Speaking for pictures : the rhetoric of art criticism

TLDR: It has long been a commonplace that pictures say more than words: that a picture is not only worth a thousand words, but also speaks to everyone as mentioned in this paper. But it has proven remarkably tenacious.

Abstract: It has long been a commonplace that pictures say more than words: that a picture is not only worth a thousand words, but also speaks to everyone. While Expressionism has shaken this old assumption, it has nonetheless proved remarkably tenacious. In late seventeenth-century England, John Dryden declared that painting speaks ‘the tongue of ev'ry land.’ In the late twentieth century, a poster published by the International Photography Council says that ‘the world speaks in 1994 languages, but sees in only one: Photography, the universal language.’ It should not be a surprise that professional photographers want us to consider their language universal, but most readers of the poster probably do not even realise that it makes a claim — let alone wondering if the claim is true. For pictures can sometimes ambush the mind, circumventing our logic and verbal defenses. Part of what makes pictorial language seem universal is its seemingly privileged access to the viewer's heart or soul. Quintilian,...