The Natural Attitude

Norman Bryson’s essay, “The Natural Attitude”, made me think in a different way about how I view images. Before reading this essay, I believed that images were constructed to be a substitute for the real. After reading Bryson’s essay I second guessed my beliefs and wondered if images give us a sense of what reality should be as opposed to what it really is. I am trying to think back to a time when I saw an image and it reminded me of something I had previously seen. More often than not, images make me want something to happen. For example, when I see pictures of a landscape it is not like anything I have ever seen. I would love to see a beautiful city scene like starry night, but in my experience that scene isn’t reality; the image is constructing reality. The funny thing is, is that we as readers of images just instantly believe what the image is telling. We never question why something is the way it is. We just accept it.

I thought a lot about how style affects an image. He brings up the idea that style can be considered noise and distracts the reader from the purity of an image (28). That argument depends on what the reader believes the purpose of an image is. If the sole purpose of an image is to give a picture of reality then yes, style would be considered distracting. But, on the other hand, someone believes that an image constructs reality than style would an interesting take on what reality could be. The important thing that illustrators need to consider is, what does the audience want to see? Once that question is answered then the style can be added or taken away to form a perfect image. That is the role of art.