Cover not available

In:Producing Figurative Expression: Theoretical, experimental and practical perspectives
Edited by John Barnden and Andrew Gargett
[Figurative Thought and Language 10] 2020
► pp. 55–84

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

Metaphor and one-off pictures

Touch and vision

 | University of Toronto
Published online: 17 December 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ftl.10.03ken
Abstract
All representational media support tropes. This chapter considers pictures and asks how pictorial metaphors can be devised by people with relatively little experience in the medium. The examples considered are raised-line drawings devised by blind children and adults. In some, the shapes of objects are anomalous but apt. In others the use of a line contrasts with its use in outline drawings – for example, atmospheric lines surround a target object. The blind and sighted concur on the meaning of pictorial metaphors. The theory of metaphor in drawings presented here treats perception, outline, realistic shape and departures from realism. Pictures have primary meanings, and metaphoric pictures require secondary meanings.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Cars in motion represented by a blind girl
  • 3.Wheel metaphors by EA
  • 4.Five wheels, five metaphors
  • 5.Disclaimers tag metaphors
  • 6.EW’s ontologies
  • 7.Thoughts
  • 8. Atmospheres and impressions
  • 9.Good and bad
  • 10.Aida and esthetics
  • 11.Surfaces, expression and intellect
  • 12.Metaphors, images and perception
  • 13.Conclusion
  • References
References (77)
References
Andello, M. (1542). Three faces on one head [accessed December 11, 2018]. Category, Wikimedia commons.
Arnheim, R. (1954). Art and visual perception. Univ. California Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Axel, E.S., & Levent, N.S. (2003). Art beyond sight: A resource guide to art, creativity and visual impairment. Art Education for the Blind & AFB Press, N.Y.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bhasin, S., Kennedy, J. M., & Niemeier, M. (2010). Emotional expression on a profile: Feature height, mouth angle and tilt. Attention, Perception and Psychophysics, 72, 187–192. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bouissac, P. (2014). Circus as multimodal discourse. Bloomsbury.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Burk, R. (2016). Painting in the dark. Tumblehome Learning.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cabe, P. (2012). Haptic distal spatial perception mediated by strings: Size at a distance and egocentric localization based on ellipse geometry. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 75, 358–374. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2019) Swinging door invariants: Optical information from rotating panels. Ecological Psychology, 31, 77–106. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Casati, R., & Cavanagh, P. (2019). The visual world of shadows. MIT Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chao, H-Y., & Kennedy, J. M. (2015). Metaphoric car drawings by a 12-year-old congenitally blind girl. Perception, 44, 1349–1355. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carello, C., Rosenblum, L., & Grosofsky, A. (1986). Static depiction of movement. Perception, 15, 41–58. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cowie, R. I. D., Hamill, T., Morrow, P. J., & Perrott, R. H. (1989). Interpreting line drawings using a clustering technique. British Machine Vision Conference. University of Reading. Proceedings of the Alvey vision conference (pp. 7.1–7.6). Alvey Vision Club.
Cohn, N. (2013). The visual language of comics. Bloomsbury.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cook, J. (2013). Ice-age art. The British Museum Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cramerotti, A. (2009). Aesthetic journalism. Intellect.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Crisafulli, F. (2013) Active light. Issues of light in contemporary theatre. Artdigiland.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cutting, J. E. (2002). Representing motion in a static image: Constraints and parallels in art, science, and popular culture. Perception, 31(10), 1165–1193. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
D’Angiulli, A., Kennedy, J. M., & Heller, M. A. (1998). Blind children recognizing tactile pictures respond like sighted children given guidance in exploration. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 39,189–190. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eriksson, Y. (1998). Tactile pictures [Gothenburg Studies in Art and Architecture, 4].Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Feeney, D. (2019). Art, visual impairment and the gatekeepers of aesthetic value. In J. Ravenscroft (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of visual impairment (pp. 255–274). Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Forceville, C. (2006). Non-verbal and multimodal metaphor in a cognitivist framework: Agendas for research. Applications of Cognitive Linguistics, 1, 379–402Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gabias, P., & Kennedy, J. M. (1984). Blind people identifying textures as representations of hard and soft surfaces. Paper presented at the Eastern Psychological Association conference , NY, April.
Gibbs, R. W. (2006). Metaphor interpretation as embodied simulation. Mind and Language, 21, 434–458. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gibson, J. J. (1979). The ecological approach to visual perception. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Giora, R., Givoni, S., Heruti, V., & Fein, O. (2017). The role of defaultness in affecting pleasure: The optimal innovation hypothesis revisited. Metaphor & Symbol, 32, 1–18. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Golomb, C. (1992). The child’s creation of a pictorial world. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goodman, N. (1968). Languages of art. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Group μ. (1994). Iconism. In T. A. Sebeok, & J. Umiker-Sebeok (Eds.), E. P. Young (Asst. Ed.), Advances in visual semiotics (pp. 21–46). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hayhoe, S. (2017). Blind visitor experiences in art museums. London: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heller, M. A. (2002). Tactile picture perception in sighted and blind people. Behavioral Brain Research, 135, 65–68. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heller, M. A., McCarthy, M., & Clark, A. (2005). Pattern perception and pictures for the blind. Psicologica, 26, 161–171. [URL]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hopkins, R. (1998). Picture, image and experience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Juricevic, I. (2017) Aladdin Sane and close-up eye asymmetry. David Bowie’s contribution to Comic Book Visual Language. [URL] [accessed Aug 22, 2017].
Juricevic, I., & Horvath, A. J. (2016). Analysis of motions in comic book cover art: Using pictorial metaphors. The Comics Grid: Journal of Comics Scholarship, 6, 1–15. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Juricevic, I., & Kennedy, J. M. (2006) Looking at perspective pictures from too far, too close and just right. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 135, 448–461. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kennedy, J. M. (1974). A psychology of picture perception. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1982). Metaphor in pictures. Perception, 11, 589–605. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1993). Drawings by the blind. New Haven: Yale Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2003). Drawings from Gaia, a blind girl. Perception, 32, 321–340. .Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2008). Metaphoric drawings devised by an early-blind adult on her own initiative. Perception, 37, 1720–1728. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2009). Outline, mental states and drawings by a blind woman. Perception, 38, 1481–1496. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2013). Tactile drawings, ethics and a sanctuary: Metaphoric devices invented by a blind woman. Perception, 42, 658–668. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2014a). Esthetics, “Aida” and “Re-entry shock”: Fountains in a blind woman’s drawings. Psychology & Neuroscience, 7(3), 341–347. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2014b). Tactile drawing aesthetics and a blind woman’s drawings of sounds. British Journal of Visual Impairment, 32, 33–43. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2019) Tactile and visual pictures show edges and surfaces In J. Ravenscroft (Ed.), Handbook of visual impairment (pp. 238–254). London: Routledge, London. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kennedy, J. M., & Domander, R. (1986). Blind people depicting states and events in metaphoric line drawings. Metaphor & Symbolic Activity, 1, 109–126. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kennedy, J. M., & Gabias, P. (1985). Metaphoric devices in drawings of motion mean the same to the blind and the sighted. Perception, 14, 189‑195. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kennedy, J. M., & Merkas, C. (2000). Depictions of motion devised by a blind person. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 7, 700–706. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kennedy, J. M., Liu, C. H., Challis, B. H., & Kennedy, V. (2003). Form symbolism across languages: Danish, Slovene and Japanese. In C. Zelinsky (Ed.), Text transfer: Metaphors, translation and expert-lay Communication (pp. 221–242). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kennedy, V. R. (2015). Strange brew: Metaphors of magic and science in rock music. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kim, C. Y., & Blake, R. (2007). Brain activity accompanying perception of implied motion in abstract paintings. Spatial Vision, 20, 545–60. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kourtzi, Z., & Kanwisher, N. (2000). Activation in human MT/MST by static images with implied motion. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 12, 48–55. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kubovy, M. (1986). The psychology of perspective and Renaissance art. London: Cambridge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2020). Neuroaesthetics: Maladies and remedies. Art & Perception, 8, 1–26. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Laursen, B. (2017). The substance of drawing. Dublin: Artdigiland.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liu, C. H., & Kennedy, J. M. (1994). Symbolic forms can be mnemonics for recall. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 1, 494–498. ‎Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1997). Form symbolism, analogy and metaphor. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 4, 546–551. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leymarie, F. L., & Aparajeya, P. (2017). Individuals with a higher intelligence level allocate more resources for creative tasks: A pupillometry study. Art & Perception, 5, 169–232. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mastandrea, S., & Kennedy, J. M. (2018). Gericault’s fake-gallop horse judged speedy but unrealistic. Art & Perception, 6, 77–96. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ojha, A., Indurkhya, B., & Lee, M. (2017). Intelligence level and the allocation of resources for creative tasks: A pupillometry study. Creativity Research Journal, 1–20. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Peirce, C. S. (1977). Semiotics and significs. Ed. by Charles Hardwick. Indiana University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Picard, D., Albaret, J-M., & Mazella, A. (2014). Haptic identification of raised-line drawings when categorical information is given: A comparison between visually impaired and sighted children. Psicológica, 35, 277–290. Unique identifier: 2014-24636-005Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Picard, D., & Lebaz, S. (2012). Identifying raised-line drawings by touch: A hard but not impossible task. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 106, 427–431. [URL]. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McCloud, S. (2000). Reinventing comics. Paradox Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ritchie, L. D. (2003). Metaphor. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rogers, B. (2017). Where have all the illusions gone? A critique of the concept of illusion. In A. G. Shapiro, & D. Tordorovic (Eds.), The Oxford compendium of visual illusions (pp. 144–156). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roncero, T., Kennedy, J. M., & Smyth, R. (2006). Similes on the internet have explanations. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 13(1), 74–77. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sonesson, G. (1994). On pictorality: The impact of the perceptual model in the development of pictorial semiotics. In T. A. Sebeok, & J. Umiker-Sebeok (Eds.), E. P. Young (Asst. Ed.), Advances in visual semiotics (pp. 67–105). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tenniel, J. (1890). Dropping the pilot. Punch, 29 March. (Cartoon, accessed March 31, 2020). [URL]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Turvey, M. T., & Fonseca, S. (2009). Nature of motor control: Perspectives and issues. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 629, 93–123. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vicari, P. (1993). Renaissance emblematica. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity, 8, 153–168. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vinter, A., Bonin, P., & Morgan, P. (2018). The severity of the visual impairment and practice matter for drawing in children. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 78, 15–26. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vinter, A, Orlandi, O., & Morgan, P. (2020) Identification of textured tactile pictures in visually impaired and blindfolded sighted children. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wertheimer, M. (1922/1938). Untersuchungen zur Lehre von der Gestalt II. Psychologische Forschung, 4, 301–350. Republished as “Laws of organization in perceptual forms.” In W. D. Ellis, & K. Koffka (Eds.), A source book of Gestalt psychology. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wynne, C.D.L. Udell, M.A.R. (2013). Animal cognition: Evolution, behavior and cognition. (2nd Ed.). Palgrave Macmillan.Basingstoke, U.K. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zollitsch, E. (2003). I know where I am. Waldkirchen: Süd Ost-Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Danesi, Marcel
2025. Learning, Diagrams, and AI. In Image Schema Theory and Mathematical Cognition [Mathematics in Mind, ], ► pp. 73 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 9 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue