Editing Proverb (section)

===In visual form===
[[File:Fonte com texto (Trancoso).jpg|thumb|left|Proverb on [[azulejo]] tiles in [[Trancoso, Portugal]]]]
[[File:Jacob Jordaens - The Feast of the Bean King - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''The King drinks'' by [[Jacob Jordaens]]]]
[[File:Hornets.nest.JPG|left|thumb|Thai ceramic, illustrating "Don't torch a stump with a hornet nest."]]
[[File:Pieter Brueghel the Elder - The Dutch Proverbs - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''[[Netherlandish Proverbs]]'', 1559, with peasant scenes illustrating over 100 proverbs]]
[[File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder- Big Fish Eat Little Fish.JPG|thumb|''Big Fish Eat Little Fish'']]

From ancient times, people around the world have recorded proverbs in visual form. This has been done in two ways. First, proverbs have been ''written'' to be displayed, often in a decorative manner, such as on pottery, cross-stitch, murals,<ref>Victor Khachan. 2012. Courtroom proverbial murals in Lebanon: a semiotic reconstruction of justice. ''Social Semiotics'' {{doi|10.1080/10350330.2012.665262}}</ref><ref>Martin Charlot. 2007. ''Local Traffic Only: Proverbs Hawaiian Style.'' Watermark Publishing.</ref> [[Kanga (African garment)|kangas]] (East African women's wraps),<ref>Rose Marie Beck. 2000. Aesthetics of Communication: Texts on Textiles (Leso) from the East African Coast (Swahili). ''Research in African Literatures'' 31.4: 104–124)</ref> [[quilt]]s,<ref>MacDowell, Marsha and Wolfgang Mieder. "'When Life Hands You Scraps, Make a Quilt': Quiltmakers and the Tradition of Proverbial Inscriptions." ''Proverbium'' 27 (2010), 113–172.</ref> a stained glass window,<ref name="Lisa Reilly 2016"/> and graffiti.<ref>Szpila, G. (2012). Regulating the reality? Proverbs in Polish graffiti, Estonia and Poland. ''Creativity and Tradition in Cultural Communication'' 1, 269–284.</ref>

Secondly, proverbs have often been visually depicted in a variety of media, including paintings, etchings, and sculpture. [[Jakob Jordaens]] painted a plaque with a proverb about drunkenness above a drunk man wearing a crown, titled ''The King Drinks''. Probably the most famous examples of depicting proverbs are the different versions of the paintings ''[[Netherlandish Proverbs]]'' by the father and son [[Pieter Bruegel the Elder]] and [[Pieter Brueghel the Younger]], the proverbial meanings of these paintings being the subject of a 2004 conference, which led to a published volume of studies (Mieder 2004a). The same father and son also painted versions of [[The Blind Leading the Blind]], a Biblical proverb. These and similar paintings inspired another famous painting depicting some proverbs and also idioms (leading to a series of additional paintings), such as ''[[Proverbidioms]]'' by [[T. E. Breitenbach]]. Another painting inspired by Bruegel's work is by the Chinese artist, Ah To, who created a painting illustrating 81 Cantonese sayings.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://writecantonese8.wordpress.com/2014/02/25/cantonese-proverbs-in-one-picture/ |title=Cantonese Proverbs in One Picture |date=25 February 2014}}</ref>  Corey Barksdale has produced a book of paintings with specific proverbs and pithy quotations.<ref>Corey Barksdale. 2011. ''Art & Inspirational Proverbs''. Lulu.com.{{self-published source|date=February 2020}}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=February 2020}} The British artist [[Chris Gollon]] has painted a major work entitled ''Big Fish Eat Little Fish'', a title echoing Bruegel's painting of the same name.<ref>{{Cite web |url= http://www.chrisgollon.com/collections/big-fish-eat-little-fish/ |title=Gollon's painting |access-date=2018-12-02 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171220155210/http://www.chrisgollon.com/collections/big-fish-eat-little-fish/ |archive-date=2017-12-20 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:Oliver Pelton - Benjamin Franklin - Poor Richard's Almanac Illustrated.jpg|thumb|Illustrations showing proverbs from Ben Franklin]]
[[File:Three wise monkeys figure.JPG|thumb|[[Three wise monkeys]], invoking a proverb, with no text.]]
Sometimes well-known proverbs are pictured on objects, without a text actually quoting the proverb, such as the [[three wise monkeys]] who remind us "Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil". When the proverb is well known, viewers are able to recognize the proverb and understand the image appropriately, but if viewers do not recognize the proverb, much of the effect of the image is lost. For example, there is a Japanese painting in the [[Ōmiya Bonsai Village|Bonsai museum]] in [[Saitama, Saitama|Saitama city]] that depicted flowers on a dead tree, but only when the curator learned the ancient (and no longer current) proverb "Flowers on a dead tree" did the curator understand the deeper meaning of the painting.<ref>p. 426. Yoko Mori. 2012. Review of  ''Dictionary of Japanese Illustrated Proverbs''. ''Proverbium'' 29:435–456.</ref> Also in Japan, an image of [[Mount Fuji]], a hawk/falcon, and three egg plants, leads viewers to remember the proverb, "One Mt. Fuji, two falcons, three egg plants", a [[Hatsuyume]] dream predicting a long life.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://jpninfo.com/38217 |title=GaijinPot}}</ref>

A bibliography on proverbs in visual form has been prepared by Mieder and Sobieski (1999). Interpreting visual images of proverbs is subjective, but familiarity with the depicted proverb helps.<ref>pp. 203–213. Richard Honeck. 1997. ''A Proverb in Mind''. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.</ref>

Some artists have used proverbs and anti-proverbs for titles of their paintings, alluding to a proverb rather than picturing it. For example, [[Vivienne LeWitt]] painted a piece titled  "If the shoe doesn't fit, must we change the foot?", which shows neither foot nor shoe, but a woman counting her money as she contemplates different options when buying vegetables.<ref>{{cite web|author=database and e-research tool for art and design researchers |url= http://www.daao.org.au/bio/work/if-the-shoe-doesnt-fit-must-we-change-the-foot/ |title=If the shoe doesn't fit, must we change the foot? |work=Design and Art Australia Online |publisher=Daao.org.au |date=2012-10-20 |access-date=2013-08-30}}</ref>

In 2018, 13 sculptures depicting Maltese proverbs were installed in open spaces of downtown [[Valletta]].<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20180203/community/valletta-statue-depicting-proverb-gets-tongues-wagging-online.669628 |title=Article on Maltese proverb sculptures|date=3 February 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2018-02-02/local-news/A-bum-a-bird-and-a-pig-Valletta-2018-unveils-Kif-Jghid-Il-Malti-public-art-installations-6736184371|title=A bum, a bird and a pig: Valletta 2018 unveils 'Kif Jgħid Il-Malti' public art installations – The Malta Independent|website=Independent.com.mt|access-date=3 June 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.timesofmalta.com/mobile/articles/view/20180202/arts-entertainment/valletta-2018-unveils-public-art-installations.669557 |title=Arts & Entertainment |work=Times of Malta |access-date=3 June 2018}}</ref>