Everyone knows the story of Little Red Riding Hood, which is what makes Kiki Smith’s color lithograph “Born” so poignant. Smith’s visual interpretation of the children’s story includes a looming image of Little Red Riding Hood emerging from the wolf’s stomach. This evokes a profound response in its observer, one that could not be achieved without knowing the textual background.

“Born” epitomizes the works of The Novel Picture, an exhibit in Cornell’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art. Pieces on display feature text integrated into the art or are inspired by classic stories and poems. The exhibit presents a look into the relationship between visual art and words, Frank W. Robinson, the museum’s director, said.

“The juxtaposition of text and images creates a very special synergy,” Robinson said. “When they are in sync, they extend and deepen each other in a remarkable way, like putting poems to music.”

Andy Weislogel, assistant curator of the Johnson Museum, said the History of Art Majors’ Society, made up of all Cornell University undergraduates, developed the idea for the exhibition.

“They decided on the topic, chose the pieces, did the research, laid out the show, wrote the texts for the catalogue — everything to do with the show was their decision and accomplished by them,” Weislogel said.

Most of the works displayed in The Novel Picture were taken from the permanent collection of the Johnson Museum. One image by Lorena Simpson was borrowed from the Sean Kelly Gallery in Manhattan and five books were procured from the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collection at Cornell’s Kroch Library.

The Novel Picture is divided into four sections: illustration, inspiration, indignation and innovation. Illustration focuses on the forms taken throughout history and includes pictorially decorated biblical texts, an illustrated book of Aesop’s Fables and a velvet- bound copy of Jim Dine’s costume designs for a stage version of “Dorian Grey” that never opened.

Inspiration concentrates on the artist’s interpretation of text, while at the same time daring observers to reconsider their own interpretations. A mixed-media image done by Anselm Kiefer named “Dein Goldenes Haar Margarethe” is based on the Holocaust-inspired poem “Todesfuge,” or “Death Fugue,” by Paul Celan. The image’s bleak shades of gray and dried reeds compliment the poem’s grave tone.

There are also visualizations of famous literary masterpieces. William Blake’s engraving “The Canterbury Pilgrims” details every character from Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales,” faithfully depicting their respective personalities.

Artists have always had the power to challenge the injustices of society. Indignation celebrates this capability by coupling words with images of poverty, war and discrimination.

The two etching/engravings “Beer Street” and “Gin Lane” by William Hogarth depict the drastic polarity of life in 18th- and 19th-century Britain. One image illustrates a life of gluttony, wealth and beer drinking for the upper class of England, while the other illustrates one of self-destruction, destitution and gin drinking for the lower class. Hogarth adds a short poem about the contrasting drinks of the wealthy and poor at the bottom of each image.

Enrique Chagoya creates compelling satires of anti-war sentiments in his slight alterations to the famous paintings of Francisco de Goya y Lucientes. The photographer Carrie Mae Weems contributes her own indignation toward the historical discrimination against black women with five photographs of herself in a mirror, each annotated with sarcastically piercing comments.

Innovation is the most abstract quarter of The Novel Picture. Its intent is to invoke physical experience for the observer by stimulating the senses, namely sight, sound and touch. Lorena Simpson’s “Untitled” combines sight and touch with her mixed- media image. Simpson’s work is made of an Archiral gelatin print under semi-transparent plexiglass and uses a combination of blurred and clear pictures in different frames coupled with vinyl lettering to achieve an innovative scrapbook-like effect.

In his piece “The Humument,” artist Tom Phillips drew designs onto the pages of an actual novel, circumscribing certain words to create new, poetic phrases. Drifting through the Innovation section is the music from William Kentridge’s “Automatic Writing,” a brief video consisting of constantly changing words and drawings complimented by a soft piano melody. The perpetual scribbling motion accompanied by the haunting song can throw any observer into a calm daze.

Evelyn Schoomaker, a visitor to the gallery from New Paltz, N.Y., said each observer can appreciate the work in the gallery for its complexity.

“There is just so much to take in, and it’s all beautiful,” Schoomaker said.