pictoriality
Pictoriality refers to the quality or state of being pictorial—pertaining to pictures or images, rather than text or spoken language. In art and media theory, it denotes the set of formal and perceptual features that make an image function as a picture of a scene. Pictoriality encompasses elements such as composition, perspective, light, color, texture, and the visible handling of media, which together establish the image’s two-dimensional surface as representing three-dimensional subject matter.
In painting and drawing, pictoriality concerns how artists manipulate spatial cues to convey depth and presence
In photography, cinema, and digital imagery, pictoriality often refers to the intentional stylization of images—framing, lighting,
Scholars use the concept to discuss how viewers read images, how conventions shape interpretation, and how