Art History I / Is Art a Language?
Practice question · Fill in the blanks

Complete the vocabulary of the lesson.

Goodman calls painting a ______ symbol system, because between any two shades there is another. Arts in which forgery is a meaningful category are ______, and those with a notation are ______. A photograph refers to its subject partly as an ______, because it is a physical trace of light.

Word bank: dense · autographic · allographic · index · icon · notational

Hints
  1. The first blank is the property that rules out notation.
  2. The last blank is Peirce's term for reference by real connection.
Show the answer

Goodman calls painting a dense symbol system, because between any two shades there is another. Arts in which forgery is a meaningful category are autographic, and those with a notation are allographic. A photograph refers to its subject partly as an index, because it is a physical trace of light.

Why

The last blank sets up the ninth lesson of this unit. A painting resembles its subject and a photograph both resembles it and was physically caused by it, which is the difference that makes photographic evidence persuasive in a way painted evidence never was.

Read the lesson: Is Art a Language? →

Practise Is Art a Language?

The app has 4 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. Art History I is free to start.

More questions on Is Art a Language?