Ways of Seeing is a very thin book‚ with few words‚ yet it is an extremely influential book‚ and confronts several important aspects of art‚ unlike any other author. John Berger takes a general approach of Marxism and New Art History relating to social history in Ways of Seeing. He focuses less on the aesthetic properties of art‚ and more on the New Art History approach; on the social and political construction of artworks‚ mainly oil paintings concerning class‚ race‚ gender‚ and ethnicity. Berger
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the Meaning of an Artwork According to John Berger in his essay “Ways of Seeing” the way that a painting is viewed by some may already be distorted prior to analyzing it because we are not viewing the original piece. The information that comes from the silence of a painting is only truly experienced when looking at the original work rather than a reproduction of it. The original work speaks to you in a way that a reproduction is not able to. Berger says this clearly when he states:
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In John Berger’s article‚ ’Ways of Seeing’‚ it explains European eighteenth century art and how it relates to many of todays cultural transitions. Before Berger begins explaining the art itself‚ he tells us about the cultural constructions that exist today. These cultural constructions are enforced and were highlighted through European eighteenth century art. He began by explaining the difference between a man and a woman’s presence. Men’s presence depends how much power he is able to successfully
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First in Chapter 3 of Ways of Seeing‚ the social presence of men and women are spoken about. John Berger expresses that men and women have different types of social presence. Men are measured by the level of power they offer in different forms‚ such as economic‚ physical‚ and moral. A man’s own presence suggests that an individual may or may not be able to do for you as individual yourself because it may be fabricated. Although‚ a woman’s presence may indicate what can or cannot be done to her due
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complexity of mummies. Throughout all these diverse cultures of art‚ I was questioning myself and started to wonder how I could understand art beyond others’ opinion about them. Moreover‚ I realized that it was a question John Berger‚ critic of art and author of the Ways of Seeing‚ raised in his essay‚ and it is a question that will always be raised while demanding how to understand a certain art. Walking through a room where various French artists had their paintings exposed‚ I fell in front of the
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2010 Seeing Comes First One of the most important senses that we human have is the ability to see things. We see the image of the object first before the image is send to our brain and processes it. The essay “Ways of Seeing”‚ written by John Berger took art as an example‚ to show the way how modern people view art and the influences that traditional oil painting has had on society and modern day society. The way people now a day perceives an art image is different than the way it was seen
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In John Berger’s essay titled “Ways of Seeing‚” he shines a light on the way we collectively and individually see the world. Mr. Berger has conjured the fact that everyone has experienced their own view of the world‚ throughout time. This has‚ in turn‚ revealed our history‚ through visual communication. Mr. Berger is sharing his view on how the reproductions of art‚ and through reproducing historical and contemporary art‚ that it is mystifying our direct correlation to the past. John Berger states
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different perspectives‚ Susan Bordo and John Berger have focused on the concept of how beauty is displayed‚ how we view it‚ and how it is utilized to attract us as consumers‚ and affect our lives. In his book “Ways of Seeing‚” John Berger talks about viewing images‚ viewing the world around us‚ especially the world of classic art. Susan Bordo’s essay “Beauty (Re) discovers the male body” argues about the “powerful taboos” of male nudity in advertisement‚ and the way we view it. Although there is a gap
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ASSIGNMENT 1 Looking at Pictures [Berger] Original paintings are silent and still in a sense that information never is. Even a reproduction hung on the wall is not comparable in this respect for in the original the silence and stillness permeate the actual material‚ the paint‚ in which one follows the traces of the painter’s immediate gestures. This has the effect of closing the distance in time between the painting of the picture and one’s own act of looking at it. ... What we make of that painted
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represented as an ideal form from a male perspective‚ which has lead to a highly objectified ideal represented numerous patriarchal societies throughout the western world. John Berger stated in the 1972 BBC documentary television series Ways of Seeing: “Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at” (Ways of Seeing). This quote clarifies the male gazer’s distortion of the female form through the creation of a ‘better and more beautiful’ image‚ while forcing the opposite gender
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