Now, of course, it also means on Facebook, Instagram and the internet at large. The most uplifting thing about Ways of Seeing is Berger’s optimism about the age of the mass-circulating reproduced image, which, back in 1972, meant images in newspapers and magazines, on advertising hoardings and television. As in the death of a person, so in the decay of a society. When you have lost the power to speak, when consciousness is fading, there will still be faces surrounding the bed. Seeing comes before words – and after them. Within it we could begin to define our own experiences more precisely in areas where words are inadequate. They surround us in the same way as a language surrounds us … If the new language of images were used differently, it would, through its use, confer a new kind of power. Or, in Berger’s inspiring words: “For the first time ever, images of art have become ephemeral, ubiquitous, insubstantial, available, valueless, free. This is your own image world, in which you find your own meanings. Think of a pinboard where you stick your own favourite pictures, of all sorts, from magazine photographs to postcards of famous paintings.
JOHN BERGER WAYS OF SEEING QUOTES FREE
In 1972, Berger wrote that we are free to see images in collages of our own making. That is no surprise given that oil painting was essentially, for much of its history, a way to visually “own” women, commodities and land.
The advertising industry loves to claim the aura of “art” for its imagery. A painting of a naked woman that was made by Titian 500 years ago is just as much about sex and power as a piece of modern pornography or a titillating poster. It is a nostalgic lie to see them as lofty spiritual creations. Works of art are simply images among other images.
JOHN BERGER WAYS OF SEEING QUOTES SERIES
The TV series belongs to the pixellated past, but the brilliantly designed book published alongside it by Penguin, with boldly montaged illustrations and stark, pithy text, is a bestselling modern classic.Īs Berger put it, we are visual animals who see before we learn to read and, even as adults, get our most basic orientation in the world with our eyes, which makes images extraordinarily powerful. J ohn Berger, who died on Monday, wrote and said a lot of smart things, but he will be remembered longest for his 1972 BBC television series and book Ways of Seeing.
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