Ways Of Seeing - John Berger > Reviews > How I see John Bergers "Ways of Seeing"

Author's product rating:   

Degree of Information	Very high
How interesting was the book?	Captivating
How useful was it?	Very useful
Would you read it again?	Yes
Value for money	Excellent

Advantages:	In depth analysis of different interpretations of sight
Disadvantages:	I could find no faults with this masterpiece of literature

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I found in my reading of John Bergers "Ways of Seeing", that the way in which Berger discusses the way we view art both aesthetically and culturally was explored in such great depth.
"Ways of Seeing" offers a view of our culture and emphasizes in particular the way that, nowadays, culture reproduces and makes use of images of the past. Placed in museums, on bulletin boards, on T-shirts and in advertisements, the images tell a story of us, seen from a historic perspective. Berger says, " The past is never there waiting to be discovered, to be recognized for exactly what it is. History always constitutes the relation between a present and its past". He describes the art museum as an instrument of the state, being its function to manipulate our view over the past. By means of the propaganda we are experiencing nowadays, museums have acquired besides the cultural, educational and aesthetic function, political and social functions. This is a Marxist idea that Berger incorporates in the thoughts: "If we saw the art of the past, we would situate ourselves in history. When we are prevented from seeing it, we are being deprived of the history which belongs to us."
Because of the manipulation that Berger discusses in the second paragraph of his essay, the viewer is faced with the so-called "mystification," i.e., "the process of explaining away what might otherwise be evident." By means of mystification (a collective delusion) people distort history. They grant people power and authority. Berger dismisses the traditional approach of art history as mystification. Concepts of aesthetics - and in particular those of composition - he argues, have inserted themselves between spectators and paintings to obscure any immediate perception of the social content of pictures. In "Ways of Seeing," John Berger also describes how oligarchic social structures have been perpetuated in western society via the Western European painting tradition (mostly through the Renaissance oil paintings of the 1500s-1600s). The European elite had used Art in order to support the views of superiority over the poor. Berger tries to demystify myths (perpetuated via painting) such as "true art can only be appreciated by the elite few" and "women selfhood/bodies must always be constructed to please the patriarchal version of men gaze."
The concept of "ways of seeing" means a high degree of subjectivity. "The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe." For example, in comparing personal bulletin boards and the art museum galleries, Berger describes the superior value of what one chooses to have in his room or office: "The personal boards have been chosen in a highly personal way to match and express the experience of the room's inhabitant." Although the market value of clippings, postcards reproductions and so on, may be insignificant, these mementos and souvenirs are rather priceless to the collector. Personal bulletin boards usually gather things that are somehow related to important events from a collector's life triggering an emotional charging in his heart. According to the market place, a masterwork is also priceless, owing to its technique and unique status. Yet, a masterpiece in an art gallery often has little personal value.
John Berger is particularly provocative when suggesting, "Logically, these boards should replace museums." Is Louvre to be logically replaced by bulletin boards? Obviously, this proposal is highly exaggerated, because it is well known that there must be a safe haven where all these priceless treasures could be made available to the public view.
John Berger makes another daring claim by saying that broadcasting a work of art diminishes its value because "When the camera reproduces a painting, it destroys the uniqueness of the image." On the contrary, technology disseminates images whose value is still represented by uniqueness and authenticity, and the people who see them comprehend. Undeniably, the perception of these images would be different because the museum provides a special atmosphere that engenders the sense of indoctrination.
Philosophically, Berger's essay is very forward thinking and definitely it still is very applicable to the perspective of the current "global domination capitalism." "Ways of Seeing" is not written exclusively for the professional pin pointer but also for the wide-eyed public (literally speaking).