Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This is a revised, expanded, and updated edition of the highly successful Visual Culture . Like its predecessor, this new version is about visual literacy, exploring how meaning is both made and transmitted in an increasingly visual world. It is designed to introduce students and other interested readers to the analysis of all kinds of visual text, whether drawings, paintings, photographs, films, advertisements, television or new media forms. The book is illustrated with examples that range from medieval painting to contemporary advertising images, and is written in a lively and engaging style.

The first part of the book takes the reader through differing theoretical approaches to visual analysis, and includes chapters on iconology, form, art history, ideology, semiotics and hermeneutics. The second part shifts from a theoretical to a medium-based approach and comprises chapters on fine art, photography, film, television and new media. These chapters are connected by an underlying theme about the complex relationship between visual culture and reality.

New for the second edition are ten more theoretically advanced Key Debate sections, which conclude each chapter by provoking readers to set off and think for themselves. Prominent among the new provocateurs are Kant, Baudrillard, Althusser, Deleuze, Benjamin, and Foucault. New examples and illustrations have also been added, together with updated suggestions for further reading.

The book draws together seemingly diverse approaches, while ultimately arguing for a polysemic approach to visual analysis. Building on the success of the first edition, this new edition continues to provide an ideal introduction for students taking courses in visual culture and communications in a wide range of disciplines, including media and cultural studies, sociology, art and design.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Table of Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Preface to the First Edition
• Preface to the Second Edition
• Introduction
• Part I Theory
• 1 Iconology
• 2 Form
• 3 Art History
• 4 Ideology
• 5 Semiotics
• 6 Hermeneutics
• Part II Media
• 7 Fine Art
• 8 Photography
• 9 Film
• 10 Television
• 11 New Media
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Knowing how to read visual images, from social media to fine art, has become an increasingly valuable skill permitting those who possess it to derive meaning from what they view. In this third edition of Visual Culture, Howells (King's College, UK) and Negreiros, his former student, have continued their exploration of how to increase college and university students' visual literacy and how visual culture affects meaning. The book is organized into two parts, one exploring theory, the other media. The theory section covers iconology, form, art history, ideology, semiotics, and hermeneutics, while the media part examines fine art, photography, film, television, and new media. The authors have worked diligently to keep their work current, which is difficult in a field where ongoing change seems the norm. That being said, the study's central ideas remain remarkably constant, suggesting the complex relationship between visual culture and reality is ideally suited for their polysemic approach to visual analysis. Including over 50 black-and-white and color illustrations, this volume contains new sections on video games and images of power, fear, and seduction, as well as fresh material exploring subjective matters such as taste and judgement. Summing Up: Essential. General readers through faculty; professionals. --Stephen T. Schroth, Towson University