Stillness has been replaced by portability, immobility has been supplanted by motility, and it’s all thanks to the reproductive nature of the camera.Īnd while one might think it beneficial that works of art are now so readily accessible, the truth is that this new technology-driven reproduction of art makes each piece’s original meaning more ambiguous, and “destroys its unique original meaning.” Take again the example of cameras, which are able to easily manipulate by movement the naturally silent and still paintings.
JOHN BERGER WAYS OF SEEING EPISODE 1 SUMMARY TV
But now it can be seen in a million different places, in any room, with any people, on a laptop or a TV or a phone or a poster.
For example, in the past, da Vinci’s “Virgin of the Rocks” might be seen in a Renaissance art gallery, alongside some other similarly-themed pieces. And for many people, this “anywhere” is in fact in the context of one’s own life. When it focuses in on a work, a camera reproduces it, rendering it available in any size, anywhere. But the advent of the camera throws this one-dimensionality out the window. Traditionally, paintings, just like the human eye, are stationary and static: they’re only in one place, at one time. In the first chapter of Ways of Seeing, Berger discusses how we see art differently today than we did in the past, and it’s all thanks to one burgeoning institution: technology. As the title of his book denotes, John Berger has mastered this art of seeing art, so to speak, and goes to great lengths to describe not only how seeing has evolved throughout the years, but also the nature in which certain subjects (primarily women) are seen in the art world. Seeing a work of art, on the other hand, as John Berger implies, means not just to observe it, but also to understand it, to go beyond the surface and delve into a world nonexistent to the “looking” eye. To look at something is to glance at it, to notice a few details here and there in other words, looking at something is superficial.
But when it comes to art, the two words could not be more different. In general terms, it might seem that “looking” and “seeing” are synonyms, are interchangeable terms used to describe one’s perception by the eye. Summary/Analysis of John Berger’s Ways of Seeing
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