The Mediatic Dimension of Images. Visual Semiotics Faced With Gerhard Richter’s Artwork

peer reviewed ; In this article, we endeavour to analyze Gerhard Richter’s photo-paintings for the way they build an intersemiotic dialogue between photography and painting. On the one hand, we will try to characterize the modalities of this dialogue and to provide an original interpretation of Richter’s work. On the other hand, we will use the peculiar case of Richter’s work as a starting point for a conceptual renewal in the analysis of visual languages, notably with regard to the semiotic approaches. In particular, we will try to define the mediatic dimension of images, which has to do with the substances, substrates, and devices through which images are produced. We shall do so in a manner as to integrate the achievements of visual semiotics as regards the compositional dimension of colours, shapes, and figures. We will take into account the way in which the material and the substances of expression of images impact the construction of meaning, in accordance with the hypothesis of a superposition of technical and semantic aspects. The confrontation with Richter’s production will lead us to go beyond plastic and figurative readings, as we will propose the concepts of technical formats and of techno-percepts of images. While the former concern the historical recognition of images on the basis of the devices having produced their substance – leading to identifications such as ‘early cinema images’, ‘smartphone images’, ‘surveillance camera images’, etc. – the latter concern the perceptive configurations resulting from the formative work of the technical devices. ; Dans cet article, je propose une analyse des photo-peintures de Gerhard Richter fondée sur la manière dont celles-ci construisent un dialogue intersémiotique entre photographie et peinture. D’une part, je tente de caractériser les modalités de ce dialogue et de fournir une interprétation originale du travail de Richter. D’autre part, j’utilise ce cas d’analyse comme point de départ pour proposer un renouvellement conceptuel dans l’analyse des langages ...