Wu Chen (Chinese, 1280-1354), Manual of Ink – Bamboo, 1350, ink on paper, National Palace Museum, Taipei.
Semiological analysis is basically a sign language that makes sense, which have scientific concept behind it to organize thoughts and have a detailed and more accurate analysis. While Content analysis is similar to Semiological analysis, the key difference is that it has consistent analysis accuracy in any country, in any place and can be repeated with as many times as possible. In contrast, Compositional analysis is based on the image itself as a source but social values are also taken into consideration.
The most obvious signs that are present on the painting above are Yellow color and Bamboo. As for the most Westerners, East was always associated with the icon of rising sun, hence the yellow color. The yellow color usually represents stillness. On the other hand, bamboo was associated with Asian cultures most of the time because it predominant in China. Bamboo is a spirit of summer and for the most Chinese people, the bamboo is associated with their home.
Yellow color was always considered as a warm color because it has a good visibility that is one of the reasons why the yellow is used in the road signs. Moreover, the yellow color brings happiness but can also represent dishonesty. In China, the yellow color is associated with ‘An’ – tranquility.
Bamboo is a very poplar luxuriant plant in China. It stands upright, evergreen that survives intense cold, therefore symbolizes strength, energy and vitality. Throughout the history of China, this plant was used by many artists in their paintings, calligraphy, and poetry to express their ideas and philosophies. When bamboo is portrayed with plum blossom and pine, it is called ‘Three Friends of Winter’, but when it is portrayed with plum blossom, orchid, and chrysanthemum, it is called ‘Four Gentlemen of Noble Character’.
The yellow color can be compared to the other signs from the same image – a seal. Yellow color contains spatial organization to the viewer as it fills the whole space of the image. It meant to be viewed and attracted to because of the attention connotation of a stoplight and sunlight embedded to it, where the seal color has the same qualities but it also contains history and meaning of the seal depending on the artist who draw the painting.
The bamboo sign in the image can be compared with calligraphy. The bamboo and bamboo leaves are designed with special attraction to the viewer as it has a spatial organization that contains specific arrangement of the icons within the image. It is balanced and the ‘weight’ feel is unified and stable. The bamboo is heading straight up the same way as the calligraphy that is placed from the left side of the image. The calligraphy itself has some resemblance of leaves with the bamboo axis going up creating the equilibrium between image and text in the given space.
Conclusion
There are many factors that affect the way when the artist decides to create an artwork and arrange the objects within the image. However, because of many limitations that is present in the visual appearance and the lack of people in the image, the spatial organization usually used to attract the viewer to the composition and to the specific design of the artwork.