Ways of Seeing

Ways of Seeing is a book based on the BBC television series directed by Micheal Dibb. Here John Berger talks about the different ways art is interpreted and why. He compares different mediums and talks in depth about several topics which I, myself, will explain.

This book is made up of 7 essays, written/co-written by 5 different authors. 3 of the 7 essays are purely just full of images. In the introduction it says that you can read these essays in any order that you wish. However, if you are like me and are an art novice then I suggest reading the written essays before the pictorial as then you would know how to decipher the story behind the collection.

1. I definitely would recommend that you begin with the first essay. This brings out some important points helping you understand what is to come, as well as pricks interest in the reader.

Here John Berger talks about the fact that the way we see things are affected by what we know or what believe. For example;

“A few years ago [The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist] was only Known to Scholars. It became famous because an American wanted to buy it for two and half million pounds.

“Now it hangs in a room by itself… The drawing is behind bullet proof glass. It has acquired a new kind impressiveness. Not because of what it shows - not because of the meaning of its image. It has become impressive, mysterious, because of its market value.”

Even though we do not admit this during our day to day lives, we do know it to be true. People’s desire turns to what they cannot have. The American bought the painting and shielded it from the public thus causing the public to yearn for it.

Now that that has been made clear in the reader’s mind, Berger moves on and introduces different mediums. Oil paintings are compared to photographs and film. You may think that paintings, pictures and films are all forms of art that try to tell the same story in the same way: images. However as explained the book they are very different. If famous paintings where reproduced through digital means then the observer would most likely get different interpretations. This is due to the fact that the authority over the art’s meaning changes. If we take film, for example, “Film unfolds in time and a painting does not" Film is a series of images and so the order of images create an event in the viewer’s mind which cannot be undone. It limits the ways of interpreting an art piece. This is because the authority is passed to the film maker. We can only see what he shows us. Whereas “in a painting all its elements are there to be seen simultaneously”. The audience can analyse the image in parts and then as a whole. There are no other directions that the painting can go in and therefore the authority remains with the painting itself.

The same goes with writing. Often paintings come with a description or title or any sort of annotation. The book gives a great example of this, which I shall share with you now.

This is a landscape of cornfield with birds flying out of it.

Look at it for a moment.

[Then scroll down]

WHEATFIELD WITH CROWS

BY VAN GOGH 1853-1890[endif]--

STOP SCROLLING!

WHEATFIELD WITH CROWS

BY VAN GOGH 1853-1890[endif]--

This is the last picture that Van Gogh painted before he killed himself.

How do you view the image now? Your view has changed even though this painting remains exactly the same.

3. I found the third essay really interesting as it talks about how the social presence of a woman is different than that of a man’s. cellspacing="0" width="100%"

“A man’s presence suggests what he is capable of doing to you or for you”

“A woman’s presence expresses her own attitude to herself, and defines what can and cannot be done to her”

John Berger goes through time and shows how the attitude between men and women evolves, even dating back to Genesis’ Adam and Eve. Using this same bible passage Berger moves on to nakedness. Nakedness between man and women not only in the form of oil on canvas but as sculpture and as photography. Through this essay you can explore the way naked women are perceived culturally. You will also learn the difference between nakedness and nudity: fully understanding the meaning “nakedness was created in the mind of the beholder"

[endif]--Naked women are often the subject of famous paintings. Often even with a male partner. However, this does not mean that their sexual appeal is towards them. In fact their femininity and sexual allure is aimed towards the observer. This is way even with lovers in the painting the women always hold a shy yet flirtatious expression whilst looking back at you. E.g.

LA GRANDE ODALISQUE BACCHUS, CRES AND CUPID[endif]--

BY INGRES 1814 BY VON AACHEN 1552-1615[endif]--

Women, especially shown through naked images, are always aware of their spectator. Even in Genesis, Eve eats the apple and suddenly realises she is naked so finds leaves to cover herself up. “Later the shame becomes a kind of display”. Women have some sort of hidden exposure which shows they know you are looking. “..a woman responding with calculated charm to the man whom she imagines looking at her – although she doesn’t know him. She is offering up het femininity as the surveyed.”

7. Publicity. This is the topic of the last essay in the book. It exp

lains our ignorance towards the effect that adverts etc. have on our decisions and emotions. Right now there is such an explosion of visual imagery and publicity than ever before in history. As a designer this is the most relevant essay. It combines psychology with business and art. height="275" src="file:///C:\Users\jonne\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image017.jpg" alt="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1703970/images/o-TIMES-SQUARE-facebook.jpg" /

“Publicity is never a celebration of pleasure-in-itself. Publicity is always about the future buyer. It offers him an image of himself made glamorous by the product or opportunity it is trying to sell.”

What this means is that adverts, posters and any other visual imagery that it is trying to sell you a product, is not trying to show that the product itself is happy. It is trying to make you see that when you get it you’ll be much happier. Publicity art is there to make you envious of your future self if you bought the product.

Famous works of art are often replicated in everyday adverts.

For Example:

The reason this is done so often is that art can mean many things. Art can mean affluence. Art is still, even now, associated with the rich. Having a painting in your house is a sign for visitors that you can afford nice things. So it is as if the product they are ting to sell is something of the highest quality and only a certain amount can have it and therefore you become the envy of your peers. Art is also a sign of culture, dignity maybe even wisdom. Knowing about art gives a person some form of aura. It is as though the person is cultural, interesting and knowledgeable of the finer things. Having an appreciation for art is not common, therefore making them separate from the crowd.

The essay concludes; “Today in the developed countries it is being achieved by imposing a false standard of what is and is not desirable” We depend so much on the visual language of oil paintings, photographs, film and even window displays. Do you believe that we are on a false pursuit of happiness?

(Here is a link to episode 4 in case this has pricked your interest but you are not much of a reader -x)

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#contextualstudies