ABSTRACT
Projections of “America” and representations of “Americans” are quite frequently and conspicuously embedded in iconographies whose potential of signification transcends their specific American repertoires, contexts, and archives. The interpictorial reading of such a specific visual representation underscores the functionality and interpretive value of the semantic surplus produced by its participation in and possible transformation of larger visual and cultural conventions and clusters. Interpictorially loaded representations are tangible sites and manifestations of the historical and (trans-)cultural circulation, mobility, and exchange of motifs, repertoires, and conventions and are themselves material agents and performative enactments in processes of cultural and transcultural transfer and negotiation. The concept of interpictoriality makes Transnational American Studies explorations of national and transnational American narratives and their political, social, economic, and cultural implications interact with the concerns of Art History and Visual Culture Studies with iconography and iconology.
