B.
The silkscreen painting “Marilyn Diptych (1962)” was printed by the American pop artist, Andy Warhol, and is one of his most iconic works. The artwork was completed soon after Marilyn Monroe’s death in 1962, and contains fifty images of the actress, all of which are based on a single publicity photograph from the film “Niagara (1953)”. The twenty-five pictures on the left side of the diptych are brightly coloured, while the other half are all in black and white.
This artwork can be decoded in terms of Semiotics, through the use of theories proposed by two renowned linguists, Roland Barthes, and Charles Peirce. They both explored the study of non-linguistic signs and symbols as a significant part of communications. We can use this as we attempt to sort out various aspects of the artwork’s visual language into these categories: denotation, connotation, iconic, indexical, and symbolic.
Denotation and connotation are two linked terms, since whatever sign is denoted will have socio-cultural associations for the reader, influencing how they interpret the artwork. This painting is presented to us as a diptych and, although the same photograph is used throughout, Warhol has chosen to print the left side of the diptych in colour, whilst the right side is printed in a degraded black and white (DENOTATION). Traditionally, diptychs were composed to present the living (e.g. the Virgin Mary) on the left, and the departed (e.g. crucified Jesus) on the right. This prominent reference to Christian paintings, links the worship of a religious icon to the modern idolisation of a celebrity (CONNOTATION).
A symbolic relationship occurs when the signifier only arbitrarily resembles the signified, such that the relationship must be learned. As an American actress, model, and singer, Monroe was famous for playing the role of comic “dumb blonde” characters, and became a popular sex symbol of the 1950s. These superficial qualities are exemplified by the vivid colours and tones on the left but are diminished on the right, showing the gradual decline of public interest in her sexual appeal after death (SYMBOLIC).
When the signifier resembles or imitates the signified by possessing similar qualities it is called iconic. Photographs are an inherently iconic medium, since they can accurately capture a representation of the person who is being portrayed. In this artwork, Warhol uses a uniform grid that repeats a photo of Monroe, causing the painted images to resemble a photographer’s contact sheet (ICONIC).
The creative medium of screen-printing also shows Warhol’s ability to capture and depict the presence of Monroe in an indexical manner, whereby the signifier is not purely arbitrary but directly connected in some way that can be inferred. The photograph he used was obviously taken whilst she was present, showing her alive and at the height of her career. However, the printing process was conducted after her passing, as a form of commemoration. Although she was not physically involved with the printing we can still observe her life and legacy, through the mechanical form of reproduction that perpetuates her photographic likeness (INDEXICAL).
References:
1. http://artandperception.com/2007/02/how-useful-is-semiotics-as-a-method-for-analysing-works-of-art.html
2. http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/S4B/sem01.html
3. https://news.masterworksfineart.com/2017/06/27/andy-warhols-marilyn-monroe-series-1967
4. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/later-europe-and-americas/modernity-ap/a/warhol-marilyn-diptych
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