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Picture language as visual writing: Otto Neurath's Isotype

Henning, Michelle

Authors

Michelle Henning



Abstract

The Vienna Circle philosopher and sociologist Otto Neurath was a prolific writer or books, journal articles and letters and invented an international picture language known as Isotype. This paper looks in detail at the relationship between this picture language and Neurath’s signature - a cartoon drawing of an elephant. It considers them in relation to other understandings (contemporary to Neurath) of the symbol in art and of the visuality of text, and looks at the pictorial communication that takes place in his correspondence, as other writers draw in response.

Citation

Henning, M. (2008, September). Picture language as visual writing: Otto Neurath's Isotype. Paper presented at Sublimely Visual: The Art of Text, University of Bristol, England

Presentation Conference Type Conference Paper (unpublished)
Conference Name Sublimely Visual: The Art of Text
Conference Location University of Bristol, England
Start Date Sep 5, 2008
End Date Sep 7, 2008
Peer Reviewed Not Peer Reviewed
Keywords Isotype, Otto Neurath, pictograms, language
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1009627


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