150
In one interview 1959 his brother Jacques Villon said: “Mar-
cel went into abstract art because he could not stand all those
people who raved about beautiful sunsets” (Liberman, 1988, p.
232). In 1914 Marcel Duchamp found an interesting bottle drying
rack. In the “Art world” the Bottle Rack is considered to be the
first pure “readymade” (Hultén, 1993, p. 14).
This picture shows a certified replica of the lost original of the
readymade Bottle Rack (1914). The picture is provided by
Moderna Museet in Stockholm.

151
In a letter (from New York) to his sister Suzanne (dated 15
January 1916) Marcel asked her to go to his studio in Paris where
she would find a bicycle wheel and a bottle rack. He asked her to
inscribe certain words, and sign the bottle rack and make her a
gift of it. Unfortunately, the original Bicycle Wheel and the orig-
inal Bottle Rack were both lost when his studio in Paris was
cleared out.
In New York Marcel Duchamp collected some common,
mass-produced objects, treated them as art and called them
readymades. Duchamp found and selected a regular snow
shovel, which he called In Advance of the Broken Arm. At that
time the term readymade was used in the United States to de-
scribe ordinary items that were manufactured. People wanted to
be able to distinguish between “ready made objects,” and tradi-
tional “handmade objects.” In 1964 Marcel Duchamp explained
the term readymade as follows: “I coined that word for ready
made objects which I designed as works of art by simply signing
them” (Henderson, 1998, p. 66). Sometimes he also modified his
objects. This way “an ordinary object became art.” According to
Boxer (1999) Duchamp had said that the bottle rack was a sculp-
ture “already made.” He replaced creation by selecting a finished
object, which he signed, and gave a name. According to Duchamp
creating is to constantly choose between different options.
In summary, a readymade is an aesthetically indifferent,
mass-produced, ordinary object that is found, selected, signed
and reused as a work of art.
Fountain
Duchamp’s most prominent example of his close association with
the art movement Dada in New York was the readymade he
called Fountain, and submitted to the Society of Independent
Artists exhibit in New York (MacFarlane, 2015). The exhibition
opened to the public on 10 April 1917. Having 2,125 works of art
submitted by 1,200 artists it was the biggest event of its kind
(Tomkins, 2014, p. 177).

152
Duchamp was a member of the exhibition committee. The
rules explicitly stated that all works submitted would be exhib-
ited. Duchamp concluded: “if anyone can be an artist, then any-
thing can be art.”
The original readymade Fountain was signed R. MUTT, 1917.
Photo by Alfred Stieglitz. Picture: Wikimedia Commons.

153
Duchamp has recalled that the idea for Fountain arose from
a discussion at lunch with the art collector Walter Arensberg and
the Italian artist Joseph Stella (Howarth, 2000). About a week
before the exhibition Arensberg purchased a standard flat-back,
white Bedfordshire-model porcelain urinal (Tomkins, 2014, p.
178). Duchamp took it back to his studio, turned it upside down,
and painted the name R. MUTT, and the year 1917, in large black
letters on the rim at the lower left part. The object was delivered
to the exhibition two days before the opening. An envelope in-
cluded the fictitious Mr. Mutt’s six-dollar membership and entry
fee, and the work’s title: Fountain.
Members of the exhibition committee insisted that Foun-
tain “was not art” and rejected the piece from the exhibition
(Tomkins 2014, pp. 178–179). A piece of sanitary ware – and one
associated with bodily waste – could not be considered a work of
art. Furthermore, it was indecent (Howarth, 2000). Both Arens-
berg and Duchamp resigned from the board (Tomkins, 2014, p.
179). Later Duchamp has explained that he had not made his
identity known because of his position on the Society’s board
(Howarth, 2000).
Duchamp’s idea that art could take any form shocked the art
world. The original Fountain has disappeared, although a photo-
graph by Alfred Stieglitz still exists. Later Duchamp authorised
replicas of Fountain in 1950, and in 1963. Today, seventeen rep-
licas of the Fountain exist in various art galleries around the
world (MacFarlane, 2015).
It seems that Fountain is the only submission to the 1917
exhibition that is still remembered. In 2004, BBC found that 500
British renowned artists and historians selected Fountain as “the
most influential artwork of the 20th century” (BBC, 2004). The
Fountain is widely seen as an icon of twentieth-century art. Pablo
Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (The Young Ladies of Avi-
gnon, originally titled The Brothel of Avignon) from 1907 was
second, with Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych from 1962 coming
third.

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Simple in form but rich in metaphor, the Fountain has gen-
erated many interpretations over the years, and continues to be
seen as a work that challenges – or, at the least, complicates –
conventional definitions of art (Howarth, 2000). In 17 November
1999, a version of Fountain was sold at Sotheby’s, New York, for
$1,762,500 (Vogel, 1999).
However, some experts have seriously claimed that Marcel
Duchamp was not at all the artist behind the famous Fountain.
The real artist was one of his female friends in 1917. According to
Siri Hustvedt (2019) the Fountain is the first great feminist work
of art. See discussions in Camfield 1989, Howarth 2000, Gammel
2002, Thompson and Spalding 2015, and in Hustvedt 2019.
Rrose Sélavy
According to Tomkins (2014, p. 227) “Rose Sélavy sprang full-
grown from the mind of Marcel Duchamp during the late sum-
mer or early fall of 1920.” Rose Sélavy lent her name to all sorts
of verbal and visual artefacts and puns until 1941, when she re-
tired from the art scene. But why did Duchamp feel the need to
invent a female alter ego? “It was not to change my identity,” he
once said, “but to have two identities.” The name Rrose Sélavy
was one of Duchamp’s pseudonyms. The name itself is a pun. In
French it sounds like the phrase: “Eros, c’est la vie.” This phrase
may be translated as “Eros, such is life.”
The name Rrose Sélavy is used in the title of at least one
sculpture, Why Not Sneeze Rose Selavy? (1921). This is an as-
semblage, a type of readymade. The sculpture consists of a kind
of birdcage with small cubes of marble resembling sugar cubes, a
cuttlefish bone, and an oral thermometer.
The photo of Rrose Sélavy appears on the label of Belle Ha-
leine, Eau de Voilette (1921). This readymade is a perfume bottle
in its original box. Duchamp also signed his film Anemic Cinema
(1926) with the name Sélavy.
Many of Duchamp’s readymades are preserved only in pho-
tos, in replicas that he has sanctioned, and in some miniature

155
models. The influence of Duchamp’s readymades on 20th-cen-
tury art is “incalculable with effects on subsequent art, art his-
tory, and critical discourse” (Boxer, 1999). Would there be any
Conceptual Art at all without Marcel Duchamp? Toward the end
of his life Duchamp said: “I’m not at all sure that the concept of
the readymade isn’t the most important single idea to come out
of my work.” (Tomkins, 2014).
In 1997 the American journalist, scholar, and sculptor
Rhonda Roland Shearer, argued that Duchamp may actually
have created some of his “found objects” himself (Boxer, 1999).
In fact, the apparent Mona Lisa reproduction may be a copy that
is partly modelled on Duchamp’s own face (De Marting, 2003).
Over a period of 30 years Duchamp only made a total of thir-
teen readymades (Duchamp, 1956). His conception of the ready-
made changed and it developed over time.
Duchamp was inclined to give away his best work, and he
did not even consider selling his readymades (Tomkins 2014, p.
160). Tomkins remarked (p. 125): “From the beginning of his ca-
reer as an artist, Duchamp had made a practice of giving away
his work. Many of the early paintings and drawings had gone to
his brothers and sisters, others to friends …”
Context of a message
According to MacFarlane (2015) Duchamp did to art what Dar-
win did to religion, and what Einstein did to physics. With his
readymades Duchamp clearly showed the world that the context
of a message is very important. He also demonstrated that the
intended receivers of a message are very important. Duchamp
was interested in our perception of change, distance, movement,
and transition. For many decades Marcel Duchamp was seeking
answers to two questions: 1) What is to be deemed acceptable as
art? 2) Who decides this? If anyone can be an artist, then any-
thing can be art. Girst (2019, p. 48) remarked: “Within half a cen-
tury, the status of Duchamp’s readymades changed from icono-
clastic object to iconic sculpture.”

156
Since connections between images and texts are needed,
Duchamp supplied written comments to his main pictures. In
fact, Duchamp worked with multimodal communication in order
to convey his ideas.
Salvador Dalí
The Catalan painter Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí
Domènech (1904–1989) was one of the real foregrounds of mod-
ern art. He was born, lived, and died in the city of Figueras in the
region of Catalonia in northeastern Spain, near France. Salvador
Dalí was of great importance for the development of both Surre-
alism and Modernism.
This main section includes the following sections: Emerg-
ing modern art, Retrospective Bust of a Woman, Venus de Milo
with drawers, and Lobster Telephone.
Emerging modern art
Already at the age of twelve Salvador Dalí became fascinated by
the emerging modern art, including Cubism. During his studies
in Madrid he quickly learned to paint in different artistic styles.
In his biography of Salvador Dalí, the author Frank Weyers
writes, among other things (2000, p. 18–19): “All these experi-
ments in painting ran in parallel, and Dalí often worked simulta-
neously on images that differed greatly in shape. He was still in
search of his own, completely personal style.” From about 1926,
Dalí painted in a markedly sharp, almost photo-realistic style,
which the artist retested at the same time as he retested the other
styles. His painterly skills are often attributed to the influence of
Renaissance masters.
He later used this perfection in the reproduction of the mo-
tifs to portray unusual motifs from his daydreams and night-
mares as real events. Under the influence of paintings by Joan
Miró, Salvador Dalí began to freely place his fantasy motifs in
various places in pictures of real landscapes.

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Already in 1924 Salvador Dalí joined the Surrealists in Paris.
With close to photographic realism he painted strange fantasy
landscapes.
Throughout his life, Salvador Dalí was interested in new sci-
entific findings, which greatly influenced his art (Mollberger,
2006). When Albert Einstein visited Madrid in 1923, and lec-
tured on his theory of relativity, Salvador Dalí was an interested
listener. He got a passionate relationship with science. In the
1930s he became interested in quantum physics and he suc-
ceeded in weaving these theories into his painting.
Salvador Dalí was also interested in psychoanalysis and he
contacted Sigmund Freud. He described his dreams and halluci-
nations in his paintings. Dalí meant that he got his best ideas
through his dreams (Mollberger, 2006).
The period between 1929 and the outbreak of World War II
in Europe was the most productive period for Salvador Dalí. He
then developed his “paranoid-critical method.” It was an artistic
approach and a surrealistic style that made him very famous
throughout the world. In many of his works he used strict pro-
portions according to the principle of the Golden ratio.
In his paintings, Salvador Dalí used an advanced and mys-
terious symbolic language. From the beginning, he had great suc-
cess with the art critics. As a result, he gained a secure economy
and was thus able to experiment very freely and completely ac-
cording to his own ideas in his painting. It is likely that Salvador
Dalí was alone in the circle of surrealists to draw his inspiration
from modern science. He read a lot about the latest findings in
the areas that interested him.
In 1931, Dalí painted one of his most famous works, The Per-
sistence of Memory. It is one of the most recognizable works of
Surrealism with soft, melting pocket watches. A common inter-
pretation of the work is that the soft watches are a rejection of the
assumption that time is deterministic or rigid. Some scientists
believed that the watches described the theory of relativity.

158
However, Salvador Dalí himself claimed that the inspiration
simply came from melting soft cheese.
For many, Salvador Dalí is synonymous with surrealism and
crazy pranks. However, all paintings signed “Dalí” are not au-
thentic. In a truly surreal spirit, Salvador Dalí let anyone help
paint paintings in his own name.
Retrospective Bust of a Woman
In 1933 Salvador Dalí created the surrealist mixed media sculp-
ture Retrospective Bust of a Woman from various disparate
found objects. In his youth Salvador Dalí had seen an inkwell
with a picture of two peasants. This was a part of The Angelus, a
landscape painting (1857–1859) made by the French painter
Jean-François Millet (1814–1875). In the painting two peasants
are bowing in a field over a basket of potatoes to say a prayer.
Together with the ringing of the bell from a church this prayer
ritual marked the end of a day’s work. Much later, Salvador Dalí
insisted that this was a funeral scene, not a prayer ritual. The cou-
ple were praying and mourning over their dead infant. His own
brother had died young.
Salvador Dalí embedded an ink-well in a baguette. He
placed the loaf of bread with the embedded ink-well on top of a
porcelain bust. He painted the bust, and added beads, cobs of
corn, feathers, necklace, paint on paper, sand, and two pens. The
dimension of this sculpture is 73.9 x 69.2 x 32 cm. It is now in the
Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA, 2019).
See a picture of Retrospective Bust of a Woman
at the webpage of MoMA.
I am not allowed to show it here.
< https://www.moma.org/collection/works/81329 >
Salvador Dalí was one of the first artists to openly acknow-
ledge his human madness, and who accepted his needs, his
dreams, and vices without any real worries. He meant that he was

159
actually several people in one body. As an eccentric, provocateur,
PR genius, and surrealist, he was cross-border on many different
levels. He teased many people in his surroundings with his ec-
centric manner and attention-grabbing public actions (Meisler,
2005). He was eventually excluded from the surrealist group.
Venus de Milo with drawers
Salvador Dalí’s Surrealist sculpture Venus de Milo with drawers
(1936) is a half-size plaster reproduction of the famous antique
marble statue Venus de Milo, the ancient goddess of love, in
Musée du Louvre, Paris. The size of Dalí’s painted sculpture is 98
× 32.5 × 34 cm. Dalí has altered the original sculpture with draw-
ers in the figure’s forehead, breasts, stomach, abdomen, and left
knee. Dalí transformed the Greek goddess into a piece of living
furniture. The drawers are decorated with silky mink pompons.
Based on the ideas of Marcel Duchamp’s readymades Dalí has
united different elements to spark a new absolutely useless real-
ity, an integral part of Surrealist activities.
Salvador Dalí was deeply influenced by the work of Sigmund
Freud, who discovered that the human body, is full of secret
drawers that only psychoanalysis is capable to open. The drawers
are a metaphor for the way Freudian psychoanalysis opens the
hidden areas of the unconscious. It is possible that Venus de Milo
with drawers was a result of Dalí’s explorations into his thoughts
about psychological mysteries of sexual desire.
See a picture of Venus de Milo with drawers
at The Art Institute Chicago.
I am not allowed to show it here.
< https://www.artic.edu/artworks/185184/venus-de-milo-
with-drawers >

160
Lobster Telephone
As a child the surrealist and wealthy artist and collector Edward
William Frank James (1907–1984) inherited a large English es-
tate in West Dean, West Sussex, and a fortune. He was a British
poet known for his patronage of the surrealist art movement. The
eccentric Edward James helped Dalí emerge into the art world by
purchasing many works and by supporting him financially for
two years. Edward James spent a small fortune on Dalí himself,
and eventually owned between forty and fifty of his best works,
all from the 1930s. His collection of paintings and art objects sub-
sequently came to be accepted as the finest collection of surreal-
ist work in private hands (Coleby, 1998).
Among other things Edward James and Salvador Dalí col-
laborated on two of the most enduring icons of the Surrealist
movement: the Lobster Telephone and the Mae West Lips Sofa
(Ward, 1994).
Lobsters and telephones had strong sexual connotations for
Salvador Dalí. The telephone appears in certain paintings of the
late 1930s, and the lobster appears in drawings and designs, usu-
ally associated with erotic pleasure and pain. In 1936 Dalí created
the surrealist object Lobster Telephone. It is also known as Aph-
rodisiac Telephone for Edward James. This work consists of an
ordinary working telephone and a lobster made of plaster, fitted
to the handset (Riggs, 1998). So, in fact it was not “absolutely
useless.” The dimension of this readymade sculpture is approxi-
mately 15 x 30 x 17 cm. Dalí produced five copies of the colour
version of his telephone.
Edward James purchased four Lobster telephones from
Dalí, with which he replaced all the original phones in his country
retreat. One original Lobster telephone is now at the Tate Gallery.
A second is at the German Telephone Museum in Frankfurt. The
third belongs to the Edward James Foundation, and the fourth is
at the National Gallery of Australia.

161
This is a photograph of the Lobster Telephone as shown at the
Tate Modern in London, UK. Picture: Wikimedia Commons.
Salvador Dalí inspired Edward James to turn his country
manor into a fantasy palace filled with every kind of strange and
exotic objects. Dalí suggested that James filled his rooms with
“surrealist objects.” Such objects should be absolutely useless
from the practical and rational point of view, and only created for
the purpose of materialising, fantasies and ideas and with a de-
lirious character (Ward, 1994).
Salvador Dalí created the surrealist furniture/object/sculp-
ture called Mae West Lips Sofa (1937) for Edward James. The
sculpture is 86.5 x 183 x 81.5 cm, and made of wood and red
satin. Dalí gave his sculpture the colour and form of Mae West’s
lips. Dalí was very fascinated by the actress Mae West. This is not
a readymade object. Dalí and James never intended for the sofa
to serve a functional use.

162
With his stubborn staring, his long, twisted and waxed mus-
taches, and his long nails, he himself contributed actively to a
spread of rumors and myths about himself. He went much fur-
ther than many other creative people when it came to drawing
attention to his own person.
Salvador Dalí also worked with film. For example, he did the
dream sequence in Hitchcock’s psychological thriller Spellbound
(1945). An Andalusian Dog (1929) is an odd surrealist film by
Salvador Dalí and his close friend Luis Buñuels (1900–1983). His
main contribution was to help Buñuel write the script for the
film.
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (1881–1973) was a Spanish artist, who spent
most of his adult life in France. He was a painter and sculptor,
but also a ceramicist, poet, printmaker, and stage designer. He
was inspired by African and Iberian art, and the developments in
the world around him. Picasso contributed significantly to a
number of artistic movements, notably Cubism, Surrealism, Ne-
oclassicism, and Expressionism.
There are many texts about Picasso. Hardly any other artist
has inspired so much literature. Nor would any visual artist have
exerted such fascination on a wide audience, far beyond the cir-
cles of special interest. This text is restricted to two readymades.
This main section includes the following sections: Glass of
Absinthe, and The Bull’s Head.
Glass of Absinthe
In 1912 Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque (1882–1963) took the
Cubist revolution one step further with their invention of collage.
They glued bits of cloth, paper, and other fragments of the “real
world” to the surfaces of their canvases. With their new collages
they came very close to an art of complete abstraction.
As a sculptor Pablo Picasso sometimes worked with found
objects. During the spring 1914 Picasso made his sculpture Glass

163
of Absinthe, a life-size rendering of a glass of liquor with a real
trowel-shaped, slotted absinthe spoon, and a modeled sugar cube
(21.6 × 16.4 × 8.5 cm). With the sculpture Glass of Absinthe Pi-
casso showed the world that it is possible to create a sculpture by
assembling readymade, everyday objects. This sculpture has
been cast in bronze in an edition of six, and then hand-painted.
People were shocked for its banality.
See a picture at the webpage of MoMA.
I am not allowed to show it here.
< https://www.moma.org/collection/works/81307 >
During the years 1929–1931 Picasso was assisted by his
compatriot Julio Gonzáles (1876–1942), to weld iron sculptures
of sheet metal and wires. Already a few years earlier, Gonzáles
himself had experimented with this type of sculpture, where the
void transformed into an active part of the sculpture.
The Bull’s Head
In 1942 Pablo Picasso found handlebars and a seat from a bicycle.
He created the found object artwork Bull’s Head. Later it was cast
in bronze. The dimension is 33.5 x 43.5 x 19 cm.
According to Bernadac (1991, p. 159) this simple assemblage
is one of Picasso’s most famous sculptures. It is a simple, yet
“astonishingly complete” metamorphosis. Furthermore, it is the
single best demonstration of his innovative genius and his special
relationship with everyday objects.
In 1943 Picasso described his artwork to George Brassaï, a
visiting photographer, by saying (Brassaï, 1999, p. 61):
Guess how I made the bull's head? One day, in a pile of ob-
jects all jumbled up together, I found an old bicycle seat right
next to a rusty set of handlebars. In a flash, they joined to-
gether in my head. The idea of the Bull’s Head came to me
before I had a chance to think. All I did was weld them

164
together... [but] if you were only to see the bull’s head and
not the bicycle seat and handlebars that form it, the sculp-
ture would lose some of its impact.
In 1944, the sculpture shocked the visitors at an art exhibition in
Paris together with another 78 works. At the exhibition the sculp-
ture had the title Bicycle Seat. A demonstration took place, dur-
ing which the Bicycle Seat was one of the pieces removed from
the wall.
In 1942 Pablo Picasso found handlebars and a seat from a bicy-
cle. He created this found object artwork Bull’s Head. Picture:
Museum of Modern Art, MoMA, New York.

165
According to the art critic Eric Gibson (2011) the Bull’s Head
is: “At once both childlike and highly sophisticated in its simplic-
ity, it stands as an assertion of the transforming power of the hu-
man imagination at a time when human values were under
siege.” It is unique among his assemblages for its transparency.
Here Picasso made no attempt to play down the real-world iden-
tity of the two constituent parts. The sculpture is in the perma-
nent collection of the Picasso Museum in Paris.
We can see works by Picasso in museums around the world.
Three museums are entirely dedicated to Picasso: Picasso mu-
seum Paris, Picasso museum Antibes, and Picasso museum Bar-
celona.
Jean Tinguely
The Swiss sculptor Jean Tinguely (1925–1991) is known for his
moving, and painted sculpture constructions made of scrap-
metal, pieces of wood and leather straps. The sculptures often
clank, rattle and spray water. The suggestive machines carry out
their programs with a special elegance and often also with some
humor. When someone put in coin in some machines, two felt-
tip pens started make dots and lines all over a blank sheet of pa-
per. In less than a minute the machine produced an abstract
painting (Tomkins 2014, p. 410).
His best-known sculpture Homage to New York (1960) was
intended to be a self-destroying object. Jean Tinguely came to
New York City in the spring of 1960 in order to build a gigantic
motorized scrap-metal sculpture construction. The sole purpose
with this assemblage would be to destroy itself in the garden of
the Museum of Modern Art. Tinguely contacted Marcel Du-
champ for help (Tomkins 2014, pp. 409–410). Duchamp liked
Tinguely’s ironic humor and his “I don’t give a damn approach”
to traditions. Duchamp were in the audience when this clanking,
white-painted assemblage of bicycle wheels, klaxons, motors,
saws, and other parts started to commit a mechanical suicide on
the evening of March 17, 1960. This more or less worked. It was

166
partially self-destructed. However, in 1962 his work Study for an
End of the World No. 2, detonated in the desert outside Las Ve-
gas. All spectators survived.
This is one of the scrap sculptures in the sculpture group Para-
dise (1966) at the entrance to the Moderna Museet in Stockholm.

167
Tinguely’s seemingly absurd and meaningless machines are
completely liberated from all utility functions. With these so
called Metamechanics Tinguely extended the Dada tradition into
the later part of the 20th century. Jean Tinguely devoted his en-
tire career to exploring the concept of machines as sculptures
(Barcio, 2016). There is a clear criticism, directed at the contem-
porary performance society and its very efficient and “useful”
machines (Kultermann, 1967). There was an overproduction of
material goods in the modern world.
Tinguely grew up in Basel. In 1951, he married the artist Eva
Aeppli (1925–2015). They moved to France in 1952. In Paris Tin-
guely joined the Parisian avantgarde. In 1956 Tinguely met the
French-American filmmaker, painter, and sculptor Niki de Saint
Phalle (1930–2002).
Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle collaborated on sev-
eral artistic projects, such as the exhibition Movement in Art in
1961, and She – A Cathedral in 1966, both at Moderna Museet in
Stockholm (Moderna Museet, 2018). Tinguely and Saint Phalle
worked with the project The Fantastic Paradise in Montreal
1967. Niki de Saint Phalle exhibited nine of her brightly-coloured
large-scale sculptures of animals, female figures, and monsters.
Tinguely showed six of his mechanical, painted, and scrap-metal
moving constructions.
The two artists married in 1971, both for the second time.
Some of the artworks from Montreal were permanently installed
in an outdoor sculpture garden at the entrance to Moderna Mu-
seet in Stockholm. It is a monumental sculpture group in 16
parts, with nine fiberglass and plastic sculptures and seven
painted meaningless machines with moving mechanical parts,
made of bits and pieces of iron. Since 1996, a large number of
Jean Tinguely's works have been collected in the Museum Jean
Tinguely, an art museum in Basel.

168
Robert Rauschenberg
Milton Ernest “Robert” Rauschenberg (1925–2008) was an
American graphic artist, painter, and sculptor. He also worked
with choreography, papermaking, performance, photography,
printmaking, and set designer. Rauschenberg defied the tradi-
tional idea that an artist stick to one medium or one style (Kim-
melman, 2008).
This main section includes the following sections: Com-
bines, A few examples, and BMW art car collection.
Combines
Rauschenberg’s early works anticipated the pop art movement.
Rauschenberg may be most known for his Combines, mainly
from 1954 to 1962. A Combine is an assemblage and collage with
non-traditional materials and objects in different combinations.
Rauschenberg questioned the distinction between art objects
and everyday objects.
Rauschenberg’s approach was sometimes called “Neo Dada-
ist.” This is a label that he shared with his friend the painter Jas-
per Johns (1930–). Neo-Dada was a movement with audio, liter-
ary, and visual manifestations. It had similarities in intent and
method with earlier Dada artwork (Kimmelman, 2008).
Rauschenberg and Johns had their studios in the same
building, and they both admired Marcel Duchamp (Tomkins,
2014, p. 405). In 1960 Duchamp sold a replica of the Bottle Rack
to Rauschenberg for three dollars, the amount Duchamp had in-
sured it for. Duchamp spoke of the Readymades as “vehicles for
unloading ideas” (Henderson, 2019, p. 82). Both Rauschenberg
and Johns made paintings in homage to Duchamp (Tomkins,
2014, p. 409).
With the readymade the shift from the classical to the mod-
ern aesthetic judgment is brought into the open, as the substitu-
tion of the sentence “this is art” for the sentence “this is beautiful”
(de Duve, 1996, p. 302).

169
Rauschenberg walked the streets of New York City and
picked up junk and trash. In his studio he could then integrate
the trash into his present work (Donohue, 1997). He claimed he
wanted something else than what he could make himself. He saw
the potential beauty in almost anything. Originally critics viewed
the Combines in terms of the formal aspects of art, colour, shape,
texture, and the arrangement and composition of these.
A few examples
Rauschenberg gave new meaning to the concept sculpture.
Bed (1955) is one of his first Combines. This combine entailed a
well-worn pillow, a quilt, and a sheet. Rauschenberg dripped red
paint across the textiles, and he scribbled on them with pencil.
He later stretched it and displayed it as a work of art. The style is
a reminiscent of Abstract Expressionism. According to The Daily
Telegraph (2008) some critics considered the work Bed to be a
symbol for violence and rape.
See a picture of Bed at the webpage of MoMA.
I am not allowed to show it here.
< https://www.moma.org/collection/works/78712 >
Monogram (1955–1959) consists of a stuffed angora goat with
paint applied to its snout and girdled by a tire atop a painted
panel. This shocked contemporary viewers. Some observers have
associated it with an animal awaiting sacrifice. Monogram has
been described as Rauschenberg’s most famous work. Moderna
Museet in Stockholm, Sweden, purchased this work in 1965.
See a picture of Monogram at the webpage of
*Moderna Museet. I am not allowed to show it here.
< http://sis.modernamuseet.se/view/objects/asitem/art-
ist$004069/2/primaryMaker-asc?t:state:flow=dd340c8a-
b00d-455f-98f1-e2956e0a7f23 >

170
Canyon (1959) is a hybrid work incorporating collage, found
objects, and painting. Here Rauschenberg used a stuffed bald ea-
gle attached to a canvas. He also used an empty paint tube, but-
tons, canvas, cardboard, floral fabric, metal drum, mirror, oil, pa-
per, pencil, photograph of Rauschenberg’s young son, pillow,
wood, and other materials. The object is 207.6 x 177.8 x 61 cm.
The centerpiece of Canyon is a stuffed bald eagle that was found
in a pile of discarded belongings in the hallway of the Carnegie
Hall studio building and given to Rauschenberg by a friend. The
eagle extends into the space of the viewer. It starts to break down
the boundary that we expect between the space of the artwork
and the space of ordinary life (Dickerman, 2019). The Canyon
drew government attention due to the “1940 Bald and Golden
Eagle Protection Act.” There is a good picture here, at THE MET.
See a picture of Canyon at THE MET
I am not allowed to show it here.
< https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/list-
ings/2005/robert-rauschenberg >
By the 1970s, Rauschenberg began his now-signature procedure
of building visual fields from collisions of appropriated media
images: snippets from dailies, and magazines, and trashy pulp
silk-screened and hand-altered to blend and battle on canvas,
fabric, glass, and metal (Donohue, 1997).
BMW art car collection
There are thousands of people who repaint their old cars in many
different ways, sometimes with astonishing results. In 1975 the
BMW Group started a unique artistic experiment. The BMW
Group invited the well-established, and well-known artist Alex-
ander Calder (1898–1976) to paint a new BMW car. Thus, he
should transform the car to a work of art in a “ready-made spirit.”
The concept gradually grew into a unique collection of “BMW art

171
cars.” The scope of what is presented in the collection includes
abstract, and representational art.
Juries of leading curators of important museums from
around the world select an artist for a new Art Car. The desig-
nated creator is always given the necessary artistic freedom.
The Rauschenberg BMW 635 CSI art car (1968) was the
sixth addition to BMW’s collection (BMW art cars, 2019). In
2010 there were 18 art cars. It is the first in which the Rauschen-
berg used photographic methods to transfer images. Rauschen-
berg extended his use of art car motifs in his six-part, 1988
“Beamer” series, presented as transparent films on enameled
aluminum and using his trademark collage techniques. BMW has
pictures of all the art cars.
BMW has pictures of all the art cars here:
< http://www.bmwdrives.com/artcars/bmw-artcars-rausch-
enberg.php >
BMW presented the Rauschenberg car, BMW 635 CSI, in
1986 at the BMW Gallery on Park Avenue in New York City. In
1988 the car made its European debut in West Berlin. Since then
it has been exhibited across Europe. It was a centerpiece of the
1997 Rauschenberg retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in
New York City. Some other BMW Art Car artists include Roy
Lichtenstein 1977, Andy Warhol 1979, and Jeff Koons 2010
(BMW art cars, 2019).
By the 1990s, Rauschenberg’s spirit of experimentation
seems primarily technical. Computer-driven lasers transferred
his photos onto the pictorial surface. The visual space he offers
up again and again is the dignified world of an art megastar. Nos-
talgic porches are superimposed onto dreamy cobblestone
streets; classical statuary melds into antique clocks (Donohue,
1997).

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Design
Design is the identification of a problem and the intellectual cre-
ative effort of an originator, manifesting itself in drawings or
plans, which include schemes and specifications (Simlinger,
2007, p. 8). Design is explained by several theories and it is in-
fluenced by socio-psychological phenomena. The concept design
represents a large landscape of academic education, design prac-
tice, research, and training. However, the term design also rep-
resents the outcomes of each specific design process, such as
products, services, processes, and systems.
There are a huge number of design areas, such as commu-
nication design, document design, fashion design, furniture de-
sign, graphic design, industrial design, information design, land-
scape design, light design, product design, sound design, urban
design, and many more.
A design process includes cognitive as well as practical ac-
tivities. While an artist can choose any shape, a designer is lim-
ited by the function of the specific artefact. A design process may
consist of many steps or sub-processes, such as seven (Bull,
1999), eight (Pettersson, 2002), nine (Rowland, 1993), or eleven
(Roozenburg and Eekels, 1995). Each step in a design process
may be called a design activity.
It is not possible to provide any firm design rules. Several
authors say: “It Depends” (Lohr, 2010; Pettersson, 2002). In
each case the designer must be able to analyse and understand
the problem, and find practical design solutions.
The final design, or just design, represents the outcomes of
each specific design process, such as processes, products, ser-
vices, and systems. On a theoretical level the intention of the
overall design process might be the same regardless of the spe-
cific design area.
This chapter includes the following main sections: Light de-
sign, Pier Giacomo and Achille Castiglioni, Shiro Kuramata,
and Patterns.

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Light design
Light design, or lighting design, is the use of light and lighting in
order to create different atmospheres in art installations, con-
certs, opening and closing ceremonies of public celebrations,
sports competitions, theatre plays, water sculptures, and more.
This main section includes the following sections: Light
beams, Human vision, The Ghent Altarpiece, The Assumption of
the Virgin, Ecstasy of St. Theresa, and The Sower.
Light beams
The sun is the source of all life. People have always been depend-
ent on the sun. The sun’s eternal passage across the celestial vault
has fascinated people. For thousands of years, the sun has been
an important symbol in many religions (Singh, 1993). In many
parts of the world ancient people built very advanced solar cal-
endars that were used mainly to make advanced and intricate as-
tronomical observations in order to predict eclipse, equinox, sol-
stice and other celestial events during the year, all important to a
contemporary religion (Hawkins and White, 1970).
A light beam or a beam of light is a directional projection of
light energy radiating from a light source. When filtered through
clouds, dust, fog, mist, rain, or smoke sunlight forms visible light
beams. Many artists have depicted the sun, and beams of light,
in paintings, but also in sculptures. Nowadays, there are sculp-
tures consisting entirely of individual light rays.
Human vision
We are capable of perceiving objects in bright light from the sun,
and in pale light from the moon. In objective terms, light consists
of electromagnetic waves (light “rays”) capable of acting on our
eyes and creating sensations of light and images. In subjective
terms vision is a complex process that elicits a sense of vision,
i.e., awareness of the stimulation of the eye’s vision perception
cells.

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Human vision is sensitive within a wide wavelength range,
from violet all the way to dark red. Like sound waves, light waves
are propagated in straight lines from their source. They can also
be absorbed, bent, reflected, and refracted in different ways. The
velocity of light in air is nearly 300 000 km/s. When light rays
(usually parallel) from an object enter the eye, they are refracted
in the cornea and lens and pass through the vitreous humour un-
til they strike the retina. When the ambient light level is high, the
light rays strike the macula lutea, the fovea, a small area of the
retina that is rich in cones. Cones are the receptors that record
colours.
Light is essential to the appreciation of three-dimensional
images. Whether the light is coming from the left or from the
right, from the top or from the bottom, makes a crucial difference
in the appearance of the forms. Soft light helps us appreciate sub-
tle undulations. Strong light accentuates details on the surface.
Light will articulate our outer orientation with respect to space,
texture, and time. Without shadows, it may be hard to make out
the basic contour of an object. Shadows define space.
The Ghent Altarpiece
The brothers Jan van Eyck (before 1390–1441) and Hubertus van
Eyck (c 1385/90–1426) completed the Ghent Altarpiece in 1432.
This is almost 600 years ago. The Altarpiece is a polyptych with
26 panels. It was the first large work to show the capability of oil
painting. With oil paint and several very thin layers of transpar-
ent glazes it was possible to achieve complex lighting and shad-
ows in the paintings.
The Ghent Altarpiece was intended for an exact place in the
“Vijd Chapel” in the Cathedral. Already from the beginning Jan
van Eyck matched the implied source of light used to model fig-
ures in his paintings with the actual source of natural light that
would have passed through the South windows and illuminated
the Chapel for which the painting was made and in which it was
intended to be seen (Seidel, 1993, p. 151). Every figure and every

175
object in different paintings react to the natural light as they
would do if they were real and three-dimensional.
This picture is a part of the painting of singing angels. This
panel is 164.5 x 69.3 cm large. Jan van Eyck has simulated re-
flections of natural light in their shining pearls and precious
stones. The light seems to come through the South windows in
the Chapel. Picture: Wikimedia Commons.
In the painting of five angels playing music in heaven Jan
van Eyck’s masterly use of oil paint creates tiny vibrations of light
within the dense, saturated colours, most of which are full of
symbolic significance (Encyclopedia Of Art, 2018). One of the an-
gels wears a gleaming brooch on which Jan van Eyck has simu-
lated reflections of light shining through the South Gotic lancet
windows (Seidel, 1993, p. 153). These “reflections” results from a
source of daylight that is imagined to fall from the right through
the actual South windows in the Chapel. Van Eyck showed

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reflections and refractions of light of various surface textures. He
really was a very skilled and an early light designer
The Assumption of the Virgin
The Italian Renaissance artist Titian (1488/1490–1576) used ad-
vanced light design in his very large oil painting The Assumption
of the Virgin (1518) in Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari
in Venice. Here no less than 20 large Gothic windows, in four
floors, surround the high alter and the large painting (690 x 360
cm).
The Assumption of the Virgin tells us about an expressive
religious drama, presented in three distinct scenes on three dis-
tinct levels in the painting. The three scenes represent three dif-
ferent locations and, in my view also three different and short
moments in time. A viewer standing rather close to this painting
must gradually lean her or his head backwards in order to be able
to study the different scenes in the painting, one scene at a time.
The lower scene represents the terrestrial plane on the
ground. The apostles (humanity) are witnessing a miracle, the
actual assumption, which is an important event in Roman Ca-
tholicism.
In the middle scene a twisted Virgin Mary seems to be stand-
ing on cotton-like clouds in a dance-like position. Somehow, she
is lifted and ascending into Heaven bathed in light. There is a
sharp contrast of light and shadow across her illuminated face.
Her arms are extended.
The upper scene shows an elderly, clearly male personifica-
tion of God and two younger angles. The three figures are quite
dark and they appear to recede in the picture. God has a partly
red robe. The angle in the foreground has green garment. The
thoughtful choice of colours in the painting creates a strong con-
nection between the three scenes.

177
The Assumption of the Virgin is a very large painting (690 x 360
cm). Titian worked with the painting for two years (1516–1518).
Picture: Wikimedia Commons.

178
The natural light from the descending sun flows with force
through these windows into the apse in the west. The light “joins”
with the glowing yellow-orange backlight already present in the
central and upper parts of the painting. The interaction between
the natural light and the painted backlight in the painting in-
crease the emotional impact of the painting. It is obvious that Ti-
tian has made very careful observations and studies during the
work with this great painting.
The Assumption of the Virgin is one of the most inspira-
tional and interesting works of Christian art. According to Hum-
frey (2007, p. 66) this painting serves as a “visual climax” in the
church.
The heavenly scene is suffused with divine, golden light.
God is floating and hovering, looking down against Mary while
her eyes are still in expectation (Waldstein, 2016).
Ecstasy of St. Theresa
The Italian architect and sculptor Bernini was also a pioneer in
the design of light. He used light as an important metaphorical
device in his religious settings. Bernini unified sculpture and
richly polychrome architecture and the carefully effects of de-
signed light and sound.
The funeral monument for the Pope Urban VIII in St Peter’s
Basilica is called Justice and Charity (1639–1646). Here Bernini
combined architecture and sculpture into a functional and har-
monious whole. The monument has a pyramidal layout. A tall
and white marble pedestal supports the bronze figure of the
Pope. The Pope is portrayed talking, giving a blessing.
Using light and shadows, Bernini eliminated the boundaries
between the arts. By combining bronze and marble in the com-
position the funeral monument has got a strong colouristic diver-
sity and power. Bernini had the unique ability to synthesise ar-
chitecture, painting, and sculpture into a coherent conceptual
and visual whole. New light architecture, light design, light in-
stallation art, and light sculpture, turns light beams in different

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colours into installations floating in the air. One of the most im-
portant of all Bernini’s works is the sculptural group Ecstasy of
Saint Theresa (1644–1652) in the Cornaro Chapel in Rome.
The Italian architect and sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini made
this group Ecstasy of St. Theresa 1644–1652.

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Bernini shows the saint just in the highest moment of her
religious ecstasy (Honour and Fleming, 1992). Teresa is laid-
back and her mouth is half-open. She seems floating on a bed of
clouds, indicating that this is intended to be a divine apparition.
Her clothes have undulating and dissolved forms and distinct
movements. The viewer can actually perceive all the sculpted
persons as “alive” and really moving.
At the same time, an angel is getting ready to pierce her
heart with the long golden dart of divine love. The light of golden
rays in bronze mysteriously falls into the sculpture group
through a special, hidden aperture positioned high up in the
vault. This natural light from the sun will clearly emphasize the
spiritual character of the group.
Bernini designed this burial chapel for the Venetian Cardi-
nal Federico Cornaro (1579–1673) and his family (Hammacher,
1988, p. 32). The financier himself, and seven other male mem-
bers of his family, are forever sculpted in life-size high-relief por-
traits. They are spectators seated in two “boxes at a theatre” at
the sides of the chapel with the saint.
The Sower
The Dutch artist Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853–1890) grew up
in a rural vicarage. In time, he became one of the foremost fore-
runners of modern art. When Vincent came to Paris in 1886, he
lived with his brother Theo, who was an art dealer in Montmar-
tre. Through Theo, Vincent got to know many painters as well as
their works. He developed a bright painting with light, moving
brush strokes, clear sunlight and a strong and clear colour. It was
over with the dark tones he had used before. Vincent became an
impressionist.
Much is known about Vincent van Gogh’s life because he
corresponded with artists, friends, members of his family, espe-
cially his younger brother Theo, who served as his confidant. Ac-
cording to Ormiston (2011) Vincent van Gogh wrote more than
two thousand letters.

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Vincent van Gogh settled in Arles in February 1888. There
he created colourful paintings, and drawings in ink. In June he
painted, among other motifs, a series of pictures of a lonely man
sowing seeds across a field down into the soil, while the sun
spreads its rays up in the sky (van Uitert, van Tilborgh and van
Hengten, 1990).
In June 1888 Vincent van Gogh painted The Sower (Sower at
Sunset). This agricultural landscape painting is 64 x 80,5 cm.
The sun is a bright, godlike, and really huge yellow disk flooding
the sky with its light. The Sower is an exceptional painting. Pic-
ture: Wikimedia Commons.
The setting sun in the horizon is the real motif in these
paintings. The sun is a bright, godlike, and really huge yellow disk
flooding the sky with light. Van Gogh has painted the sky with
yellow and orange, and the land with a mixture of blue and violet.
This painting The Sower (Sower at Sunset) is a symbol of the

182
infinity. Here this very expressive sun represents all hundreds of
thousands of images where children and adults have painted a
sun, which spreads hope, joy, light and warmth. The sun provides
the basis for all life on earth.
According to van Uitert, van Tilborgh and van Hengten
(1990, p. 128) this work represents van Gogh’s first attempt to
make an original contribution to modern art since his art studies
in Paris. Its originality was to lie in the violent juxtaposition of
bold colours. From the beginning the top part of the painting was
predominantly yellow and the lower part in complementary vio-
let. After a few days he softened the contrasts in the painting.
Many saw Vincent van Gogh as a failure. He was never com-
mercially successful during his lifetime. After many years of de-
pression, mental illness, and poverty Vincent shot himself, and
he died July 27, 1890. Today, Van Gogh’s works are among the
most expensive paintings in the world.
Vincent van Gogh was very productive. Although he was
only 37, his preserved works include about 2,100 artworks, in-
cluding around 860 oil paintings. These include landscapes, por-
traits, and self-portraits. His artworks are characterized by bold
colour and dramatic, expressive, and impulsive brushwork
Vincent van Gogh created most of these artworks during the
last two years of his life. Many of these are now collected in the
Rijksmuseum Vincent Van Gogh in Amsterdam, and in the Im-
pressionist Museum in Paris.

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Pier Giacomo and Achille Castiglioni
The three architect brothers Livio, Pier, and Achille were born in
Milan. Livio Castiglioni (1911–1979) graduated from the faculty
of Architecture at Milan Polytechnic in 1936. Two years later, he
opened the famous Studio Castiglioni in Milan with his brother
Pier Giacomo (1913–1968). In 1944 they were joined by their
younger brother Achille Castiglioni (1918–2002) when he had
graduated.
From the start the brothers mainly concentrated on archi-
tecture, industrial design, and urban planning. They were a driv-
ing force behind the modern design movement that emerged in
Italy after World War II. They re-evaluated form, function and
methods for manufacturing. Their products include everything
from furniture and lamps to household utensils. The three broth-
ers worked together until 1953, when Livio left the trio.
Pier Giacomo, and Achille Castiglioni often used ready-
mades in products where the design only depends on the func-
tion (Sparke, 1998, p. 195).
One of their most famous pieces is the Mezzardo Stool, or
Mezzardo tractor seat stool (1957). It is a ready-made stool (53
× 49.5 × 53 cm) reinterpreting the typical seat in tractors during
the 1950s. In order to emphasize the apparently precarious bal-
ance of the seat they have reversed the leaf steel spring support-
ing the seat, and added a wooden footrest. The Mezzardo Stool is
clearly influenced by Duchamp’s readymades (Tombini, 1996, p.
37).
The Art Institute of Chicago has a good picture.
I am not allowed to show it here.
< https://www.artic.edu/artworks/229989/mezzadro-stool >
Pier and Achille also designed the Sella Stool (1957). It is
based on a black saddle from a Sella racing bicycle, mounted on
top of a pink lacquered column of stainless steel. The column is
supported by a heavy hemispherical cast-iron base. In the 1950s

184
telephones were always hanged on a wall, and these stools were
meant to be telephone stools.
Indianapolis Museum of art has a good picture.
I am not allowed to show it here.
< http://collection.imamuseum.org/artwork/48007/ >
Both the Mezzardo Stool and the Sella Stool are manufac-
tured since 1970, and they are sold by a few retailers, who market
them on the Internet.
Later Pier Giacomo was assistant and lecturer in Architec-
tural Composition, professor in Drawing and Relief Work at the
Milan Faculty of Architecture. Achille Castiglioni began research
into shapes, techniques and new materials, aimed at developing
an integral design process. He was a professor at Turin’s Faculty
of Architecture until 1980, and then professor of “Industrial De-
sign” in Milan until 1993.
Shiro Kuramata
In the 1980s the Japanese furniture designer Shiro Kuramata
(1934–1991) frequently used a playful “retinal homage” to Marcel
Duchamp in his work with furniture (Tigner, 2019). A careful se-
lection of materials was central in all his design work. He used
modern materials in order to be able to experiment with light and
space (Tombini, 1996, p. 39). Kuramata was actually able to
make furniture of glass. He also designed flower vases. In his
work there is no separation between construction, form, interi-
ority, and materials. All of it is one complete object.
Shiro Kuramata was a minimalist. His objects have perfectly
worked out details and a compositional harmony, together with
elements of the unexpected and personal (Sparke, 1998, p. 240).
His approach to the composition of furniture and interiors revo-
lutionized furniture design, as well as interior design in post-war
Japan. Kuramata reassessed the relationship between form and
function. He managed to find a balance between traditional

185
Japanese design, and modern western design. Kuramata effec-
tively and gradually introduced his own vision of minimalist and
surreal ideas of everyday objects.
Shiro Kuramata may be best known for his armchair, named
Miss Blanche (1988). Four pink and tubular legs, made of ano-
dized-aluminium, are supporting a seat and a back of clear and
transparent acrylic resin blocks. This armchair (93.7 x 63.2 x 51.4
cm) refers to works by Duchamp. The paper roses embedded
within the acrylic body of the chair is a homage to Rrose Sélavy,
the female alter ego of Marcel Duchamp (Hanks and Hoy, 2000,
p. 186). Apparently, a detail of the armchair Miss Blanche also
elicits a visual, or retinal, comparison with a detail in Duchamp’s
artwork The Large Glass (Tigner, 2019). Kuramata explored the
material and metaphorical possibilities of the chair, while retain-
ing a modernist-inspired simplicity (Sparke, 1998, p. 241).
See a picture at the webpage of MoMA.
I am not allowed to show it here.
< https://www.moma.org/collection/works/2630 >
During the 20th Century Design auction at Sotheby’s Lon-
don, in 2015, the armchair Miss Blanche was sold for £269,000.
This was a new world record for an armchair.

186
Patterns
Recognition of patterns is as old as human beings. Prehistoric
people had to learn to recognise animal and plant species and
they needed to know which ones they could eat. Even today a bi-
ologist can recognize an animal or a plant species on its habitus,
that is, the general appearance. One magpie looks like another
magpie, whenever we see them. Similarly, people know their
daily newspaper among many newspapers, even though the con-
tent itself varies from day to day.
This main section includes the following sections: Pattern
language, Experienced practitioners, Pottery, Textiles, Mosaics,
Wallpapers, and A modular concept.
Pattern language
Since the Neolithic period (approximately 10 000–2 000 BCE)
people have communicated not only through gestures and
sounds, but also by means of visual language (de Jong, 2010, p.
7). In Neolithic community’s people were familiar with the shape
and size of their vessels, and they know the decorations with spe-
cific patterns on their pottery. Further see the section Pottery.
Until the Renaissance, artists had not many possibilities to
work freely according to their own ideas (Perrig, 1999b, p 422).
They usually worked after very detailed orders. It was common
for masters to use “pattern books” where clients could choose
among different models for different types of subjects, both reli-
gious and secular.
After his theoretical studies of architecture, central perspec-
tive, and sculpture Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472) concluded
that beauty and harmony of a building is more important than
the actual purpose with the building and the resulting demands
of suitable building materials. Alberti was very influential and his
line of thought that “function follows form” became a leading
doctrine in architecture and in aesthetics for hundreds of years.
Today’s design motto is very much: “function can take any form.”

187
It seems that the idea of patterns is fundamental to human
thought. In architecture Alexander et al. (1977) collected a series
of 253 patterns of successful environments. The book created a
new language, what the authors called a pattern language de-
rived from timeless entities called patterns. This is a structured
method of describing good design practices within a field of ex-
pertise. Patterns describe a problem and then offer a solution.
The patterns were presented systematically in a pattern library.
Pattern libraries have been a common way to share design solu-
tions in architecture. Today pattern libraries are often used in
computer science, interaction design, and in software engineer-
ing to share best practice. According to Alexander (1979) a pat-
tern language is a method of describing good design practices, or
patterns of useful organization within a field of expertise.
There are patterns of various kinds of materials and prod-
ucts all around us. Patterns can be used for a lot of different prod-
ucts, such as advertising materials, carpets, clothes, curtains,
fabrics, floors, graphic products, kitchen towels, office supplies,
packaging, porcelain, tiles, toys, wallpaper, and websites. Ac-
cording to Häggblom (2007): “A pattern is a game between lines
and shapes that is somehow repeated or appears to do so.” Ac-
cording to Nygren (2014): “A pattern consists of a motif that is
repeated. This repetition can be continued indefinitely. The over-
all capacity of patterns is infinite.”
According to Thorpe (2007, p. 161), who conducts research
in design for sustainable development, design today mainly aims
to satisfy the market's need for economic growth, rather than to
meet the needs of users.
Experienced practitioners
In many fields, experienced practitioners are often able to recog-
nise problems they have met before. They remember possible so-
lutions and they may use them again.
Waller and Delin (2010) discussed the use of a “pattern lan-
guage approach” in layout and typography of functional texts.

188
Here pattern refers to configurations consistently found within
recurring design solutions to common problems. Today many or-
ganisations use guidelines, or even distinct rules, for the use of
layout and typography in their documents. For example, many
insurance companies set up standard styles for customer com-
munications, and textbooks in a series all “look” the same. Dif-
ferent style manuals have different recommendations for when
italic and bold type versions should and shouldn’t be used (Sa-
mara, 2007).
In particular Waller and Delin (2010) wanted to demon-
strate the frequency of patterns within financial services docu-
ments, and test how users with different levels of experience
could use such documents. They wanted to place patterns in the
context of genres and established reading strategies. According
to Waller and Delin (2010) a pattern language approach is attrac-
tive for information designers. This approach corresponds
closely to how design is traditionally taught and practised. A doc-
umented pattern should explain why that solution is good in the
context of the pattern.
Waller et al. (2012) considered patterns as a way of describ-
ing commonly occurring document design solutions to particular
problems. They discussed the use of patterns across a range of
disciplines. They suggested a need to place patterns in the con-
text of genres. Potentially each pattern belongs to a “home
genre.” Here the pattern originates, and it makes an implicit in-
tertextual reference intended to produce a particular reader re-
sponse. This response could be in the form of a reading strategy
or interpretative stance. However, a range of practical, technical
and theoretical issues need to be debated before it is possible to
get a workable definition of pattern language for documents.
It seems that interest in graphic design has grown in recent
years. Patterns and pattern design, is a wide area. Patterns recur
in several places in our everyday lives and become a natural part
of this. Finished designs can be protected by the Design Protec-
tion Act, or the Copyright Act.

189
Pottery
About 12,000 years ago the New Stone age, the Neolithic Era, or
the Neolithic Period, begun in Europe. This period lasted for six
to eight thousand years, and commenced with the beginning of
farming about 2,300 BCE. Emmer wheat was domesticated and
animals were domesticated. People needed pottery for cooking
and for storage. Pottery was consumables, and people throw
away their broken jars and vessels on refuse dumps. Thus, pieces
of pottery were saved for posterity.
Regardless of the expected short lifetime potters spent time
on decorating their pottery, often with abstract patterns. As a re-
sult, pieces of pottery can now often be used for dating of archae-
ological sites. Pottery analysis may also provide information
about past cultural networking and communication patterns.
In these Neolithic communities, everyone could see and rec-
ognize their own pottery. People were familiar with the shape and
size of the vessels, and they know the specific decorations and
patterns. In all the years that have passed, many thousands of
people have seen these ceramics with their decorations. Archae-
ologists have named so called “archaeological cultures” after the
kind of pottery they produced and used.
This is a schematic illustration of pottery from the Ertebølle cul-
ture (left), the Funnelbeaker culture (middle left), the Pitted
Ware culture (middle right), and the Corded Ware culture
(right). My own drawing.

190
Ertebølle culture
The Ertebølle culture is the name of a late Mesolithic and Early
Neolithic fisher-hunter-gatherer culture, about 6,000 BCE–
3,500 BCE. The culture is named after a small village in Danish
Jutland (Burenhult, 1999a, p. 221). Here molluscs, mussels and
oysters were important food resources.
The Ertebølle people adopted pottery but not agriculture
from their neighbours. For the production of pottery, the potters
used local clays that were tempered with crushed stone, organic
materials and sand. The pottery was fired on open beds of hot
coals.
There are two main types of Ertebølle pottery. A beaker is a
bellied and thick-walled bowl that is narrowing at the neck with
a flanged, outward turning rim. The acute and pointed bottom
supported the vessel when it was placed in clay or in sand. They
adapted the size of the vessels to their needs. A small beaker was
eight by 20 cm. The largest beakers could be 20 by 50 cm. Some
beakers were used for cocking food (Jennbert, 2009).
The potter used fingertips and/or nails to make decorative
impressions in horizontal bands on the entire surface of the
beaker. Sometimes random grains of barley and wheat have left
impressions in the clay during the final decoration phase before
the burning. The decorations became more varied late in the Er-
tebølle culture period. The second type of pottery was a flat blub-
ber lamp, made from single pieces of clay. While burning train
oil in the lamps it was possible to perform some activity in the
huts after dark.
Funnelbeaker culture
The Funnelbeaker culture is the name of an early Neolithic agri-
cultural farming and husbandry culture in Europe, about 4,000
BCE–2,800 BCE. This culture is also called TRB, which is an ab-
breviation of its German name Tricherrandbecher. The funnel-
beaker culture comprises a number of local communities.

191
The Funnelbeaker culture has been named after the charac-
teristic beakers with funnel-shaped necks and no handles. The
beakers may have been used as drinking vessels. The potters used
local clays that were tempered with crushed flint. They decorated
their pottery with lines and various patterns and used tools for
incising, impressing, modelling and stamping (Burenhult, 1999a,
p 271).
Pitted ware culture
The Pitted ware culture is the name of a Middle Neolithic fisher-
hunter-gatherer culture distributed along the shorelines in
coastal southern Scandinavia, about 3,200 BCE–2,300 BCE.
The Pitted ware culture is named after the typical ornamen-
tation of its pottery. The potter used a small stick and pressed
horizontal and decorative rows of pits into the body of the pot
before it was fired (Österholm, 1999, p. 108). There may be zones
of small indentations on the shoulders of the vessels. Some ves-
sels have flat bottoms; others have rounded or pointed bottoms.
North-eastern cultures have influenced the decorations and the
shapes of this pottery. People also made small animal figurines
of bone and clay. Often archaeological sites have large or even
sheer quantities of shards of pottery.
These people favoured the “old style of life” as fisher-
hunter-gatherers on the coastlines and islands.
Corded ware culture
The Corded ware culture is the name of a Neolithic agricultural
culture in Central and Eastern Europe, mainly in Germany and
Poland, about 2,900–2,450/2,350 BCE. This culture culminates
in the early Bronze Age. The culture had a characteristic pottery.
During manufacturing of pots the potters pressed twisted cords
into the wet clay. In this way, they created different decorative
motifs and patterns.
The Corded ware culture is related to the Bell beaker cul-
ture, or the Beaker culture, about 2,800–1,800 BCE. This was a

192
widely scattered culture in Western Europe with a wide diversity
in local burial styles.
Textiles
Contrary to pottery, early textiles did not last for long. There are
few archaeological finds. However, it is known that the
knowledge to make yarn, thread and fabric is very old. There are
17,000-year-old archaeological finds that show twisted threads.
There are 9,000-year-old finds that show imprints of fabric in
clay. There are pieces of 7,000-year-old linen fabrics, as well as
images of cloth in more than 3,000 ancient tombs in Egypt. In
addition, some tombs in Egypt have richly decorated burial
chambers painted in splendid colours.
6,100–4,300 years ago, people began to use wool from
sheep and perhaps also from other domestic animals to make
fabrics. Older looms were simple frames where the warp threads
were weighed down by weights of clay or stone. Such weights are
common in archaeological finds from settlements both from the
Iron Age and from the Middle Ages.
Modern teaching in textile design is a tradition that extends
far back in design education history, and has its roots in the Bau-
haus school of design, founded in Germany in 1919. Both embroi-
derers and weavers often use patterns in their work. As the work
progresses, a finished pattern emerges, the final product.
Several authors have examined the textile design process
across various textile practices (e.g. Studd, 2002; Clarke, 2011).
Kristensen Johnstone (2020) discuss the textile design process,
divided in high stages: 1) Design brief, 2) Creative research, 3)
Idea generation, 4) Design development, 5) Evaluation and se-
lection, 6) Creation of a collection, 7) Finished design, and 8)
Presentation.
Sennefers tomb
The Egyptian noble and mayor of Thebes Sennefer worked for
the seventh Pharaoh Amenhotep II of the 18th dynasty of Egypt.

193
Amenhotep II reigned from about 1,427 to circa 1,400 BCE. The
life-size images of Sennefer, his wife, his family and their gods
appear all around his richly decorated tomb (Pemberton and
Fletcher, 2011, p. 72).
In this tomb several lines with pictographic verbal expres-
sions are combined with interesting pictures to tell the stories in
scenes on the walls and on four pillars. The entire undulating
ceiling has given way to a colourful geometric pattern represent-
ing decorative textiles 3,500 years ago.
Textile images
Textile images have been used in all cultures since a very long-
time back. The pictures in Sennefer’s tomb show that textile im-
ages were used in Egypt about 3,500 years ago. So far, the oldest
archaeological finds of actual textiles are also from Egypt. These
textiles are more than 1,500 years old.
In the latter part of the middle Ages, embroidery and textile
tapestries were made with narrative images. Such textiles
adorned the walls of churches and castles around Europe. Every
week, year after year, many people came in contact with the tex-
tile images that were on display in the churches.
The Bayeux Tapestry
One of the most impressive visual stories was made as a remark-
able textile, The Bayeux Tapestry, or Bayeux Embroidery. It
may actually be called a “strip.” This is parallel with modern car-
toon strips. The Bayeux Tapestry may be one of the best-known
examples of early historical graphical reporting. It depicts the
events leading up to the Norman conquest of England in 1066.
UNESCO has listed The Bayeux Tapestry as a “Memory of the
World” (UNESCO World Heritage Site, 2007).
This important cultural and historical document is not a
true tapestry in which the design is woven into the cloth. It is ac-
tually an exceptionally large embroidered cloth, 68.38 metres in
length by 48–51 centimetres in height (224.3 ft. × 1.6 ft.). It was

194
made in nine embroidered parts that were sewn together. The
joins were then carefully disguised with subsequent embroidery.
Woodcuts
The woodcut can be traced back to ancient Egypt, Babylonia and
China, where wooden stamps were used to make decorative pat-
terns or symbols in wax or clay. Blocks may have been used to
print textiles in India as early as 400 BCE. The oldest book, The
Diamond Sutra, was block printed in 868 in China. In Europe
the oldest coloured woodcut is from 1423. It was hand painted in
a few colours (Janzin and Günter, 1997, p. 104).
Woven wallpaper
The Flemish/Dutch prolific painter Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577–
1640) is regarded as the most significant Baroque painter north
of the Alps. Many, regard him as one of the greatest and most
influential artists who ever lived (Beckett, 1995).
Rubens was also very prominent as a “carton artist” for his
production of woven wallpaper (Lawson, 2006). The art of woven
wallpaper followed the development of the art of painting with
respect to the choice of the motifs and the artistic production.
The weavers often used well-made painted cartons in natural
scale as models. In the 16th century the woven wallpapers had a
wealth of details and several image plans.
Rubens made his first wallpaper cartons in 1618. He worked
with large-scale figures and with a decorative style subordinate
to everything else. The figures move in the main picture plane as
in a relief. Therefore, there is hardly any need for a clear perspec-
tive in these pictures. This new style soon became very im-
portant.
Ötzi the Iceman
In September 1991 a well-preserved natural mummy was found
in the Ötz valley on the border between Austria and Italy in the
Alps. Ötzi the Iceman lived about 5,200 years ago and is the old-
est natural human mummy in Europe. He has 57 carbon tattoos

195
consisting of parallel and vertical lines on his back, a small cross
behind one knee and dots and lines around both ankles. These
signs may have shown his tribal affiliation or his social position
(Palmer, Bahn, and Tyldeslv, 2006, pp. 32f). Ötzi wore a cloak
made of woven grass, and a coat, a belt, a pair of leggings, a loin-
cloth and shoes, all made of leather of skins from different ani-
mals.
The industrial revolution
The industrial revolution began with textiles. Machine spinning
and weaving changed the structure of society. First there were
cotton fabrics, then came wool, and later linen. More and more
people left the countryside and moved to the cities to work in in-
dustry.
The term textile is a collective name for all materials and all
products that are made of textile fibers. In the past, plant fibers
and animal fibers were used. Linen is a fabric of plant fiber linen.
Wool is a fabric made of the animal fiber wool. Nowadays, there
are also artificial, synthetic fibers.
The term yarn is a collective name for longitudinal and co-
hesive fibers or threads. Both yarn and thread are made by twist-
ing together, or spinning, at least two fibers. There is right cord
and left cord thread. For weaving, there are warp yarns and weft
yarns. There are other types of yarns for embroidery, lace, knit-
ting and crochet. Fabric is a collective name for different types of
textiles. A fabric can be a blanket with disorganized fibers, or of
a fabric with strictly organized fibers in various designs.
Gender roles
Our societies have norms that tell us how to act, how to live, and
what to look like. Through an external analysis of items in se-
lected clothing stores Landén (2017) found that gender roles can
be reflected in textile design. It appears that through the identi-
fication of patterns, we can develop a deeper understanding of
the world we live in and why it is the way it is, but also that it can
change with the help of patterns.

196
Mosaics
A mosaic is an image often made with small, flat, and roughly
square pieces of glass in various colours. These small pieces are
known as tesserae. Mosaics are often used for interior decora-
tion. Floor mosaics are often made of small and rounded pieces
of stone, “pebble mosaics.
The history of mosaics started already in Mesopotamia in
the 3rd millennium BCE. Mosaics with patterns, and also with
pictures, were common both in Ancient Greece and in Ancient
Rome. From the 4th century Christian basilicas were decorated
with mosaics in ceilings and walls. Some of these old mosaics till
exist.
In the 5th century Ravenna became the centre of late Roman
mosaic art. Ravenna was the capital of the Western Roman Em-
pire from 402 until that empire collapsed in 476.
Ravenna is called “The city of mosaics” and is known for its
well-preserved late Byzantine and Roman architecture, with
unique early Christian mosaics from as early as the 5th century.
In 1996 UNESCO inscribed eight “Early Christian monuments of
Ravenna” on the World Heritage List (UNESCO World Heritage
Site, 1996).
Wallpapers
Ever since the end of the 15th century, we have used decorated
paper to decorate the interior walls of our homes, and also and
public buildings. Different types of paper have been the domi-
nant wallpaper material. Usually wallpapers have a regular re-
peating pattern design. In the past it was also common with a
single non-repeating large design carried over a set of sheets. The
smallest rectangle that can be tiled to form the whole pattern is
known as the pattern repeat.
The main historical wallpaper production techniques were
printing with woodcuts, hand-painting, and later various types of
machine-printing. Printing with woodcuts gained popularity in
Renaissance Europe amongst the emerging gentry. The social

197
elite continued to hang large textile tapestries on the walls of
their homes. However, tapestries were extremely expensive.
Around the 1870s, it became common to repaint more often,
which is still alive today (Davidsson and Hansson, 2013, p. 10).
Wallpaper is usually sold in rolls, and is applied onto a wall using
wallpaper paste. Today, wallpaper printing techniques include
digital printing, gravure printing, rotary printing, silk screen-
printing, and surface printing. Nowadays, many designers are
engaged in the design of wallpaper.
Because paper swells when it is moistened, we must paste
the warp and let it swell before hanging it on the wall. When the
wallpaper dries, it contracts. Therefore, paper wallpapers have
been set up with some overlap.
A wallpaper designer is aware that a wallpaper normally is
placed vertically on a wall, or sometimes on a ceiling (Kristensen
Johnstone, 2020, p. 32). This understanding affects what the
pattern essentially is as a spatial property, i.e. ‘on’, ‘at’, ‘over’, etc.
Wallpapers demonstrate how a space is defined through their po-
sitioning on a wall, but also in relation to objects and/or a person.
A modular concept
Designing graphic elements with the help of a computer took
place for the first time in the 1980s (Davidsson and Hansson,
2013). Digital pattern design is a fairly new concept and a new
market (Hansson, Kristiansson, Palmqvist 2004). Digital pat-
terns can be changed quickly in the computer with a few simple
keystrokes, while, in traditional analogue work, more efforts is
required to make a change.
The information designer Lars Eriksson experiments with
pieces (Tiles) that have small patterns. These small patterns will
fit with patterns found on other pieces when they end up next to
each other. In the past, this was done completely manually. In
mosaic, for example, people often work with loose pieces that
have the same shape, but different colours.

198
Eriksson does this completely digitally, which gives better
opportunities to easily and quickly create a variety of alterna-
tives. All pieces have patterns or motifs. Special “Edge Rules” de-
termine how pieces can meet each other. Each edge fits the other
edges. Not all pieces need to be equilateral. When you move
around these pieces, new unique patterns (Shapes) are formed,
but with the same style. It is a modular concept with modular
pieces that are not equilateral (Eriksson, 2020).
The unique thing about this modularity is that two modular
systems interact with each other. When a system only has pieces
that fit together (in different colours) and covers a plane, it will
certainly be a modular pattern. Furthermore, kin this new system
the motifs fit together. This applies regardless of how we place,
or how we rotate the different individual pieces.
However, we always need to put the pieces together. This is
done with help of the "edge rule." In addition, there are great in-
teresting opportunities to use and reuse some pieces in order to
generate unique patterns digitally. Only by changing the "edge
rule angle" do we get completely new, unique patterns.
This picture shows which pieces are used for the pattern for Cu-
lex Pipiens, mosquito egg. Picture: Lars Eriksson.

199
This picture shows the finished pattern for Culex Pipiens, mos-
quito egg. Picture: Lars Eriksson.
There is no doubt that this digital and modular concept can
be used for design and production of a wide range of products,
such as advertising materials, carpets, clothes, curtains, fabrics,
floors, graphic products, kitchen towels, office supplies, packag-
ing, porcelain, tiles, toys, wallpaper, and websites.
On ResearchGate Eriksson successively presents evolved
Girih tile sets beyond the five Girih Tiles that he has popularized
earlier. Additional tiles have been presented in multiple papers
before, but here, a wider set is officially defined. This evolved tile
set, or evolved Girih tile set, includes the adapter tiles. Adapter
tiles differ from the five Girih Tiles as the latter only have equi-
lateral sides.

200
Learning
The Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer Johann Heinrich
Pestalozzi (1746–1827), was inspired by his predecessor Iohan-
nes Amos Comenius, and his general theory of education. Pesta-
lozzi believed that students gain knowledge through practical ex-
perience. His motto was: “Learning by head, hand, and heart”
(Wikipedia, 2019b). The students got to know their local envi-
ronment, study animals and plants, and do experiments. The
teachers also brought different materials into their different
classrooms. Pestalozzi founded several educational institutions
both in German- and French-speaking regions of Switzerland.
All communication, composing practices, and literacies,
have always been multimodal. During the 1960s and 1970s,
many writers looked to audiotape recordings, film, and photog-
raphy in order to discover new ideas about communication and
information materials.
Multimodality is the use of several elements to create a sin-
gle artefact. As a social semiotic theory multimodality has been
widely used to understand the meaning of communicational ar-
tefacts, events and texts within a specific context and a specific
culture (O’Halloran, 2009). Multimodal literacy is about under-
standing the different ways of knowledge representations and
meaning-making through various methods of communication
(Alexander, 2008).
I believe that found objects and readymade images are used
in schools all over the world, and at all levels. Here are a few ex-
amples. This chapter includes the following main sections: Ele-
mentary school, Middle school/Junior high school, and Univer-
sity courses.

201
Elementary school
When I was a child and started in elementary school in 1950 (age
7), our teacher often asked us to find large images of letters,
printed in journals, magazines, and newspapers. It was possible
to find “good examples” in headings and in titles. We cut them
out and brought them to school, where we had to show our let-
ters. Later on, we had to find interesting printed drawings,
and/or photographs. The topic could be “an animal,” “a car,” “a
plant,” or something else. At school we had to write texts explain-
ing our “readymade images,” put them on the wall for the
teacher, and other pupils to see. This educational idea was prob-
ably used in many schools in many countries. Obviously, these
situations were totally new, and never imagined, contexts for all
these pictures.
It seems to be the same educational ideas today, almost sev-
enty years later, in kindergarten as well as in elementary school.
However, now children may often find their “readymade images”
on the internet. They use them in their computers, and then,
maybe, they produce their own prints to bring to school. In one
study Westlund (2018) analysed 93 multimodal compositions
(text + image) made by second year students in Swedish elemen-
tary classes (ages 7–9). The children made all their compositions
during five teaching sessions with science content. The science
topics were: 1) Heart and lungs, 2) Lungs, heart and blood, 3)
Mushrooms, 4) Space, and 5) Stars. These students mainly wrote
their texts on computers. Most students draw their images on pa-
per (80), but some (13) found “readymade images” on the Inter-
net. Westlund analysed the compositions with focus on images,
and the relations between images and texts. In this study
Westlund was able to distinguish between seven different kinds
of content representations: 1) Art, 2) Attitude-evoking, 3) Cul-
tural heritage, 4) Event, 5) Natural experience, 6) Person, and 7)
Theory.

202
Middle school/Junior high school
Unfortunately, often archival pictures are used in a way not at all
intended. Sometimes the same pictures appear in several differ-
ent contexts, which may confuse the readers. Some illustrations
in contemporary textbooks appear to serve no useful purpose at
all. Some picture editors admit that some of the pictures they put
into textbooks are only there to “stimulate” the reader, to have “a
life of their own,” or merely to provide a “breathing space” within
the text. Such uses seem very dubious. In fact, some publishers
admit that the two main reasons to use pictures in their books
are to attract buyers, and to be able to increase the prices of the
books.
In practice, many editors, art directors, and designers find
that procurement time, availability, and image clarity are the
three most important considerations in making their subjective
choices among possible visuals.
Evans, Watson and Willows (1987) interviewed editors, art
directors, and designers from nine major Canadian publishing
houses. They concluded (p. 90):
Our interviews confirm Dwyer’s (1972) summary that the se-
lection and inclusion of illustrations in textbooks appear to
be based on “subjective feelings of the designer about what
is best, the accessibility of raw information, the availability
of materials, the cost, the attractiveness of the finished prod-
uct, and the availability of a ready market” (p. 16).
Effective visuals for information and learning should create an
experience for the reader. The reader must: 1) See or rather “dis-
cover” the picture. 2) Pay attention to the picture. 3) Read the
picture in an active and selective way. 4) Process the information
mentally.
Further see the main section Modern textbooks in the chap-
ter Books.

203
University courses
I myself have used many readymades at the introduction of my
basic university course in information design. In one exercise,
the students worked two and two, A and B. I had cut out and
mounted several dozens of interesting pictures, in large formats,
from various magazines.
In the exercise person A carefully, with her or his own
words, described to person B what their image represented. B
was provided with colour pencils and paper, and drew her or his
own version of the picture to the best of her or his ability. B was
free to ask all questions needed when something was unclear.
After about ten minutes, the exercise was completed and
each group received a new picture. Now the roles were changed,
B told and A drew. Then A and B compared the two models and
the two self-produced images. Without exception, all students
learned that it is very complicated, and it takes a long time to de-
scribe an image. However, we can perceive the image content in
a few seconds.

204
Artistic work and design
When is an artistic work, or a design completed/finished? Al-
ready Michelangelo struggled with this problem. In 1505 the
newly elected Pope Julius II invited Michelangelo to Rome. The
Pope commissioned him to build his own tomb in for St. Peter’s
Basilica. The Tomb of Pope Julius II should be a very large free-
standing architectural and sculptural ensemble with some 40
statues. It should be finished in five years.
However, this did not happen. Michelangelo and his assis-
tants started the work searching for good marble for the sculp-
tures. However, Michelangelo soon had to stop this work. The
Pope commissioned him to first paint the ceiling of the Sistine
Chapel, about 40 meters long and 13 meters wide. He worked
with the Sistine Chapel from 1508 to 1512, and painted a total of
343 characters.
Since the Pope died in 1513 the original plans for a spectac-
ular tomb was never finished (Rauch, 1995, p. 329). The original
plans were changed several times, step-by-step into a simple wall
tomb with a few figures. Michelangelo finished the work in 1545,
after 40 years. Furthermore, the wall tomb is placed in another
location, the church of San Pietro. This project became one of the
great disappointments of Michelangelo’s life.
Already in 1912 Marcel Duchamp painted the last of his Cub-
ist-inspired, and Cubist-like paintings. At the beginning he wrote
short notes to himself, sometimes with sketches. He began mak-
ing plans for his future large project. His many ideas came to-
gether in one of the most ambitious works of art in the 20th cen-
tury, The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even, or The
Large Glass. In this work Duchamp’s taste for the ambiguous,
mystified and spiritual content and meaning has got its richest
expression. The extremely carefully composed image holds a
cryptic irony of the modern society’s machine and sexuality cult
(Henderson, 1998). Duchamp spent a lot of time working with
the project. He used different materials and combined chance

205
procedures, laborious craftsmanship, and plotted perspective
studies. In 1923 Duchamp formally declared this artwork as “Un-
finished,” and he stopped working on the object.
The impressionist painters often received criticism from the
confused art public. People did not consider their works as fin-
ished. However, artists always decide when their own works are
finished. It is different when it comes to ordered jobs. Anyone
who orders a portrait, or, for example, an illustration for publish-
ing in a book, can usually request that the artist, illustrator, or
photographer, makes a number of corrections and continue
working until the client is satisfied with the work, and is prepared
to pay the agreed fee.
Images help form ideas. The act of drawing images has the
capability to help invent and develop new ideas. Creativity is the
ability to generate ideas that are original and valuable as defined
within a social context (Plucker, Beghetto, and Dow, 2004).
Original ideas are new, novel, unexpected, unique, and/or unu-
sual. Valuable ideas are appropriate, effective, helpful, and/or
useful. Research of creativity often deals with the capability for
ideation, that is, the capacity to develop new concepts or new
ideas. Ideation is predictive of creativity capability (Hokanson,
2019). The goal with ideation is to generate a large number of
new concepts and/or new ideas, that potentially will inspire bet-
ter concepts and/or ideas. Then a design team can focus on the
best, most innovative and practical ideas.
In information design the main goal is clarity of communi-
cation. High-quality information is correct, credible, relevant,
and easy for the intended audience to access, interpret, and un-
derstand. A competent and skilled information designer is a pro-
fessional communicator. He/she knows when an information
material has good quality. However, in practise the paying client
always decides what is to be deemed acceptable as good infor-
mation design.

206
ID Library
At the beginning of this millennium there was a huge lack of text-
books for the new academic discipline Information Design. At
that time, I wrote some research papers, and also some basic
texts about communication, design, and information. Already in
2002 John Benjamins Publishing Company published my book
Information Design, An introduction in Amsterdam and Phila-
delphia. This was useful, but it was not enough. Of course, also,
other people contributed with research papers, and after some
time also with textbooks.
Since I retired, 1 January 2009, I have continued working
with research at the Institute for Infology. I have developed an
Information Design Library with 12 e-books. These e-books in-
clude more than 4 000 pages, and together they constitute my
digital Information Design Library, something I really wanted
to have for my own teaching many years ago.
• Message Design.
• ID Theories.
• Text Design.
• Image Design.
• Using Images.
• Reuse in Art and Design.
• Graphic Design.
• Cognition.
• Learning.
• Predecessors and Pioneers.
• It Depends.
• ID Concepts.
All these books are available at ResearchGate at:
< https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rune_Pettersson >

207
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Dürer - The Rhinoceros (NGA 1964.8.697).jpg <

232
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Albrecht_Dürer_-
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Edelsvärd A. W. (1855–1862). Cottage intended for a lenghtman
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233
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Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International li-
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art. The picture was published as figure 33 on page 211 in Piggott,

234
S. (1954). The Neolithic Cultures of the British Isles, Cambridge,
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Transport Agency (Transportstyrelsen), and provided by Wikipe-
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hunting. Anonymous person. Painting made after a painting by Pe-
ter Paul Rubens. File: After Peter Paul Rubens 003.jpg <

235
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Girl with the pearl earring <

236
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2021.

237
Appendix: Main concepts
Many concepts may have diffused and sometimes even multiple
meanings. For the purpose of this book I have used the following
brief descriptions of main concepts related to languages and text
design. Here these concepts are sorted in alphabetical order:
Abstract graphic symbols look like the objects they represent
but have less detail than pictorial symbols. Good abstract
graphic symbols are intuitive and we should be able to under-
stand their meaning. In athletic contests, like the Olympic games,
abstract graphic symbols are often used to denote the different
sports.
Abstraction is a simplification of existing shapes.
Achromatic colours are black and white. See Natural Colour
System.
Additive colour. In a picture tube the additive combinations
of the primary colours red, green, and blue lights (RGB) can pro-
duce a huge range of colours. The additive colour combination
starts in dark adding light to produce different colours. The end
result is white.
Advertisement. 1) An advertisement is the activity of advertis-
ing and attracting public attention to a business, product or ser-
vice. 2) An advertisement is a paid announcement. Printed ad-
vertisements need a graphical form that arouses interest. Here
unusual typefaces can be useful and stimulate attention, entice
the reader to look at the pictures and begin reading the text.
Shortened forms are ad and advert. Broadly interpreted certain
kinds of advertisements can be included in the concept infor-
mation material.
Advertising illustrations are images created for the purpose
of selling a product or a service.

238
Aesthetic proportion is very subjective. We may all have dif-
ferent ideas of what we find beautiful and rewarding, and what
we find boring, distracting, disturbing or ugly. When a design is
out of proportion it may be disproportionate, exaggerated or
overemphasized. Classical formats are based on the proportions
of the golden rectangle (3:5, 5:8, 8:13, 13:21, 21:34, etc.) and the
golden section (1:1.618).
Aesthetic value of a message is how the intended receivers per-
ceive it with respect to its beauty. Material with a (sufficiently)
pleasing form has greater potential for conveying a particular
message than does non-aesthetic material.
Aestheticians try to understand art in broad and fundamental
ways. They study art from all countries and from all periods of
history, in relation to their cultural, physical and social environ-
ments.
Aesthetics theory for ID is an external theory with influences
from art and aesthetic disciplines.
Animation include different methods to make still pictures ap-
pear as moving images. Today, most animations are made with
computer-generated imagery.
Applied art and design are disciplines that use elements and
principles of design to create functional pieces for commercial
use.
Archaeological cultures. Today archaeologists have named
“archaeological cultures” based on characteristic ceramics with
their decorations. Regardless of the expected short lifetime pot-
ters spent time on decorating their pottery, often with abstract
patterns. Today pieces of pottery can often be used for dating of
archaeological sites. Pottery analysis may also provide infor-
mation about past cultural networking and communication pat-
terns.

239
Architecture is 1) The art/practice of constructing (verb) build-
ings, and 2) The carefully designed structure (noun) of buildings.
Areas belong to the simplest components in visual language. An
area can be varied with respect to brightness, colour, colour com-
binations, context, emptiness, grain, grey scale, shaded or non-
shaded parts, shape, size, texture, and value. See Basic elements.
Art is valued for its originality and expressiveness. Its focus is on
individual artefacts crafted through the manual and aesthetic vir-
tuosity of the artist. Art strives to express fundamental ideas and
perspectives on the human condition. Design, in contrast, is val-
ued for its fitness to a particular user and to a particular task.
Balance is the sum of all elements, the darks and lights, the hor-
izontals and verticals. A composition is balanced when the visual
weight of graphical elements on either side of the centre of bal-
ance are approximately equal. Balance can be formal or informal.
Formal balance has total symmetry and it is felt to be static and
harmonious. It may, however, also be boring.
Balance in design. Man has an intuitive sense of balance.
When a single element is too large or small, too light or dark, too
indistinct or prominent, the entire design will suffer from this
imbalance. However, good balance is something subjective. As
with a physical balance, lighter elements can balance heavier el-
ements if their size or value is increased, or if they are moved far-
ther away from the centre of balance. It is also possible to move
the heavier elements closer to the centre of balance.
Baroque. The Baroque style began in Rome, Italy and spread to
most of Europe. This style produced drama, exuberance and
grandeur in architecture, painting and sculpture. This is the
phase between the Renaissance and the Modern age. Sculptures
from the Baroque period focused on energy and passion. Baroque
architects often used a sense of central projection and strong col-
ours on the interior of their buildings.

240
Basic elements, or graphic elements, are dots, lines, areas and
volumes. These elements can be varied and put together in many
ways. Basic elements are sometimes meaningful, sometimes not.
Beauty. In the 18th century philosophers agreed that beauty
could not be defined in terms of the qualities shared by all beau-
tiful objects.
Brightness is the experienced intensity of light (bright-dull). In
colour displays it is very difficult to distinguish brightness from
lightness (white-black). When the signal to a colour display is in-
creased, the brightness of the total screen is increased.
Brightness constancy is our tendency to judge the brightness
of objects to be constant, even though changes in illumination
make the objects appear brighter or darker.
Carved figures. Ever since the Stone Age, artists have used
other people as their noblest motives for artistic representations
of various kinds. The female images in bone, ivory, stone and
wood show the Palaeolithic hunter’s concern with fertility. Dur-
ing the 1900s, several archaeologists have found many female
statuettes in various parts of Eurasia. These female images are
collectively referred to as “Venus figurines.” Other common mo-
tifs are small animal figures, which perhaps gave the hunter-
gatherer peoples hopeful of good hunting.
Central perspective, one-point perspective, or Renaissance
perspective is a Line perspective. In a central perspective, lines
in the picture converge at a common point of intersection–the
limit or main point–even though they are parallel in reality. Cen-
tral perspective is a “one-point perspective.” All lines vanish in a
single point in the picture.
Clarity refers to 1) The quality of being clear and easy to under-
stand, 2) The ability to think clearly and not be confused,” and 3)
The quality of being easy to see or hear.” In information design
the concept clarity refers to both legibility and readability.

241
Classical formats are based on the proportions of the golden
section or golden rectangle, 3:5, 5:8, 8:13, 13:21, 21:34, etc. The
proportions of the golden section are 1:1.618.
Clear. In information design the concept clear refers to both leg-
ibility and readability.
Colour. When we talk about the colour of an object we usually
refer to the hue of that object. Most people are familiar with hue
through our labelling of colours such as red, orange, yellow,
green, blue and violet. There are strong cultural differences in in-
terpreting the meanings of colour.
Colour blindness is a condition in which certain colour dis-
tinctions cannot be made. This is more common among men
than women.
Colour coding is a good way to show that something is espe-
cially important and interesting. It can be used to improve atten-
tion in documents, in signs and in symbols and increase learning.
However, the number of colour codes must be limited and they
should always be explained. To avoid confusion and misunder-
standing, it is important that colour be used consistently. Incon-
sistent and improper use of colour can be distracting, fatiguing
and upsetting and it can actually produce negative results and
reduce learning.
Colour constancy is our tendency to judge the colour of an ob-
ject as the same despite changes in distance, viewing angle, and
illumination. See Perceptual constancy.
Colour description systems. Colour can be described in aes-
thetical, physical, physiological, psychological and technical
terms. Hue, value and saturation describe what we see. Intensity,
purity and wavelength are physical dimensions. The relationship
between brightness, hue, lightness and saturation is very compli-
cated. For practical use in art and in industry several different
systems providing numerical indexes for colour have been devel-
oped.

242
Colour perspective, colours and hues gradually change from
being clear in the picture’s foreground into being blurred in its
background.
Contrast is the result from differences along a common visual
dimension that can be observed between various elements in a
design.
Copyright. The rights of copyright holders are protected ac-
cording to international conventions, terms of delivery and
agreed ethical rules.
Copyright Act. All artistic works are protected for the origina-
tor’s entire life plus an additional 70 years. Thus, many works are
protected for more than 120-130 years. This protection is inter-
national.
Counterfeit is a product that is said to be identical to an original
of some kind, usually for dishonest or illegal purposes. Counter-
feit and plagiarism occur in architecture, art, design, literature,
research, technology and more.
Cropping. An original picture can often be improved by removal
of irrelevant or distracting elements. Usually pictures can be
cropped a little bit from all sides. In practice, the photographer
always performs some “initial cropping” while taking the actual
photograph. When composing or taking a photograph, the pho-
tographer sets the boundaries or “frame” of the picture.
Curvilinear decorations of Neolithic rock carvings are curved
in various ways: 1) arcs, 2) circles, 3) “dot-in-circles,” circles with
a dot inside, 4) serpentiforms (lines having the form of serpents)
and 5) spirals.
Curvilinear perspective is a line perspective and includes
Four-point perspective and Five-point perspective.
Dark values of colour with black pigment added are called
“shades” of the given hue name.

243
Decoration. There are many situations, where colour and typo-
graphic elements can be used for decoration. However, a decora-
tive use of colour or typography should never be mixed with an
intended use to provide a clear structure, simplicity and hierar-
chy. It must always be clear and easy to understand for the re-
ceiver when colour and typography is used for decoration and
when the use is meant to have some cognitive importance.
Decorative pictures are intended to give relief to the learning
situation and to make the material aesthetically appealing and
pleasing.
Design is 1) The identification of a problem and the intellectual
process (verb) of an originator, manifesting itself in plans and
specifications to solve the problem. 2) The result (noun) and out-
come of a design process.
Design disciplines include disciplines and research areas such
as ceramics design, document design, exhibition design, furni-
ture design, graphic design, information design, landscape de-
sign, light design, web design, and many more.
Design rule. There is one information design rule: “Respect
copyright, and other laws and regulations related to infor-
mation.”
Diagonal lines are unstable and attract the eye. They give the
impression of movement, creating visual stress. Artists may use
this implied motion when they wish to convey energy or action in
their works. Lines that reach out from one point in different di-
rections may be perceived as aggressive or violent.
Dots in visual language. A dot is the smallest graphic element
in visual language. The dot is usually a meaningless, or non-sig-
nificant image element, such as one of many halftone dots, but it
could also be a syntagm, such as an eye in a cartoon-face. It may
even have a complete meaning, such as a ball in mid-air.

244
Early books. Before the invention of the printing press, almost
all books were copied by hand. The bookmaking process was long
and laborious. The first books used parchment (sheepskin) or
vellum (calfskin) rather than paper. The book covers were made
of wood and covered with leather. This made books expensive
and rare. During the later Middle Ages books were often chained
to a bookshelf or a desk to prevent theft from the libraries. When
the moveable type was introduced during the 15th century, it be-
came possible to produce books in larger quantities.
Elementary colours are black, white, yellow, red, blue and
green.
Emphasis is used to attract or direct attention or dramatize cer-
tain points within a visual. A dark dot in a light field, and a jog in
a straight line are two good examples of emphasis. These con-
trasts attract attention. Emphasis may also be used to direct at-
tention, and to keep attention, or dramatize certain points within
information materials.
Emphasise. In order, not to confuse the readers, it is important
to establish a consistent system for how to signal emphasis. Use
bold and italics for emphasis sparingly; too many emphasised
words may reduce the emphasis.
Facilitating memory for pictures. In order, to facilitate
memory for pictures we should put pictures as close to the rele-
vant text as possible, co-ordinate design of learning materials
with a theory of meaningful learning.
Full-tone picture. Dots, lines and areas of solid paint build up
all line-art, or “full-tone pictures.” Business graphics, line draw-
ings, maps and schematic illustrations all belong to this category.
Golden mean, or golden section, is a mathematical method
from ancient Greece of dividing space. The proportions of the
golden mean are 1:1.618.

245
Golden ratio is an irrational number of a line divided into two
segments. The principle of the golden ratio is comparable to the
Fibonacci numbers: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89 and so forth.
Golden rectangle. The sides in the golden rectangle are 3:5,
5:8, 8:13, 13:21, 21:34, etc.
Golden section, or Golden mean, is a mathematical method
from ancient Greece of dividing space. The proportions of the
golden mean are 1:1.618.
Grapheme. A grapheme is the smallest semantically distin-
guishing unit in a written language. It is analogous to the pho-
neme in a spoken language. A grapheme may or it may not carry
any meaning by itself, and it may or it may not correspond to a
single phoneme. There are six families of graphemes: 1) Colour,
2) Form, 3) Grain, 4) Orientation, 5) Tallness, and 6) Value.
Graphic design may be described as the art and craft of bring-
ing a functional, aesthetic, and organized structure to different
kinds of texts and illustrations. The main objective is to provide
messages that are legible for the intended audience. Graphic de-
sign is a process (verb) as well as a result (noun) of that process.
Graphic elements. In computerized image processing graphic
elements can be defined in one of two systems: either mathemat-
ically as points and vectors, or in the form of pixels.
Halftone picture. To be able to reproduce the fine nuances of
a photograph or fine art the original must be divided into small
picture elements. A reproduction camera is used for photograph-
ical separation (analogue technology). Here raster-screens are
used to transfer the original image into a raster-image. It is also
possible to use a scanner (digital technology) to create the raster-
image. A picture needs a large number of pixels. In fact, when the
resolution is only 100 lines per inch one A4-page has more than
5.8 million pixels.

246
Harmony in design is a pleasing arrangement and combina-
tion of elements to form a consistent and orderly whole. There is
harmony in information material when all design elements fit
well together. Harmony is one of the aesthetic principles in in-
formation design.
Horizontal lines are restful and relaxing. They create a strong
sense of equilibrium in any composition. Horizontal lines that
are parallel to the borders of the picture give the impression of
calm and stability. A horizontal line can serve, e.g., as a horizon,
a street, or a sea. Horizontal lines are perceived as being shorter
than equally long vertical lines.
Hue is the basic component of colour corresponding to different
wavelengths. Most people are familiar with hue through our la-
belling of colours such as yellow, orange, red, violet, blue, and
green. In colour description systems hues are usually placed in a
band around a centre, in a colour-circle. Hue is expressed as a
value between 0 and 360 on the colour wheel. All of the colours
in the rainbow are hues in the visible spectrum of light. Changing
the hue values will dramatically alter the colour of an image.
Image content variables are amount of detail, degree of real-
ism, objects, time, place, space, events such as action, humour,
drama, violence, etc., time displacement, parallel action, meta-
phoric descriptions (symbolic actions), the relevance and credi-
bility of the contents, comparisons and statistics, motion, sounds
such as speech, music, sound effects, and emotions.
Image contexts. Factors inside a medium are inner/internal
contexts, such as interplay between text and illustrations in a
book. External context includes the communications situation.
Image execution. Variables related to an image’s graphic exe-
cution are image factors and image components. Examples are
colour (hue, value, saturation), shape (external shape, external
contour), and size (image, subject, depth).

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Image functions–communication. According to research-
ers in the areas of instructional message design, visual literacy
and visual communication the most common opinions on func-
tions of visuals concern attention. Researchers mention attract,
gain, get, hold and maintain attention. Other common explana-
tory verbs are: facilitate, provide, persuade, create (an interest
in), illustrate, clarify, motivate, present and reinforce infor-
mation (to someone).
Image manipulation implies the improper control of people’s
perception of a given reality through the use of pictures. The eth-
ical rules for the press, radio and television clearly warn against
manipulation or falsification of picture content through mislead-
ing captions, odd montage, or suspicious trimming.
Information design comprises analysis, planning, presenta-
tion and understanding of a message, its content, language and
form. The main objective is to provide information needed by the
receivers in order to perform specific tasks. Information design
is a process (verb) as well as a result (noun) of that process.
Instructional pictures are primarily informative. They show
the appearance of an object, the cause-effect relations within nat-
ural phenomena, or the functioning of a technical device.
Keep it simple! Leave out needless words and needless pic-
tures and picture elements. This does not mean that all your sen-
tences have to be short, or that you have to avoid all details.
Legibility is how easy it is to read a message. It is determined
by the technical design of the text and the pictures, that is, their
clarity. A message has good legibility if it is easy to read, from
the viewpoint that the reader should easily be able to see and dis-
tinguish all different parts. Legibility can be measured rather ob-
jectively and its quality is assessable whether we understand the
content of the message or not.
Legibility of pictures is how easy it is to read a visual message.
Pictures must have good legibility in all kinds of information and

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learning materials. Images shall be bold and large enough to see.
They shall only contain essential information and have a good
contrast between figure and ground and be appropriate for the
intended audience. Graphics can help readers see and compre-
hend complex patterns. A picture can be rated according to legi-
bility and reading value.
Light design, lighting design, is the use of light and lighting to
create different atmospheres in art installations, concerts, open-
ing and closing ceremonies of sports competitions, public cele-
brations, theatre plays, water sculptures etcetera.
Line. A line may vary with respect to its starting point, its bright-
ness, colour, context, curvature, direction, evenness, grain,
length, orientation, positions of change, printing, shape, thick-
ness, value, and terminus. Lines can direct attention to specific
picture elements.
Line art is a black and white copy, without any variations in
value. Thus, line art is suitable for reproductions without half-
tone screens. Line art images may restrict visual impressions to
the essential information.
Lines in visual language. A line may be varied with respect to
its starting point, brightness, colour, context, curvature, direc-
tion, evenness, grain, length, orientation and points of change,
printing, shape, thickness, value and terminus. The line is a pow-
erful graphic element. Readers tend to follow a line along its way.
As a result, lines can be used to direct attention to specific picture
elements. The line provides the essential elements for perception
of motion in a visual.
Mobiliary art, portable art. In archaeology mobiliary art and
portable art refers to human-made small examples of prehistoric
art, like carved figurines, that people could carry from place to
place.
Natural Colour System, NCS, is a colour description system.
We perceive six colours as “pure.” Black and white are

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achromatic colours. Yellow, red, blue, and green are chromatic
colours. Every possible colour can be described with a specific
location in a three-dimensional model, a twin cone, called the
“NCS Colour Solid.”
Negative space or passive space in a visual is the part that is
not filled with picture elements. The negative space is usually the
background. Active space or positive space in a visual is the part
representing different objects. Space has no meaning in itself,
but it may be used to separate or bring together different picture
elements. In typography the shape of the space within an open
character, such as an upper case C is called a negative space.
Neolithic art have thirteen main categories of motifs: face mo-
tifs, circles, rayed circles, crosses, spirals, arcs, ovals, scalloped
outlines, hurdle patterns, fir tree motifs, zigzag patterns, trian-
gles and lozenges and cup-marks. There are several versions in
each category.
Ornaments. Various ornaments and patterns can be used to
separate different sections in a text. In instructional materials,
they are often used to mark specific activities. They can also be
used for decoration, to make a more aesthetically pleasing or ar-
tistic product. Dingbats is a special PostScript font.
Paradigm is a set of assumptions or common values that will
influence how people view a community.
Parietal art, rock art. In archaeology, rock art, is human-made
drawings, engravings, markings, and paintings on immobile,
natural surfaces, typically vertical stone surfaces. Rock art is
found in all parts of the globe except Antarctica.
Passive space, or negative space, in a visual is the part that is
not filled with picture elements. The negative space is usually the
background. Active space or positive space in a visual is the part
representing different objects. Space has no meaning in itself,
but it may be used to separate or bring together different picture
elements.

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Perceptual constancy. We can view a picture, a symbol, and a
text from various distances and angles and get the same percep-
tion of the content. Our minds constantly fill in missing details
and complete images, without our realizing that it has happened.
Pixel is a minute rectangular picture element used in “building
blocks,” defined by raster coordinates in digital images. The pixel
can vary with respect to colour.
Plagiarism is copying ideas or work by another person, without
a reference to the source. Counterfeit and plagiarism occur in ar-
chitecture, art, design, literature, research, technology and more.
Portable art, and mobiliary art (in archaeology) refers to hu-
man-made small examples of prehistoric art, like carved figu-
rines, that people could carry from place to place.
Practice includes all the intellectual and practical work with de-
sign. The information designer has to identify the communica-
tion and information problems and create plans, with schemes
and specifications, to solve the problems.
Prehistory is the period before written history. By studying
carvings, drawings, paintings, pottery, sculptures and other arte-
facts, archaeologists may recover some information even in the
absence of written records. Since the Neolithic period (approxi-
mately 10,000–2,000 BCE) people have communicated not only
through gestures and sounds, but also by means of visual lan-
guage. Hunters and gatherers and later early farmers made use
of information systems to advertise services and products.
Readability of pictures is the ability to understand visual
messages. The style of illustration is decided by the choice of
drawings, photographs, schematic pictures, as well as con-
sistency, expressions, picture elements and symbols. Instruc-
tional illustrations have good readability when the subject mat-
ter and the pictorial conventions are familiar to the audience and
depicted in a realistic manner.

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Rectilinear decorations of Neolithic rock carvings are
straight: 1) chevrons (inverted V-shaped patterns) or zigzags, 2)
lozenges or diamonds, 3) offsets or comb-devices, 4) parallel
lines and 5) radials or star shapes.
Reuse means that a product, that is consumed in its original
function, can be used again for another purpose.
Rock art, parietal art, is human-made drawings, engravings,
markings, and paintings on immobile, natural surfaces, typically
vertical stone surfaces. Rock art is found in all parts of the globe
except Antarctica.
Saturation, sometimes called chroma and intensity, is most
closely related to the number of wavelengths contributing to a
colour sensation. It is the apparent purity, or lack of greyness of
a colour. Saturated colours are often considered to be aggressive,
bold, daring, vibrant and they may grab our attention. Unsatu-
rated colours may be perceived as boring, dull, peaceful, restful,
soft, weak and they may sometimes be depressing. (Sometimes
chroma is said to be the combination of hue and saturation.)
Sennefer was “Mayor of Thebes” in Egypt during the reign of
Amenhotep II. He was buried in a richly decorated tomb. Several
lines with pictographic verbal expressions are combined with in-
teresting pictures to tell the stories in scenes on the walls and on
the four pillars. This is very early information design.
Shape constancy is our tendency to judge shapes as the same
despite changes in distance, viewing angle, and illumination.
This is one of the reasons that circles, ovals, rectangles, squares
and triangles often are used in symbols and icons.
Staffage is a denomination for anonymous accessory items, like
animals, human figures, objects, and various kinds of patterns
that enrich an image, and make it more interesting, more vivid
and more believable.

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Theory is the branch of art, design or science that deals with
methods, principles, and proposed explanations that are still
subject to experimentation. A theory illustrates how and why
something is as it is.
Tint is a base colour with white pigment added.
Trompe L’Oeil is French for “fool the eye.” A two-dimensional
representation that is so naturalistic that it looks actual, or real-
istic three-dimensional.
Unity suggests an “overall togetherness” in the information ma-
terial. In a design that lacks unity the different elements compete
for attention. It is chaos and it creates confusion for the receivers.
Vislet. When a visual story is published on a blog or on a web
page, it becomes a Vislet, a short, visualized story. It may be used
as educational material on any computer. A vislet may also be an
interactive data visualisation.
Visual fusion. Our minds combine minute parts of a picture by
blending and organizing the patterns into correct images.
Visual languages attempt equivalence with reality. Visuals are
iconic and normally resemble the thing they represent. It may
take only a few seconds to recognize the content in an image.
Meaning is apparent on a basic level, but the visual language
must be learned for true comprehension.
Visual literacy is the learned ability to interpret visual mes-
sages accurately, and to create such messages. Interpretation and
creation parallel reading and writing in print literacy.
Visual literacy skills range from the ability to distinguish light
from dark to the ability to read and express a sequence of body
language arranged to express a personal emotion.
Visual messages are superior to verbal messages when content
is emotional, holistic, immediate, spatial and visual. They stimu-
late both emotional and intellectual responses and make us feel
as well as think.

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Visual variables are colour, density (or greyness), directions,
form (of symbols), granularity (or texture), position and place,
and size (of symbols).
Visualisation, or visualization, is any technique for creating
animations, diagrams, images, and sketches to communicate
messages. It is used education, engineering, medicine, science,
technology, etcetera.
Volume. A volume has a three-dimensional form with various
depth planes, or grounds, a foreground, a middle ground, and a
background.
Woodcut is a relief printing technique. The artist carves an
image into the surface of a block of wood. Images at surface level
carry the ink to produce the print. Woodcuts can be traced back
to ancient Egypt, Babylonia and China, where wooden stamps
were used to make decorative patterns or symbols in wax or clay.