Signs and Images. Writings on Art, Cinema and Photography: Essays and Interviews, Volume 4

by Roland Barthes, Chris Turner (Translation)

Signs and Images gathers pieces related to Barthes’ central concerns: semiotics, visual culture, art, cinema, and photography. It is a rare compilation of his articles on film criticism and reviews on art exhibitions. The volume features essays on Marthe Arnould, Lucien Clergue, Daniel Boudinet, Richard Avedon, Bernard Faucon, and many more.

Genres: Theory

168 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 2016

About the author

Roland Barthes of France applied semiology, the study of signs and symbols, to literary and social criticism.

Ideas of Roland Gérard Barthes, a theorist, philosopher, and linguist, explored a diverse range of fields. He influenced the development of schools of theory, including design, anthropology, and poststructuralism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_...

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seagull Books (out of India) has been putting out these bite-size hardcover editions of Roland Barthes's writings. What I have read so far, all wonderful. This new one, "Signs and Images," is very well-titled. A collection of essays, introductions, and brief writings on the image and what it represents to the world. Here we get commentary on art, the cinema, and how a country like Japan deals with the issue of 'image, ' and how that reads to their citizens as well as to the western world (or at least in France). Barthes is one of the very few foreign writers (Donald Richie is the other) who understands Japanese culture. For him, it is almost a science with respect to researching the representation of images and how that translates into a form of reality, or at the very least, an interpretation of something - whatever it's in the cinema, an artwork, or a whole culture like Japan. Reading Barthes work is wonderful, because it is thought-in-action. It's not the conclusion, but the journey that is important.

[Sonam Puri · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best writers on Semiotics.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

hm. some great essays. some other essays that had slightly problematic / outdated takes on japanese art and film. not a huge fan of those but otherwise nice to get more of a glimpse into the mind of Barthes.

[samuel berston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how he applies semiology to the arts. I especially love the essay on Dandyism.

[Alif Ibrahim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of his essays, great translation and notes.