A visual pun is a pun involving an image or images (in addition to or instead of language), often based on a rebus.
Visual puns in which the image is at odds with the inscription are common in such as Lost Consonants or The Far Side as well as in Dutch . For instance, a gable stone in the village of Batenburg puns on the words baten ('to profit') and burg ('castle') by depicting silver coins becoming gold in a castle.
European heraldry contains the technique of canting arms, which can be considered punning.
In heraldry
Visual puns on the bearer's name are used extensively as forms of heraldic expression. These are called
canting arms. They have been used for centuries across Europe and have also been used recently by members of the British royal family, such as on the arms of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and of Princess Beatrice of York. The arms of U.S. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower are also
Canting arms.
In visual arts
Surrealist artists such as Salvador Dalí, René Magritte,
Marcel Duchamp, and
Remedios Varo made extensive use of visual puns, as they played with shifting perceptions and reality.
(such as Maurits Cornelis Escher and
Noma Bar) and
(such as
Man Ray and
Dora Maar) have used visual puns for a surreal or humorous effect, or to catch the attention of a viewer. Some types of
also operate within the liminal zones of perception.
==Gallery==
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) of Roosevelt, whose name means “rose
Veldt” in Dutch.]]
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See also
Further reading
-
Christian Hempelmann and Andrea C. Samson. “Visual Puns and Verbal Puns: Descriptive Analogy or False Analogy?” In: Diana Popa and Salvatore Attardo (Eds.), “New Approaches to the Linguistics of Humor.” Galati: Dunarea de Jos. 2007. 180-196.
