Om ‘geletterd’ te wees, beteken letterlik die vermoë wat die mens het om te kan lees en skryf. Dit kan ook op die vermoë dui om tekens, behalwe woorde, te kan lees, nl. gebare en beelde. In die samelewing word die mens vandag aan baie visuele elemente blootgestel, baie meer as slegs die gedrukte woord – in koerante, tydskrifte, televisie, advertensies, spotprente, strokiesprente, musiekvideo’s, die internet, ens. Om visueel geleterd te wees, is ‘n dus ‘n belangrike vaardigheid wat die mens of in hierdie geval, die leerder, moet aanleer om onderskeidend na die visuele te kan kyk. In hierdie opsig lê die verantwoordelikheid by die onderwyser, en in ‘n groot mate die taal-onderwyser om die leerders die vaardighede wat nodig is om krities en denkend te kan waarneem, aan te leer en te ontwikkel. Visuele geletterdheid is dan die vermoë om te sien, te verstaan, om grafies te dink, te skep en te kommunikeer. In hierdie geval sal die visueel geletterde persoon in staat wees om krities na enige beeld te kyk om dít wat die kunstenaar vir die kyker wil deurgee, te kan ontleed en vertolk. Hierdie vaardighede kan deurgaans op die verskillende visuele elemente toegepas word, nl. foto’s, prente, tekeninge, grafiese kunsvorme soos spotprente, strokiesprente en illustrasies, films, kaarte, ens. Al hierdie visuele elemente stel inligting vry wat die kyker moet kan vertolk. Visuele geletterdheid gee dus die kyker die geleentheid om idees en inligting i.v.m. voorgehoue beelde in konteks te plaas en te bepaal of dit geldend is of nie. Visuele geletterdheid vereis meer as een vaardigheid. Soos by die tradisionele geletterdheid waar dit slegs ‘n vereiste is om woorde en sinne te kan ontleed, maar om met begrip te lees, is ‘n verdere vaardigheid wat verkry moet word. Hier help die onderwyser die leerder om nie net woorde en klanke te onderskei nie, maar te verstaan wat hulle lees. Hierdie vaardigheid sluit ‘n breë woordeskat en kritiese denke in. Hiervoor gebruik die onderwyser verskillende strategieë om by sy uiteindelike doelwit uit te kom, nl. om die leerders kontekstuele begrip teenoor dit wat hulle lees, te laat verkry. Die eerste vlak van visuele geletterdheid is die basiese identifisering van elemente in ‘n prent, foto of grafiese uitbeelding. Die vaardighede wat hiervoor nodig is, is fyn waarneming, maar terselfdertyd die begrip van dít wat gesien word ook in verhouding met ander elemente. Dit gee aanleiding tot kritiese denke, wat noodsaaklik vir die leerder is om afleidings en analisering uit die gegewe visuele te kan maak. Dit sal ook vir die leerder help om uit die oorvloed inligting waarmee hy daagliks op webtuistes en tekste wat aan hom voorgehou word en mee gekonfronteer word, betekenis te vind. Uitkomsgebaseerde Onderwys wat ten doel het om kritiese denke by leerders aan te wakker en te ontwikkel, kan die vaardighede in hierdie studie met vrug toepas. ENGLISH : Literacy literally means the ability of a human to read and write. It can also indicate the ability to read and interpret signs other than words - for example actions and images. Today in civilised society, mankind is exposed to a multitude of visual elements, so much more than only the printed word - in newspapers, magazines, on television, in advertisements, cartoons, comic strips, music videos, the internet: - the list is endless. To be visually literate is an important skill that man, in this case the learner, has to master to be able to look at the visual and distinguish differences in meaning. In this regard, the responsibility lies with the Education department and especially the language teacher. Learners have to be taught the skills to evaluate thoughtfully and critically and to be led to the development of this skill. Visual literacy is the skill to see, understand, think, create and communicate graphically. The visually literate person will be capable of assessing any image critically as well as analysing and interpreting what the artist wanted the viewer to know. These skills can be applied to any visual material - photo's, pictures, drawings and graphic art forms like cartoons, comics, illustrations, films and maps. All these visual elements give information that the viewer must be able to analyse. Visual literacy grants the viewer the opportunity to place ideas and information, relating to an image, in context and to evaluate whether those ideas and information are relevant. Visual literacy demands more than just one skill. Like traditional literacy there is one skill to analyse words and sentences and to read with comprehension, an additional skill must be mastered. The teacher helps the learner not only to identify words and sounds, but also to understand what he reads. This competence includes a wide vocabulary and critical thinking skills. The teacher uses different strategies to achieve his ultimate goal - to have learners gain contextual understanding of their reading. The first level of visual literacy is the basic identification of elements in a picture, photograph or graphic image. Here the necessary skills are careful observation as well as comprehension of what is seen in relation to other elements. This develops critical thinking which is essential for the learner to make deductions from and analyse the given visual material. It will also help the learner to make relevant meaning of the flood of information that he is confronted with in cyberspace and visual texts on a daily basis. Outcomes Based Education, which has as its goal the creation and development of critical awareness in learners, can use the skills explained in this study, with great success. / Thesis (DLitt)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Afrikaans / unrestricted

Graphic Art as Public Education – a Study of the Spreading of Litographic Prints in Swedish Homes 1947-1957  This thesis aims to analyze how graphics as an art form became a tool to democratize art during the period of 1947–1957 in Sweden. Graphic art refers to the collective term that includes multiplied art prints: lithography, etching, woodcut, and serigraphy. I am using Pierre Bourdieu's sociological theories and concepts as a theoretical framework. The first part highlights the various agents whose ambition was to realize the goal that art would be a matter for everyone in society. These agents consisted of organizations and political representatives. The fact that the state guarded good taste and art presented a potential for change in the existing art field and an opportunity for new agents to exert influence. Next, I examine the role of graphics as an art form, in particular lithography, which had its’ big revival in the 1940s. The number of lithographs that were published via Konstfrämjandet and spread across the country testifies to the power of the political goal that art should concern everyone. The process included education via public organizations of adult and childrens education, creating art societies within the workplace and in general contexts, as well as expanding the trading of art via local agents throughout the country. In the last part, I report on my research regarding how communication relating to graphic arts was carried out. Three cultural inquiries (1947, 1953, 1956), intended to form the basis of a modern cultural policy, emphasized the importance of cultural and artistic education of the people. The investigations called for education and the presence of art in homes and workplaces as well as in schools. The communication about the role of graphic arts in the organization’s publications follows the degree of relevance conveyed in the investigations. The summary I present also shows the increase of organization members, exhibition visitors and graphic arts sales during the years 1947–1957, all with the support of the government's democratization work.

This thesis examines the relationship between the three artists' workshops Røde Mor (Red Mother), Folkets Ateljé (The People's Studio) and GRAS, who worked between 1968 and 1975 in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Røde Mor was from the outset an articulated Communist graphic workshop loosely organised around collective exhibitions. It developed into a highly productive and professionalised group of artists that made posters by commission for political and social movements. Its artists developed a familiar and popular artistic language characterised by imaginative realism and socialist imagery. Folkets Ateljé, which has never been studied before, was a close knit underground group which created quick and immediate responses to concurrent political issues. This group was founded on the example of Atelier Populaire in France and is strongly related to its practices. Within this comparative study it is the group that comes closest to collective practises around 1968 outside Scandinavia, namely the democratic assembly. The silkscreen workshop GRAS stemmed from the idea of economic and artistic freedom, although socially motivated and politically involved, the group never implemented any doctrine for participation. The aim of this transnational study is to reveal common denominators to the three groups' poster art as it was produced in connection with a Scandinavian experience of 1968. By ‘1968' it is meant the period from the late 1960s till the end of the 1970s. It examines the socio-political conditions under which the groups flourished and shows how these groups operated in conjunction with the political environment of 1968. The thesis explores the relationship between political movements and the collective art making process as it appeared in Scandinavia. To present a comprehensible picture of the impact of 1968 on these groups, their artworks, manifestos, and activities outside of the collective space have been discussed. The argument has presented itself that even though these groups had very similar ideological stances, their posters and techniques differ. This has impacted the artists involved to different degrees, yet made it possible to express the same political goals. It is suggested to be linked with the Scandinavian social democracies and common experience of the radicalisation that took place mostly in the aftermath of 1968 proper. By comparing these three groups' it has been uncovered that even with the same socio-political circumstances and ideological stance divergent styles did develop to embrace these issue.

Ausgehend von Oskar Schlemmers (1888-1943) Bauhaus-Signet aus dem Jahr 1923 analysiert diese Arbeit den Zusammenhang zwischen Mensch und Raum im Œuvre des Bauhaus-Meisters. Die bei Betrachtung des Signets aufkommende These, Mensch und Raum – die zwei tradierten Pole des Schaffens Schlemmers – bedingten sich gegenseitig, wird untersucht, hinterfragt und um die Kategorie der Kunstfigur erweitert. Das erste Kapitel beleuchtet den Menschen als Maß aller Dinge. Der angestrebte Typus entsteht einerseits über Schlemmers Analyse des menschlichen Körpers mittels tradierter Proportionsstudien und Geometrisierung, die zu einer zumindest scheinbaren Berechenbarkeit führen. Betrachtet werden hierbei die Ausführungen Leonardo da Vincis, Albrecht Dürers und Adolf Zeisings. Andererseits nutzt Schlemmer die physiognomischen Überlegungen Richarda Huchs und Carl Gustav Carus‘ für seine Zwecke der Darstellung einer Entindividualisierung des Menschen. Hierauf aufbauend befasst sich das zweite Kapitel mit dem Raum. Es zeigt, dass Schlemmers Überlegungen zu theoretischem und gebautem Raum ihren Ursprung in Albert Einsteins Relativitätstheorie nehmen und von Debatten am Bauhaus genährt werden: Schlemmer betrachtet den Raum als wandelbar und abhängig vom Menschen, was unter anderem durch eigene Schriften und den einzig überlieferten Architekturentwurf Schlemmers gefestigt wird. Zur Untersuchung einer umgekehrten Einflussnahme des Raumes auf den menschlichen Körper erweitert das dritte Kapitel die zwei tradierten Pole des Schlemmer’schen Œuvres um einen weiteren: die Kunstfigur. Diese, so belegt das Kapitel, generiert ihre eigene Körperlichkeit über den Einfluss des veränderlichen Raumes, darüber hinaus aber auch durch die Abstrahierung des zugrundeliegenden menschlichen Körpers mittels des Kostüms und der Maske. Über diese beiden wiederum vollzieht sich auch eine Wandlung des Menschen. / Taking the Bauhaus signet, designed by Oskar Schlemmer in 1923, as a starting point, the present thesis examines the relationship between man and space – the two consistently named poles of Schlemmer’s work – within the œuvre of the Bauhaus master. It analyzes, questions and expands the assumption, at first glance suggested by the signet, that space and man are mutually dependent: The first chapter deals with man as the measure of all things. The type pursued by Schlemmer results, on the one hand, from his analysis of man via proportion and geometric studies by Leonardo da Vinci, Albrecht Dürer and Adolf Zeising that lead to a certain calculability. On the other hand, Schlemmer uses physiognomic ideas of Richarda Huch and Carl Gustav Carus to depict a certain de-individualization. Based on the results of the first chapter, the second chapter deals with questions of space. It shows that Schlemmer’s considerations of theoretical space and architecture stem from Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity and are fed by Bauhaus debates on that same topic: Schlemmer regards space and architecture as subject to change and dependent on man; this theory is also strengthened by his writings and his only surviving architectural design. To examine the reverse influence of space on the human body, the third chapter adds the Kunstfigur (art figure) as another category to the established two poles of Schlemmer’s œuvre discussed in the literature: man and space. The chapter proves that the Kunstfigur generates its own corporeality through the influence of space, which is modifiable by movement. Besides that, said corporeality is also determined by an abstraction, in turn caused by costumes and masks. These items also influence the outer appearance of man.