Picture Play

mr. fred r. barnard, advertising executive, is credited for saying “one picture is worth a thousand words”. in some circumstances, is it actually the opposite?

before written language, pictures may have served as the written word form. early cave writing was not graffiti from either the flintstones or the rubbles but rather its was pictures of both humans and animals. . in spain, there are paintings of bison; in france, bison, mammoths, horse and deer; in nambibia, rhinos and zebra; in australia, humans and animals that are now extinct in the area; in texas and mexico, human like forms; in argentina, beautiful hand prints; in borneo, handprints and animals; and in sulawasi, a depiction of a pig.

whether these graphic pictures inspired written language is a question, more recent discoveries offer a different phenomena to discuss: “when did written words inspire pictures?”

a recent archeological discovery in israel perhaps evidences this phenomena. mosaics, decorating a synagogue in the fifth century depict bible stories. timesofisrael.com it is reported that “the mosaics on the synagogue floor excavated… included the earliest known depictions of biblical deborah and yael, the first known depiction of the story of the osasis of elim during the exodus, as well as illustrations of noah’s ark, jonah and the fish, and the splitting of the red sea.

this discovery raises the question as to whether the artists relied upon written text or oral tradition to create these work? history will bear out that written text would eventually serve to inspire some of the world’s most famous post-prehistoric art. the sistine chapel is perhaps the most well known.

so, in the modern times, is it fair to say that “a thousand words can have inspire a picture?” this event arguably marked cognitive landmark for humanity and completed a full circle journey between art and word. art inspired words; words inspired art.

be well!!

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