Ways of Seeing
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Ways of Seeing is a book by John Berger, a companion to the 1972 BBC television series of the same name. Ways of Seeing consists of a series of written and visual essays that raise questions about hidden ideologies in European oil painting of the 15th century until the end of the 19th century and depictions of women in advertisements and oil paintings, which is typical for the then-emergent feminist readings of popular culture. Ways of Seeing is considered to be a seminal text for studies of visual culture and art history.
It starts with the sentence: “Seeing comes before words. The child sees and recognizes before it can speak,” which erroneously stresses the visual component of culture. As David Toop and other have since pointed out, a child hears and feels before it sees.
The work, esp. the first episode 'Painting and the Camera" was in part derived from Walter Benjamin's essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.
On the cover is the English version of Magritte's The Key of Dreams.
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Production
Ways of Seeing was a 1972 BBC television series created chiefly by writer John Berger and producer Mike Dibb, that led to a book of the same name. The book Ways of Seeing was made by Berger and Dibb, along with Sven Blomberg, Chris Fox, and Richard Hollis. The book consists of seven numbered essays: four using words and images; and three essays using only images.
Response to Civilisation (TV series)
The series and book criticize traditional Western cultural aesthetics by raising questions about hidden ideologies in visual images. The series is partially a response to Kenneth Clark's Civilisation series, which represents a more traditionalist view of the Western artistic and cultural canon.
TOC
- Ways of Seeing, Part 1: Painting and the Camera
- Ways of Seeing, Part 2: Painting Nudes and Women
- Ways of Seeing, Part 3: Painting and Possessions
- Ways of Seeing, Part 4: Painting and Advertising
See also
References
- Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. Penguin: London, 1972. ISBN 0140216316
