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Similar Items Related Subjects: 2 Visual perception. User lists with this item 6 Art 28 items by michaelaugust updated All rights reserved. Please sign in to WorldCat Don't have an account? Remember me on this computer. Cancel Forgot your password? The way in which publicity influences and manipulates our visual language is also aptly articulated and represented. Berger also demonstrates the enormous impact of new techniques reprography and the camera in Berger's time , making artworks available permanently and everywhere, regardless of their context, and therefore they are seen in a different way than before.
I can imagine that 50 years ago this little book was a real eye-opener pun intended. Nevertheless, during the reading, the impression came to me that the work is not really fresh anymore. Perhaps that is because a number of his views have since become commonplace. Perhaps it is also due to the layout of the booklet, with small black-and-white illustrations.
View 1 comment. Jul 07, Deborah Palmer rated it it was amazing. This book though initially written in is still relevant to the reader today especially the essays dealing with the way women are seen in society. It is composed of seven essys, four use words and images, three only images. It discusses how women are view in society with an emphasis and concentration on European or Western culture.
The images are from ads and famous European paintings. Being that I work in a museum and see paintings all day long this aspect interests me in particular. Basical This book though initially written in is still relevant to the reader today especially the essays dealing with the way women are seen in society.
Basically the book is saying that in our European based culture women are objects, men are subjects. Men survey, women are surveyed. Since women are always on display in our society, they adjust their behaviour in order to please and fit in with our male dominated society.
I reference this book many times in my own personal writings. What Mr. Berger has written still has value today. Actually in many ways not much has changed for women. We in the USA and Western Europe are a little better off because we can work, make money and have legal rights but that is not true for women in the rest of the world. Living in a Democratic or secular society does give women more control over their lives as opposed to dictatorships and theocracies.
However even in the United States our actions as women and men are based on social constructs and society's defintions of how men and women should behave towards each other. Even how women view and interact with each other to the point that women are very competitive, jealous and vindictive in order to get or keep a man.
But that is another story for discussion in the essays I have written. View all 3 comments. Apr 20, Matthew Ted rated it really liked it Shelves: 20th-century , art , non-fiction , essays , read , philosophy. I got this as a present today, and have spent the day, on and off, reading it between cake and beer and garden sunshine.
This is usually regarded as the 'most influential' book on art ever, or at least one of them. Berger writes in a clean, no-nonsense kind of way. Despite discussing nudity in art, or the history of art, or discussing the paintings printed in the book, it's never hard to follow. I suppose someone with even no background interest in ar 62nd book of I suppose someone with even no background interest in art could read it without any trouble.
That being said, without any interest in art, I'd say this book wouldn't be for you. Though the book is 'Ways of Seeing' - that is very much in relation to art. A more suitable name may be 'Ways of Seeing Art '. But, as for me, an art lover, I found this deeply insightful and fascinating. And Berger's writing was just an added bonus as he takes us on this short romp through art. There are many reproductions of art inside, and for some reason, the text is all bold.
Not sure whose bright idea that was. View all 7 comments. If you think you like looking art and going to galleries - ha - then you need to take a minute to read and listen to this conversation Berger is going to have with you. Will add my proper in-depth review of this later as it really does deserve one. For now, I will just say that Berger makes us think: he makes us think about the impact of images, their h If you think you like looking art and going to galleries - ha - then you need to take a minute to read and listen to this conversation Berger is going to have with you.
For now, I will just say that Berger makes us think: he makes us think about the impact of images, their history, their place in society and their role in furthering capitalist agendas.
He makes us think about the image of women, the role they play in the system, the condition of modern galleries and museums, and most importantly, Berger makes us think about the modern day photograph and what it means for me as a functioning member of society - it's all very insightful and he demystifies art in a fashion which is simple to understand as far as theory goes.
Very marxist in his views and vocabulary which I know will bother some but I enjoyed that part hah. Dec 06, Mia rated it really liked it Shelves: nonfiction , books-with-pictures , made-me-think. And they truly made me think. They made me think about art as a sign, a symbol, an argument, a brag, a promise, a prison. Berger is very clear about his purview here, which I appreciate. Though he mentions photography and advertising and film, and he draws contrasts to sculpture and Eastern art, the real subject of analysis is European oil paintings and, by extension, the rise of capitalism.
There are both visual and written essays, and while I was initially wary about how well an essay told only through images would work, I was quickly won over. Comparatively, my problems are rather slight. The book is set entirely in bold, which is weird.
The cover is hideous; whose idea was it to just paste the first few paragraphs of the essay right onto the cover?! The images are in tiny and black and white and in some of the visual essays they run across the crease of the spine, rendering them nearly indiscernible. The best thing I can say about a collection of essays is that it changed my way of thinking—my way of seeing!
Who and what are the subjects? How are the people looking at me, the observer, and how are they arranged to appeal to or challenge my point of view? What sort of place would this have been hung in before it was brought to this museum? And who would have been looking at it there? And what would they have hoped to show to people who visited their home or abbey or office, to make them feel? More often than not, according to Berger, the answer to the last question is envy. May 29, Daniel Clausen rated it really liked it Shelves: books-of I first read the book in as a young freshman in a class on Popular Culture and Ideology.
I remember being overwhelmed by the wonderful insights of this book. Now, more than 20 years later, I can still appreciate the book, while at the same time being a bit more skeptical of its insights If I had to sum up the book in a few short sentences it would be this: Paintings and pictures are always for something and s I first read the book in as a young freshman in a class on Popular Culture and Ideology.
If I had to sum up the book in a few short sentences it would be this: Paintings and pictures are always for something and someone. Often, paintings and pictures express the desires of capital and the ruling class. When the artist does get a moment of triumph over the medium and its language of power, it is often a hard fought and meager one. Perhaps that short summary has done some lasting epistemic damage to the book and its meaning.
After all, one of the lessons of critical works such as Berger's is that life, power, and imagery is never so simple. And yet, in my middle age years, I feel like I need critical and postmodern scholars to be less baroque in their insights and more modern. The short summary, the abstract, with all its obfuscating simplicity is needed in order to give a very "modern" sense of order to the world. At a time when conspiracy theories and epistemic anarchy is spreading, I wonder what John Berger would make of flat-earthers, climate change denialists, and other conspiracy theorist advocates.
Are they the noble anti-establishment avant garde? I tried to find anything in this book that would speak to our unsettled times. I found brilliant insights but nothing that spoke to my own sense of unease specifically. For that reason, perhaps I enjoyed the picture essays the best this time around. Those chapters where the art and pictures were left without text to speak through me and let my anxieties and thoughts have free reign. Mar 07, Christopher Luciano rated it did not like it.
All of what I picked up from this atrocity of a Book is that John Berger is a pretentious cunt. He hides behind the fact that he states he's "demystifying" art when in actuality he's giving you his opinion on the propaganda of art and how the artist doesn't exist.
Berger is merely under the assumption that all art is just a way for the elite white male All of what I picked up from this atrocity of a Book is that John Berger is a pretentious cunt. Berger is merely under the assumption that all art is just a way for the elite white male population to flaunt and reassure themselves that they are superior to the plebeians.
I'm paraphrasing of course, but this book clearly undermines the intent of the artist. In this book Berger devalues the artist by saying that their creations are merely a tool for the elite to flaunt their wealth, as is expected from a contextualist. He only gives credit to the "masters" of the medium. Whom he states surpassed all the average form of art by going outside the boundaries of standard commissioned art Such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, etc.
Berger also has the problem of most contextualists, by which I mean he tries to find meaning or more accurately make up meaning whenever possible.
One of the finest examples of this is when he described a simple livestock oil painting as, and I quote "furniture with four legs in the eyes of the viewer that emphasizes the social status of their owners.
Essentially what I'm saying is that Berger's book might appeal to contextual art historians, feminists and socialists, but I feel it lacks any serious criticism or review on art as a whole. It is less of a book about how to see art and more a way to simplify art as a commodity for wealthy, sex-driven, elitist men. Oct 21, Peycho Kanev rated it it was amazing. Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak. But there is also another sense in which seeing comes before words.
It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but words can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it. The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled.
Capitalism survives by forcing the majority, whom it exploits, to define their own interests as narrowly as possible. This was once achieved by extensive deprivation. Today in the developed countries it is being achieved by imposing a false standard of what is and what is not desirable.
Dec 20, Pete rated it it was amazing. Apr 10, Anthony Ruta rated it really liked it Shelves: philosophy , nonfiction , history , criticism , essays. Oct 21, Jimmy rated it really liked it Shelves: male , years , united-kingdom , poetic-essay. A book about basic visual literacy, with 7 essays, 3 of them containing only images. It's not that he's original The chapter about oil painting was especially illuminating for me, as I had never understood how to tell a "great" oil painting from a mediocre one, having no context in which to see them.
But Berger here really dissects the historical origins of the f A book about basic visual literacy, with 7 essays, 3 of them containing only images. But Berger here really dissects the historical origins of the form, and what oil really allowed artists to do that they weren't able to do before.
Major turn off: the entire book is set in bold type. I have no idea why this decision was made, but the book is worth reading, despite this huge flaw. Another smaller flaw: a book about images should definitely have been printed in color. Sep 17, Diz rated it it was amazing Shelves: fine-arts , art. This book really made me think about how to view art. In particular, the connection between the oil paintings of the last few hundred years and advertising images was something I had never thought about.
This book also presents some insightful criticisms of the use of nudes in traditional art. View all 6 comments. Sep 15, L rated it it was amazing Shelves: university. Personal perspective and context of writing or image. There is a divergence between looking and seeing art and literature.
Such as, if one were to apply Marxist literary criticism Ideology when examining a work of art. Yet, what it represents, in terms of societal power and denotation is fundamental to its double optic. Berger, , p. If you remain subjective and open your mind to all the potential possibilities, then the mystification of an artwork is unravelled.
One indeed uses the past to justify the present, for history is always changing and evolving. You cannot help but be magnetized by the hypocrisy of such a hypocritical undertone to a reproduced work of art! There is a continuum of thought during the process or act of looking and seeing an image, for instance regarding being and seeming.
For, being pushes through what is seen, like showing something rather than telling something in words. If text accompanies an artwork, then it may enhance or exemplify what is implied. This deeply thought-provoking, philosophical piece of literature is a fascinating exploration into what we think we know… Oct 18, Faryal rated it liked it.
Read this for my Composition class. Its a great read when first read since his main ideas stand out, have clarity, and are verified to some degree , however re-reading it introduces the more "radical" ideas.
In his essay he raises the idea of "mysticification. I had to keep going back trying to find a definition in context however failed.
He seems to switch it around a lot. My Composition professor raised a good point- Berger is so against Read this for my Composition class. My Composition professor raised a good point- Berger is so against mytification but Is he mystifying art in the essay?
He seems to be talking in circles, as some of his ideas lack clarity. It is a good read however a torture to analyze. I think it wasn't even meant to be analyzed. Nevertheless he raises interesting points that must be read. Feb 04, Andrew added it Shelves: arts-nonfiction. This was intended as a companion to a television series, and perhaps it's best to reference it to another well-known book of Big Ideas intended as a companion to a television series, Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth.
Given that they are both wedded to some teee veee, they're both kinda superficial. Berger is at his best when he is talking about specific paintings and how they can be interpreted. He is at his worst when he's doing art history for dummies and also trying to do Marxism for dummi This was intended as a companion to a television series, and perhaps it's best to reference it to another well-known book of Big Ideas intended as a companion to a television series, Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth.
He is at his worst when he's doing art history for dummies and also trying to do Marxism for dummies, and it unsurprisingly comes off as Walter Benjamin for dummies. In the same way that Joseph Campbell does Carl Jung for dummies.
I am not a dummy, or at least I don't think I am. Jun 30, Feliks rated it really liked it Shelves: art-and-nature , criticism , good-nonfiction. A wonderful, succinct, concise, and pithy discussion of the history of imagery. How we got from the world of the oil painting to the world of television commercials. Great pick for anyone frustrated with --or mystified by-- 'the arts'. Oct 05, Dorotea rated it it was amazing Shelves: read-in-english , to-reread , nonfiction-monographies , art-architecture-etc.
The book contains a series of essays, all related to art. I read this collection right after having come back from London — having spent days surrounded by art works. I had a million thoughts about art itself and museums, and art works in museums.
I wrote out some of my thoughts and then came across some of the same ideas in this insightful beautiful booklet. Perhaps this is why I feel so strongly towards the first of the essays. Nevertheless, I try here to capture the essence of it, in some quo The book contains a series of essays, all related to art. Yasmin Gunaratnam is reader in sociology and Vikki Bell is professor of sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London. This article was originally published in The Conversation.
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