Essay Iconography and Iconology of an Advertisement

Iconography and Iconology of an Advertisement Looking at the art of the past, we see many images depicting nude women. From Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus to Ingres’s Grande Odelisque, many artists like the idea of painting a woman in the nude in an interesting pose. Even modern images in contemporary magazines depict nude images. Yves Saint Laurent’s advertisement of their fragrance Opium depicts a nude woman covering her breast. Her pose is a symbol of the iconography, while beauty serves as the iconology. The understanding of the iconography and iconology of this image by contemporary society comes from the fact that the nude image was depicted in the great art of the past; however, the fact that society has become contemporary†¦show more content†¦For example, The Birth of Venus has arranged her hands and hair in such a way to hide her sexuality. The pose of the woman in the advertisement also shows the same thing. She is posed seductively to show off her body, yet she is covering one breast wi th her hand. When we think of nude figures, we think of art pieces in the past that depicted nude women in a certain pose. Therefore, the pose of the woman in the advertisement owes much to the pose of nude women in art pieces of the past. Because nudity was depicted in great art of the past, we are not surprised when we see a nude image in a magazine. Instead, we view nudity as a symbol of beauty. The real purpose of a nude image is to show the woman’s beauty, not her sexuality; this is the iconology of the image. This image of the woman in a seductive pose in the advertisement is meant to draw the reader’s attention to the product. The advertisers want to show how â€Å"beautiful â€Å" this new fragrance is by having a beautiful nude woman pose for their ad. The art of the past that depicted nude women were meant to show their beauty also. For example, the statue of Aphrodite by Praxiteles depicted the goddess in a seductive pose, but the statue was interpreted as a symbol of enchanting beauty. Beauty is shown through sexuality and seductiveness, as evidenced by the nude women in the art pieces. This is also shown in the advertisement for the fragrance. Although the image in the