Outline of an expression plane for the sculptorical text

Abstract

In this article, we analyze two sculptorical texts, through the semiotic theory developed by Greimas known as French semiotics, in order to develop some considerations about the expression plane in the sculpture. we analyze two pieces carved by Antônio Francisco Lisboa (1738-1814), a Brazilian sculptor, which show São Miguel e almas and São Francisco de Sssis. For such, we apply the concepts of expression plane, semi-symbolism and plastic or visual semiotics extracted from researches developed by greimas, courtés (1986, 2008), Floch (1985) and Pietroforte (2007). Normally, the study of the expression plane is based on the analysis of the relationship established between this plane and the content plane, a relationship that may occur as semi-symbolic. According to the work of Floch (1985), the expression plane of visual texts is formed by figurative elements and plastic elements, the latter constituting its the deep level. The sculpture is a kind of visual text that combines elements like spatiality, bulk and shape. Based on these elements, we can build up categories of dimensions, such as total relief vs partial relief, big vs small, stretched vs contracted, above vs below, which are related to categories of the deep level of the content plane.