by Harold Sink

Created on: January 05, 2010

Titling an Artwork to give it More Meaning

Most of us do not need to know the title of a piece of artwork to understand the meaning it represents.  Yet, having a title is more meaningful and allow one a peek into the artist’s mind on how they think.  Titles tend to bring out more of what may not be represented by our first thought when looking at an artwork.

Take for instance Da Vinci’s The Last Supper.  Most people in the world who have heard of it would recognize it when it is shown to them.  Then there are those who know nothing about art, may have never seen The Last Supper, and may not know what they are looking at when they see it.  All they would see are a bunch of men dressed in togas pointing this way and that with odd expressions from one face to the next.  There are people who know nothing of the Bible and may not have a clue as to what this scene depicts.

Another good example is The Dugout by Norman Rockwell.  Here you will see a bunch of men sitting in a baseball dugout with the look of “This is our last game” on their faces.  If you did not know the title of this painting, you may hypothesize what its title may be.  “We lost another one,” “Oh, no! Don’t send him in!”  or maybe even “Bad News for Chicago.”

Some artworks titling can be so easy to understand because that is what the artist drew the meaning from in the first place.  Most religious paintings come from events in the Bible.  Others come from other religious text that has been passed on for centuries.  The Odyssey and The Iliad by Homer conjure up so many ideas in one’s head as to what the people and creatures looked like in them that many artists have tried to depict them without any point of reference.

Hercules fighting the Hydra may be familiar to some people, but to those who are not much on reading this sort of thing it may just look like some guy fighting a many-headed serpent.  The point is that titles give someone a point of reference to go from in order to make sense of the artwork they are looking at.

Then there is artwork that needs a title because of the misconception of what it is.  Abstract art can be viewed in many different ways and therefore requires titles for them.  Without titles for this sort of artwork, there would be so many perceptions of what the artist was trying to convey.  The Key to Happiness by John Douglas is a prime example of abstract art requiring a title.  At first glance one may not know what to think of it.  Every artist has their own idea of what to title their artwork.

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