Actual Problems of the Composition of the Artistic Image

Abstract

This essay explores the general compositional features by opposing
the common understanding of composition as “an arrangement of the image on
the sheet surface”. An image is essentially a text that conveys information from the
author to the viewer and has no meaning without them. The main premise is that
a semantic compositional unit can be represented by the sequence “conveyor —
image — perceiver”. It is shown that a pictorial text consists of separate elements
with a certain structure (experiments of R. Pritchard). These elements, in turn,
are closely interrelated with each other, and only in this connection can their
artistic meaning be perceived. The perception of meaning is a temporal process,
which is determined by the transition of gaze from one group of elements to
another. In different contexts and with a different “route” of perception, the
same group can carry different meanings. It is important that if the image does
not carry any specific information for us it can nevertheless cause associations
which mostly reflect our inner essence. In this case, the viewer can understand
the original general meaning of the work very subjectively, despite all the efforts
of the author to show a clear structure of the image.
In this regard, the compositional “routes” of the spectator's perception of
pictorial elements can differ greatly from one another, depending on the viewer's
internal presets, which Alfred L. Yarbus proved experimentally back in the 1960s.
The essay briefly discusses some properties of pictorial signs and their impacts
on the emotional sphere of a person.
Finally, several pedagogical conclusions are made, in particular that the
ability of the student to penetrate into the symbolic artistic-semantic structure
requires education and development of his personality. Without this, he will only
glean the surface, the material aspect of the image. That is why an unprepared
student is often fond of "illusionism", of copying. Only serious pedagogical
work that requires knowledge of the fundamental principles of composite image
construction helps to cope with this.