Deakin University Access to Thesis. Heather Stewart is the author of the thesis entitled: ‘Beyond the analogon; the transfer of the referent: The relationship between the external world experienced through culturally generated perceptual models constructed in the human mind, and the transfer of these images, via visual language, onto referents’. This thesis may be made available for consultation, loan and limited copying for the purpose of study and/or research in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968 [Australia]. This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and is the result of the authors own research, except where otherwise acknowledged, and that the thesis in whole or part has not been submitted for an award including a higher degree to any other university or institution. This document has been processed by an optical character recognition program, thus there is a possibility of transcription errors. Beyond the Analogom the ‘transfer of the referent’: The relationship between the external world experienced through culturally generated perceptual models constructed in the human mind, and the transfer of these images, via visual language, onto referents. Heather Stewart Bachelor of Arts with Honours This exegesis is submitted in support of the thesis and is not intended for separate assessment. The thesis in conjunction with the exegesis constitutes the total fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Principal Supervisor: Mr. Rodick Carmichael Associative Supervisor: Dr. Barry Butcher Faculty of Arts June 1994 II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I thank my dear friend and Principal Supervisor, Mr. Rod Carmichael, without whose generosity and vision this research could not have taken place. I also thank Dr. Barry Butcher for his invaluable support. III Table of Contents Summary of Thesis .........................................................................................................................1 Summary of Exegesis........................................................................................................................2 Section 1 The Transfer of the Referent ...............................................................................2 Section 2 The Perceptual modeland conceptual model of representation .....................................................................................................................3 Section 3 The Constellar Model .........................................................................................3 Appendix ............................................................................................................................4 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................5 The Topic ...........................................................................................................................5 The relationship between the topic and the artworks ............................................5 Section 1 ...........................................................................................................................................8 The development of the ‘transfer of the referent’ ...............................................................8 Introduction ..........................................................................................................8 The ‘Transfer of the Referent’ ..............................................................................8 Propositions in Paint ...........................................................................................10 Paintings without referents .................................................................................11 The Aleatory Painting becomes a Reference ......................................................13 The Development of Visual Language Structures ............................................................16 Language as the Propositionalizing Tool’ ..........................................................16 Art as Visual Language ......................................................................................17 Mind-Generated images ......................................................................................19 The Importance of Analogy in Connotation .......................................................20 Images with Pre-determined referents ................................................................23 Section2 ..........................................................................................................................................28 Perceptual and Conceptual Models ..................................................................................28 Recorded Images ................................................................................................28 The Development of Perceptual Models .............................................................30 Invented Models .................................................................................................32 Constructed Images ............................................................................................34 The challenge to a Perceptual Model ..................................................................34 The Eye, the Brain and the Mind ........................................................................37 Empiricism and Mnemonicism compared ..........................................................39 The Extended Conceptual Model .......................................................................40 The Medieval Model ...........................................................................................42 The Conceptual model of Tribal African art .......................................................44 The Conceptual Model of the Ammassalimiut ...................................................50 Picasso ................................................................................................................53 IV Gauguin ...............................................................................................................55 The Genesis of a Conceptual Model....................................................................55 Early Constellar Model .......................................................................................58 Section 3 .........................................................................................................................................60 Later Constellar Paintings ................................................................................................60 The Postmodem Milieu .......................................................................................60 Definitions of Postmodernity ..............................................................................60 Art, Ideology and the Metanarrative in the Postmodern Milieu .........................61 The Feminist Metanarrative ................................................................................62 The Socialist Metanarrative ................................................................................63 A Continuum of questioning ...............................................................................64 Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................74 Appendix 1 .....................................................................................................................................76 The Fauve Landscape .......................................................................................................76 Appendix 2 .....................................................................................................................................79 a Visage Découvert The Naked Face ..................................................................................................79 Appendix 3 .....................................................................................................................................84 Tribal Art of Western and Central Africa .........................................................................84 Appendix 4..................................................................................................................................... 97 The Ammassalimiut Dance Masks of East Greenland ..................................................... 97 Early Period 1800-1880 c ...................................................................................97 Middle Period .....................................................................................................99 Late Period ........................................................................................................101 Appendix No. 5 ............................................................................................................................103 Picasso’s Heads of the 30’s ............................................................................................103 Introduction ......................................................................................................103 Picasso’s “Primitivism” ....................................................................................105 Portrait Heads ................................................................................................... 108 Appendix 6....................................................................................................................................114