Bates College Museum: The Thousand Words Project, Words and Brushstrokes
Light in Brook, Oil on Canvas, Neil Welliver, 1985 Bates College Museum, Lewiston, Maine Tools of the Trade: Words and Brushstrokes Everyone has heard the old adage that “a painting is worth a thousand words.” What does this really mean, and how can it be useful to those interested in learning more about art? To answer this question, we must examine other questions. First, what is the job of a painting? Many would include the task of communication in their answer. How do we communicate in most situations? We all agree that most of the time, people communicate with words—whether spoken or written. Why then, is a picture worth a thousand words? Words are in some ways symbolic--just like pictures can be. The word for a thing is not the thing itself. For instance “paintbrush” communicates the idea of a paintbrush, but is not the paintbrush itself. Similarly, a picture of a paintbrush might just be smears of paint creating an illusion of a paintbrush. But it is not a real tool that one can...