What is a Semiotic?

Semiotics is the reading of signs and symbols within pieces of work - found in music or the art of cinematography, within the shapes and curves of sculpture or by the grace of dance or more particularly in our case the content of a picture, whether as a painting or a photograph and how these are read.

Taking this into account what are the semiotics of the Man Ray’s image ‘Le Violon d'Ingres’ (Ingres's Violin)? Man Ray was an lover of the paintings of artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, which he then made photographs, of the model Kiki in a turban inspired by Ingres’s work. He painted the f-holes of a stringed instrument onto the photographic print which he then rephotographed. Man Ray altered what was initially a classical nude image. The transformation of Kiki's body into a musical instrument with the addition of brushstrokes made this image humorous, but with an armless form is also disturbing. He entitled the image ‘Le Violon d'Ingres’, a French phrase that means "hobby."The title suggests that, playing the violin was Ingres's hobby; while toying with Kiki was an amusement of his. The picture shows a tension between objectification and admiration of the female form.